Should true crime be made into a series?

Netflix released the series Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story almost three weeks ago and it has been the topic of most conversations. The series is about the cannibalistic, necrophilic serial killer from Milwaukee who killed between 1978 and 1991. Last Friday, Netflix also released Conversations with a Killer: The Jeffrey Dahmer Tapes. However, these past few days, it is the played series that received criticism. As is inevitable with the arrival of a new series or movie about a serial killer, it flared up many opinions on whether such real, grievous crimes should be acted out on screen at all. 

The past days, relatives of Dahmer’s victims have spoken out about the series. Rita Isbell, sister of Errol Lindsey told Insider how bothered she was when seeing pieces of the series and how she relived the moment when she made her statement in court, which was reenacted in the series. She was not even informed by Netflix. Since it is all public record, Netflix does not have to. However, in many people’s opinion, it would be the right thing to do. Relatives hear of new true crime releases the same moment everyone else does, which does not sit right. Netflix did not even immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment. Does it being public record, make it morally right to carelessly, mindless of feelings of relatives, make it into a series just like that?

As Eric Perry says in a tweet responding to the attention the one above got, relatives of Dahmer’s victims “wake up every few months at this point with a bunch of calls and messages and they know there’s another Dahmer show. It’s cruel.” He also told The Los Angeles Times: “Unfortunately a lot of the comments I’ve received [about the series] have said we should be grateful this story is being told. I want people to understand this is not just a story or historical fact, these are real people’s lives.” Ironically, this resembles what the series made the character of Glenda Cleveland, Dahmer’s neighbor, say: “This is not some Halloween story. This is my life.” One cannot deny that it is a matter of exploitation of such crime stories, leaving relatives of victims retraumatized and Hollywood profiting.

The victim support organisation Slachtofferhulp Nederland too has called on the streaming service, asking them to remove the entire Dahmer series (nu.nl, 2022). Their critique is not against true crime or fictional crime series, but on the fact that in this series, the two seem to overlap. They argue that this can be triggering for victims. Chairwoman Rosa Jansen argues that Dahmer is being portrayed as a strong man, while his victims all seam emotional and weak (ibid.).

This latter point is brought up frequently, with people saying Dahmer is romanticized and there is not enough attention for the victims. I do believe this is something that goes wrong with filming true crime. In most cases, and especially in this one, the focus is not so much on the victims, but mainly on how well certain aspects are imitated, how well it was cast, the serial killer himself, etc. Netflix’ attempt to tell the story from the victims’ eyes has failed. Contrarily, it focusses on Dahmer and the eery details. Nonetheless, I would not call the focus on Dahmer romanticized. I do believe Netflix has portrayed this man as the monster he was, and the charm, which shows from the fact that he managed to get his victims to his home, is also just a (somewhat) honest representation. I would say it is reasonable to question whether it is necessary at all to dramatize and humanize such a monster.

Eerder ook al fout Netflix: LHBTI tag

Wat verder misgaat as a result: jokes, reenactments on TikTok, etc.

Maar ook vóór zo’n serie: fans

Not up to me to decide whether it is right to keep filming stories of these serial killers over and over again. But in any case: people who comment on relatives’ pain that “it is also an option not to watch it” are naive and wrong, our society as a whole and Netflix in particular should keep in mind the impact the release of such a series has on relatives and prepare them for it/support them.

Still working on it!