The true-crime genre has become a staple of the entertainment industry, from podcasts to films and TV shows, it seems that viewers and creators alike can not get enough of these real-life horror stories. 

But therein lies the problem, these are real life stories. Real killers and real victims whose families and loved ones have to continuously hear about new versions of the event of their loved one’s gruesome deaths. 

True crime stories have often fallen under scrutiny for the dramatization of real-life victims and this discussion has picked up new steam amidst the recent release of Ryan Murphy’s newest season of his anthology series “Monsters.”

Murphy is well-known as the creator of shows like “Glee” and “American Horror Story” and in 2018, he signed a nine-figure deal with Netflix to create the “Monsters” anthology series. The first season of which was the mega successful “Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story,” which broke viewing records for Netflix and brought home a number of awards.

The newest season, “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story” tells the story of one of the most infamous true crime cases in American history. The show follows brothers’ Lyle and Erik Menendez from the murder of their parents in 1989 up until their trial in 1996 where both were convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison.

At first glance, this seems pretty par for the course for true crime dramas. The backlash the show has received has primarily come from show runner Murphy’s inclusion of a heavily implied incestuous relationship between the brothers that has since been vehemently denied by Erik Menendez and 24 of his family members.

Murphy is no stranger to controversy surrounding this particular series, with “Dahmer” drawing massive outrage from viewers and victim’s families alike for the use of their trauma as entertainment. Despite the fact that the show was largely told from the perspective of Dahmer’s victims rather than his own, the show still depicts the deaths of real people, all for the sake of money.

The problem is twofold. Of course, the blame can be placed at the feet of media companies and creators who finance and support true crime series and help to bring them to life. But primarily, the blame lies with us, the viewers. The only reason that companies are so eager to finance the next show following the life of a serial killer is our culture’s obsession with the genre.

True crime as we know it is traced back to 1965 and the release of Truman Capote’s book “In Cold Blood” that tells the story of a family in Kansas that was brutally murdered. The book faced bans and constant challenges for its graphic depictions of the murders but the content does not seem very out of place in the modern true crime landscape.

The true explosion of true crime came in 2014 in the form of true crime podcasts. “Serial” was one of the first shows that really picked up steam and changed the genre into what we now know it as. Countless shows would follow suit and many found immense levels of success, becoming some of the biggest podcasts in the world. 

Why this happened is anyone’s guess. Our culture’s obsession with crime and murder stories is no new phenomenon; some of the most successful and highly regarded pieces of media ever produced are about criminals and their exploits.

The troubling shift occurred when fiction was not enough. When we started consuming media about real life crime stories as if they were fiction. Dramatizing and hyperbolizing them in order to tell the best story possible.

This presents an entirely new set of problems aside from the subject matter, it takes the trauma of the victims and of their loved ones and makes them content. Their pain becomes a commodity, just another cog in the entertainment machine that people consume on their morning commutes or discuss around the water cooler.

“Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story” is nothing new, simply the latest true crime drama that we have followed too close for decades.

While I believe in an artist’s right to create in whatever way they see fit, I think it is time we place more of an emphasis on the people affected by the stories we tell. 

Categories: Arts & Entertainment