CONTENT WARNING: This editorial contains mentions of rape and murder.

People seem to have a deep fascination on with true crime, especially with the recent Idaho murder case and the new Netflix show “Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story,” which joined “Stranger Things(season four)” and “Squid Games,” in being one of the most watched series on Netflix. Now, that is not a problem. The problem is how these murderers are often glorified and used as entertainment. Real people become characters and real life stories become a part of the plot.

It is not uncommon to be captivated by true crime, but once it becomes entertainment, the audience cannot help but fictionalize the story. When this happens, whether that interest is harmful or not, it is easy for those interests todo more harm than good, especially when these serial killers are treated with celebrity status.

When we put these serial killers in such status, it includes fan clubs that are a concern in society.

Social media such as Tik Tok is made to feed into this idea of glorifying murderers where many teens deem them attractive, detaching the fact that they killed people and the victims of the families are still affected by it. These crimes involve rape, cannibalism and others of which are unimaginably inhumane. Tik Tok influencer Jack Wright even endorsed this behavior and dressed up as Jeffrey Dahmer, contributing to the idolization on of an American serial killer and sex off ender who killed and dismembered 17 men and boys between 1978 and 1991.

The excessive obsession for these serial killers is not only undeserved, but there are many websites like Serialkillershop that encourage the behaviors of having faces in one’s room and dressing up as them for Halloween. The problem here is the horrendous actions that the offender partook in are overlooked, and therefore what the victims went through is ignored. They were actual people who had their lives taken away unfairly by twisted individuals, and those twisted people do not belong in songs, shirts or any kind of art meant for admiration. The romanization and idolization of these killers completely disregards any respect for the victims and their families.

Treating true crime like horror fiction is not only dangerous but also harmful. Although true crime may tell the story of both the victim and the off ender, the murderer is usually the main focus of the story. The victims are exploited and made to seem as shadows to make the murderer shine.

Even if the intention is misunderstood, it is true that most of the time, viewers only remember the name of the murderers and not the victims. As a majority of people have never been involved with these high-profile cases, it is easy to watch these crime shows from behind the screen. It is easy to brush off emotions while watching these shows as one might like to believe that such situations are most unlikely to happen to them.

Most importantly, some of these crime shows are filmed with no account of the victim’s family. Rita Isbell, the sister of Errol Lindsey who was one of Jeffrey Dahmer’s victims, told Insider that Netflix never asked permission on whether the show would be appropriate for the family of the victims. She also told Insider that Netflix was hungry for money, rather than wanting to give the victims a voice. These families had their loved ones taken away from them, and it is morally wrong to release a film for the whole world to see without their consent. They lived through this horrendous situation. Forcing them to relive these moments is inhumane.

It needs to be realized that these victims on the screen are real people in real life who got their life taken away unfairly by the people that the media gives fancy nicknames or glamorizes their actions. There needs to be a change in perspective. People can and should focus on the victim. Rather than remembering them as victims of terrifying acts, people should honor the lives that
were taken.

People need to come to their senses and realize inside the screen of true crime related content is someone who had a family, someone who had dreams and hopes. They are not fictional characters who died people to romanticize and glorify their killers. If true crime is to be told and watched, it should be done with the purpose and intent of educating oneself, not for entertainment.