Netflix’s Jeffrey Dahmer Series–Awareness or Exploitation?
With the rise of true crime and its fanatics in recent years, there has also been a rise of people speaking up about how it can be problematic to consume such content. On one hand, the “shock” factor of real-life horror is undeniably fascinating, in a twisted way.
But on the other hand, it forces the families of victims to relive the trauma they went through. Many content creators who rely on telling stories of horrendous acts committed by other people will mention their sponsor for the video, say a headphone company, right before diving deep into grotesque atrocities.
Jeffrey Dahmer is a well-known serial killer, and recently Netflix has created a series about his life. It shows his neighbor being ignored by police as she called them multiple times complaining about noises and smells, as well as the police handing one of Dahmer’s escaped victims right back to him. The one thing the series did a good job at is showcasing how Dahmer was able to get away with so much by using his white privilege, and how he preyed on LGBT people of color.
Netflix seems to be aware of the fact that it’s exploitative to produce these types of films, as originally the series “Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story” was promoted under the LGBT tag on the streaming service. This has since been removed, and it’s unclear what exactly the motivation was for putting the series under the tag.
Onto the most problematic part of the series, what really has people upset: the families of victims were not notified, much less asked for permission, about the creation of the show. Rita Isbell, sister of Errol Lindsey, who had his life taken by Jeffrey Dahmer at just 19 years old, has spoken out.
She gave an emotional statement in court, of which the reenactment was incredibly similar. “If I didn’t know better, I would’ve thought it was me,” she said, “it brought back all the emotions I was feeling back then. I was never contacted about the show. They just did it. But I’m not money hungry, and that’s what this show is about. Netflix trying to get paid.”
She also said that she wishes the proceeds from the show would go to families of victims, so it wouldn’t feel so “harsh and careless.” Her cousin, Eric, also spoke up about the exploitation of his family’s trauma on Twitter.
“I’m not telling anyone what to watch, I know true crime is huge right now, but if you’re actually curious about the victims, my family (the Isbells) are pissed about the show,” he tweeted, along with saying it’s “retraumatizing over and over again,” and asking, “how many movies/shows/documentaries do we need?”
There is no distinct right and wrong when it comes to filmmaking, but when it comes to films about true crime, one thing is unarguably true; it feeds off of real peoples’ trauma and often does not benefit them in any way, it does quite the opposite. Hopefully with these statements there will be a change in true crime media and the much needed respect that families of victims have been lacking.
