If you haven’t heard, Jeffery Dahmer is back in a big way (luckily this time only on televisions). The Netflix Miniseries Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story broke and surpassed Netflix streaming records left and right squid game as the platform’s most-streamed show in the shortest amount of time, as well as their second-highest-performing English-language series to date. It’s safe to say audiences are still hungry for true crime, and this series seems to be nothing but an example that proves that idea.
While most previous programs of the same nature don’t seem to stray too far from their intended niche, Sample has had many viewers for several weeks now. With a show of this magnitude, and the impact it is sure to have on television culture from this point on, there’s always a lot to think about. In this case it is mainly Dahmer himself and the effect that protagonists like him and these kinds of stories can have on ethics and the zeitgeist.
Monster turns Jeffrey Dahmer into a tragic antihero
the plot of Dahmer is one that is quite simple and supposed. We follow notorious real-life serial killer and cannibal Jeffrey Dahmer through a tumultuous childhood and through his years of maturity and violence believed to have helped cultivate the aforementioned years of development. Dahmer’s violent attacks aren’t surprisingly hard to bear, but what’s more is the way we see those cases springing from fantasy into reality.
See, the show’s story is much less linear than reactive, meaning that for all the atrocities documented not only in court but also within the runtime of the show, we get following scenes explaining exactly where those came from. Warning signs are shown to be ignored by Dahmer’s parents, professionals and friends, all with an underlying “this could have been prevented” odor under most scenes describing his parentage. While this could be read as simply a warning to be preventive, some could read this as an attempt at pathos toward individuals who generally don’t deserve the sentiment.
At the heart of this script, Dahmer reads like a less twisted villain and more like a tragic antihero. The sensitivity required to tackle such a sensitive subject, while also visualizing adolescence and so many vulnerabilities to the character, is a notion not found too sharply throughout the series. We get repeated scenes of Dahmer’s awkward nature that read more like a lost and scared puppy than the violation of human nature we know to be true.
A recurring theme in the series is that of potential partners leaving Dahmer, and the character not knowing how to properly handle his homosexuality in a social context. Dahmer tries to spark romantic interaction in a way that is innocent enough in the moment, but the audience knows all too well that it will end in something more than sinister.
The Netflix series Monster ignores real victims today
One of the major ethical issues raised by this show is not just about Dahmer himself, but rather how the writing of Sample treats the affected victims. The show spares no expense in getting you to know Dahmer’s victims in detail before their fate is struck. We see his first victim, Steven Hicks, and the crush that led Dahmer to chase him in the first place, fester and eventually become something mean. Tony Hughes, the deaf victim Dahmer was known to have had an extensive relationship with prior to his murder, is shown multiple times onscreen with Dahmer before his eventual murder takes place. All in the name of a good story, right?
Of course, except for the fact that the producers and writers didn’t really get approval from the families of Dahmer’s victims before the show was released. The families of some of the victims said neither Netflix nor Murphy asked them about the show, let alone informed them that it was in production before its release date a few weeks ago. For these victims, a case like this highlights a much bigger problem in developing true-crime series like this. The wounds potentially reopened by an extensive character study like this may not be worth it just for more successful content from a streaming company.
Monster is about Jeffrey Dahmer, and that’s the problem
This brings us to the last and most important ethical issue presented on a show like this: the romanticization and glorification of rogue states. It’s no secret that after Dahmer’s arrest and conviction, the serial killer gained massive support and sympathy from fans and those who believed they had something to do with his ailments. How will the show end its grand finale, you might ask? By showing Dahmer in his final moments on screen reading mountains of fan mail in his prison cell.
Even in the heat of what was certainly known as one of the boldest releases of the year, the focus is still on Dahmer, a man who could use far less of the spotlight, rather than the victims affected by this violent act. to attack. Sample, a show that had the opportunity to shed light on unshared parts of the Dahmer story, choosing to gasp and glorify someone who is already a household name, rather than shed new light on those who make it really deserve.