We Don’t Need Another Serial Killer “Drama”
The harmful effects of serial killer biopics.
I assume most of us have seen the new Dahmer series on Netflix considering it has become Netflix’s second most watched show with a total of 701.37 million hours viewed. Because of this series, Jeffery Dahmer is trending. This feels like Deja vu because I also remember Dahmer trending in 2017 when “My Friend Dahmer ” came out. And again in 2012. Also in 2006, 2002,2001, 1992, and 1993. In what world do we need multiple documentaries, tv series, and movies about the same person? Especially when this person was real and did such vile things to other human beings. And it’s not just Dahmer. There are 9 Ted Bundy movies, 4 John Wayne Gacy movies, 10 Richard Ramirez movies, and at least 27 factual films about Charles Manson. And the worst part is most of these motion pictures are written in a way that get audiences to sympathize with these murders ,most of the time erasing the victim’s stories to point where they are completely forgotten by society.
“That chapter of my life was closed and they reopened it, basically.” — Tatiana Banks, the daughter of Errol Lindsey; Dahmer Victim
Dahmer in particular was marketed as a story that would be “respectful to the victims and the victims families” as said by Evan Peters who plays Dahmer in an interview. The families of the victims, Many of whom are alive, have spoken out about not being in the loop at all about the series, and how all it did was bring up old traumas and emotions. It’s baffling to me because the story of the victims being profited off of by others was literally a plot in the show, yet that is exactly what Netflix is doing. The sister of Errol Lindsey, one of Dahmer’s victims, spoke to Insider about her thoughts on her impact statement being reenacted, “ I was never contacted about the show. I feel like Netflix should’ve asked if we mind or how we felt about making it. They didn’t ask me anything, they just did it.” She goes on to say how her disregard of the series isn’t necessarily about money, but about the principle. Making money off a tragedy is just unethical, especially when none of the people involved knew about or had time to prepare for their names being in the news again after 31 years.
Netflix could have offered money to the children / grandchildren of the victims but they didn’t . Netflix could have even asked if they were okay with this portal, but they didn’t. These types of entertainment are worn out and the very simple solution is for companies to stop making them. Serial Killers are not your marvel villains. They shouldn’t be recast, rewritten, or remade. They’re not something we should obsess over and we need to stop milking these crimes for content.
Hope Whitley is currently a junior at Norwalk High School. She enjoys reading, writing, and watching movies/TV.
