Dahmer Didn't Need His Story Told Again
For as long as there have been serial killers, there have been people obsessed with them. In recent history, there has been an explosion of media surrounding serial killers and their lives, from television shows and specials to movies and books. The newest installment in the ever-growing genre of serial killer media is Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story from the mind of Ryan Murphy. Dahmer stars Evan Peters as Jeffrey Dahmer himself in a limited series following Dahmer’s life, mainly focusing on the years he committed murders. The series was marketed as the most accurate portrayal of the killer yet, while also being more about the perspective of the victims of Dahmer. While the acting from Peters is extremely disturbing, and the show remains mostly true to life, it’s yet another piece of media that disrespects the victims of these heinous crimes and their families, as well as has created a resurgence of Dahmer fan girls.
Evan Peters's acting chops are something that can not be denied. He is able to portray Dahmer’s descent into madness, from his first kill, where he is feeling pain over what he has done, to his last, as he seems to have reached a point of no emotion. However, I feel as if, at certain points of the show, they try to humanize Dahmer in a way that seems disrespectful to the people affected by the murders. It feels like they are trying to gain pity from the viewers for the vile man. Like many, Dahmer was a person who was hurt by society quite frequently, especially in his formative years, but that does not justify his actions, especially murder.
With that, we have seen a rise in people thirsting for Peters’s portrayal of Dahmer as well as the real-life Dahmer. Twitter and TikTok have blown up with people talking about how they feel bad for Dahmer or how hot they think he is. Some have even gone as far as to create fan edits. This seemingly mirrors the last two episodes of the show in which Dahmer receives fan mail from various people asking for drawings and signatures. This fanfare surrounding serial killers creates a dangerous culture that not only centers the true crime stories told around the killers rather than the victims but also praises them for murder, minimizing their effect on the people they murdered as well as their families.
The show tries to center itself around the perspective of the victims, particularly in episode six, which follows the part of Tony Hughes’s life where he moves to Madison and meets Dahmer. This is really the only episode that does this, which isn’t enough for me to feel that the show should be marketed as a show that centers its victims. While this particular episode doesn’t have much egregious violence, many of the other episodes show the gruesomeness of Dahmer’s murders which again just doesn’t feel like it centers itself around the victims. Instead, it uses the victims and their murder as a spectacle for the world to witness for its own viewing pleasure. Many have flocked to social media to tout that they can easily watch the horrific murders throughout the show, completely defeating the purpose of the attempts to focus on the victims. With the horrendous nature of the murders that they show, it feels like they were just asking for something like this to happen, which is especially hurtful to the people affected by his crimes.
The creators of the show also failed to inform the family members of the victims that this show would even be created. Instead, many found out about the show with the rest of the world the day it was released. This makes sense considering many of the family members would have preferred not to dredge up the past trauma that they have been through. Had the show truly wanted to focus on the victims and respect them, I feel they would have consulted the families during the creation. After watching the show, it seems obvious they had not done this again because many of the murder scenes are traumatic and visceral.
Shows like Dahmer, who base their entire being around serial killers, have an extremely thin line to ride when it comes to respecting the murder victims and those close to them. For me, Dahmer just misses that mark completely and has instead created a new era of fan girls for the notorious killer.
Writer: Olivia Madrid
Artist: Alyssa Giaccone
