Content note: this article discusses murder and sexual assault, which readers may find distressing.

If you’ve been anywhere on Netflix or social media recently, you’ll know that there’s one series that’s been getting a lot of attention.

Monster – The Jeffrey Dahmer Story is the recent 10-part series detailing the life and crimes of notorious serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer. Dahmer was also known as the Milwaukee Cannibal and murdered and dismembered 17 men and boys between 1978 and 1991. On occasion, the serial killer was known to eat their remains.

The Netflix project comes from American Horror Story’s Ryan Murphy and sees Evan Peters take the chilling lead role as Dahmer. It’s quickly rose to the top of the Netflix streaming charts upon its release and highlights – once again – our insatiable interest in the most horrific of true crime cases.

Writing this, I realise that I too fall into the camp of viewers that are continually intrigued by true crime. If there’s a documentary, podcast or drama that revolves around the genre, you can bet that I’ve seen it or am planning to watch it imminently. It’s a streaming habit that many of us have fallen into and is a major part of the reason why the new series has quickly become one of the most streamed on the platform. We’re a world obsessed with true crime and it looks like this is only on the rise. 

But when a serial killer like Dahmer – who unapologetically utilised his position of white male privilege and preyed mainly on men of colour as his victims – is the focus of yet another show, we have to ask ourselves: who does this kind of content serve? And – now that the series has been renewed for two new seasons about other ‘monstrous figures’ – do we need more of it? 

In an interview with Netflix about his leading role as the notorious criminal, Peters shared that “it felt important to be respectful to the victims, to the victim’s families, to try to tell the story as authentically as we could”. He said: “You need to have certain plot points because he did do these things, but you don’t need to embellish them. You know, we get it. We don’t need to see it over and over again.”

And while I’d like to believe that a series like this doesn’t seek to romanticise the acts of Dahmer and profile the lives of his victims instead, it’s hard to reconcile the expectations versus the reality of it all after watching the series. 

We get unnecessary insight into the early life of Dahmer: how he came to be the killer we know him as and a brief exploration of the innocent lives he took. Romantic isn’t the word to use when it comes to a series like this, but along with the soundtrack and slow-moving montages, Dahmer has scenes you wouldn’t expect from such a grisly true story-based show. 

As a genre, true crime seeks to humanise inhumane acts – it’s a fact. Whether we like it or not, some of the shows we love the most give us an insight into the mind behind the most unspeakable crimes – and it’s part of the reason why people love these series so much. 

Rationalising, pathologising and getting down to the gritty inner workings of such a criminal is part of the appeal. It’s the driving force behind the fascination in people like Ted Bundy, John Wayne Gacy, Charles Manson and David Berkowitz and why there seems to be documentary after documentary made about these men. It’s a sense of curious intrigue that dangerously toes the line (and often crosses it) of chilling obsession.

But, as Peters outlines in the interview, Dahmer wasn’t the charismatic, smooth-talking serial killer that is so often in the spotlight. Dahmer was “docile”, he had a low IQ and, let’s face it, he only managed to get away with his crimes for so long because of an age-old fact in cases like these: the inefficacies of the police force. It’s a tale as old as time in a criminal and justice system that has proven, especially in a series like this, they are systemically racist and homophobic.

One of the many emotional points in the series is when we’re introduced to Konerak Sinthasomphone, Dahmer’s 14-year-old victim. The young boy is drugged but manages to escape and, in the series, we see that Dahmer’s neighbours console him and call the police. As soon as the term “boyfriend” is used, though, the police seem to grow disinterested. Rather than question the age of the boy and where his ID is, they release the teenager back to Dahmer’s care, ultimately leading to his death.  

Unlike a documentary that platforms firsthand testimonies, series like this dramatise the unimaginable and don’t do service to those left behind. While the series has been created in order to help the victims and their families, none of them were actually consulted before the series was made.

Eric Perry, the cousin of Errol Lindsey, Dahmer’s eleventh official victim, has spoken out about Dahmer. Quote tweeting a side-by-side video comparison of Rita Isbell giving her victim impact statement in court, Perry wrote: “I’m not telling anyone what to watch, I know true crime media is huge rn, but if you’re actually curious about the victims, my family (the Isbell’s) are pissed about this show.

“It’s retraumatizing over and over again, and for what? How many movies/shows/documentaries do we need?” 

Speaking about how she was portrayed in the new Netflix series, Rita Isbell was interviewed by Insider and said: “I was never contacted about the show. I feel like Netflix should’ve asked if we mind or how we felt about making it. They didn’t ask me anything. They just did it.”

She continued, speaking about the financial pull of series like this: “But I’m not money hungry, and that’s what this show is about, Netflix trying to get paid … If the show benefited them in some way, it wouldn’t feel so harsh and careless. It’s sad that they’re just making money off of this tragedy. That’s just greed.”

So, a series that seeks to platform the victims and their families didn’t actually consult them at all. 

This isn’t an article that seeks to deter you from watching the series – I have watched it myself. But in a world that’s increasingly obsessed with the most grotesque and gruesome of true crime – and only seeks to sensationalise it even more – do we need yet another retelling of a prolific serial killer? Especially one that was already convicted and known to police, managed to evade capture and has already been the focus of numerous recreations and cinematic retellings?

If anything, the new series highlights the increasingly glaring problem with true crime and how it deals with its victims. The only thing we can do, as viewers, is to choose whether to engage with it. One thing’s for certain: we need more true crime content to focus on the victims, their stories and the people affected rather than the men at the heart of these cases. And if it means ignoring yet another Hollywood portrayal, then so be it.

Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story is available to stream on Netflix now. 

Images: Netflix