The Problem With the Fetishization of Serial Killers
English: Revere Senior High School, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Cannibals, killers, and monsters captivate the minds of America's youth. There is an epidemic of the media glamorizing the story of murderers and their lives. Many of these shows and media properties associated with serial killers have created a mask around the actual monsters these properties are based on, which gives a sense of sympathy for these killers. This is a problem because it creates people who idolize these monsters and desensitizes the population to these killers’ deeds, which is a disservice to anyone directly affected by the said killer.
The new Netflix drama "Dahmer" has directly contributed to this epidemic of evil captivating people’s lives. This series follows the life of the infamous Milwaukee cannibal, Jeffery Dahmer. This killer’s crimes consist of the murder and dismemberment of 17 men and boys. This man committed unspeakable horrors that affected not only the men he killed and their families, but also the public. His acts created mass panic and the “cannibal craze” that swept over America in the early 1990s.
The Netflix show glamorizes Dahmer's life by casting the famous Evan Peters as the killer. In this film, sympathy and intrigue are created around Dahmer by establishing him as a multisided character with other thoughts and feelings than murder. The use of an attractive actor creates a very odd culture of young women and men idolizing this man because the character played by Peters in the film seems removed from Dahmer.
The fetishization of Dahmer and other serial killers in pieces of media like this sour our society and culture. This is evident in social media, such as TikTok and Instagram. On these sites, many people post memes and jokes based on the show and the killer such as the trend of doing the “Dahmer dance” which is a dance that Dahmer does in the series. This creates a disconnect between audiences and the real crimes committed because the funny jokes and memes are the first thing present in people's heads when they think of Dahmer. Another issue present is the fetishization of Dahmer and other killers due to their actors being attractive, such as Evan Peters. Many fan accounts and posts fantasize about Dahmer due to Peter's portrayal of the horrible man. This causes people to sympathize with Dahmer, which detracts from his crime and invalidates the trauma the families of the victims have gone through.
“The fetishization of Dahmer and other serial killers in pieces of media like this sour our society and culture. ”
This problem can be stopped. The issue is deep-seated within creative liberties made by writers and producers when creating such media. This glamorization of monsters can be stopped if the media stops taking massive creative liberties with true crime topics and instead validates the atrocity of the real stories. Documentaries portray the killer’s deeds in a nonbiased way because they do not make the killer a character; they represent a person in their true form. A documentary I suggest watching instead of "Dahmer" is "Conversations with a Killer" which shows Dahmer in a valid light.
