Dahmer: America and Its Obsession With Serial Killers: An Analysis

Evan Peters portrays serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer in the Netflix limited Series. (Credit: The Independent)

Jeffrey Lionel Dahmer. The Face of Evil.

The Milwaukee Cannibal. The Milwaukee Murderer. Serial killer. Predator. Monster. Jeffery Dahmer is a man known by many names, all very fitting to the life he lived, and the destruction that he brought. One of the most notorious and malevolent murderers of modern history, Dahmer has gained a reputation in both pop culture and the general public as one of the most sinister convicted criminals to live, a cold-blooded killer who saw no distinction between man and beast. Dahmer is more than just a figure of notoriety, he is one of the most easily recognizable faces of pure, unfiltered evil in the form of a barbaric serial killer. In a 13-year “reign of terror” as biography.com words it, between 1987 and 1991, Dahmer murdered seventeen men and boys, and much of his later murders involved unspeakable acts such as cannibalism, necrophilia, and the preservation of skulls and such.

But why does such a dark and depraved man inspire so much conversation? Why is so engraved into pop culture, and why is his name everywhere, no matter where you go? Why do people obsess and fan over killers like Dahmer and Ted Bundy like they are athletes or celebrities? The answer to that question is more complicated and harder to dissect than in a single sentence, but it is worth analyzing and studying in a greater way rather than just shrugging it off like anything else.

Dahmer - Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story is an American biographical crime series created by Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan as a limited series for Netflix. Starring Evan Peters, Monster is the second-retelling of the Jeffery Dahmer story that has come out in the past five years,and the third take on his story in the past two decades. It is, simply put, a disturbing and harrowing watch, focusing on both the life of Jeffery Dahmer - and the perspectives of those he killed and those families. The show researched the number one spot on Netflix in the first week of its release. The show was the only thing anyone could talk about for a couple weeks after its release in late September and early October. Dahmer had Netflix’s biggest series debut ever, more than even Squid Game. Yes, Squid Game.

Dahmer - Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story has had its fair share of controversy regarding the ethical element of whether a show like this should be made at all. The series caught fire after Netflix tagged it as “LGBTQ” content, though Netflix eventually moved the label. Critics have asked whether it was even ethical to revisit the story at all and some saw it as only bringing more life to a cruel, sociopathic serial killer.

Dahmer - Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story is self-aware and tries to not glorify the monster, by showing the Jeffery Dahmer story from the perspective of those that knew and loved him (For example, Jeffrey's father Lionel Dahmer), and those he devastated, killed and mutilated, and/or traumatized, such as his victims and the victim’s families. The series shows the crimes of Jeffery Dahmer partially from the perspective of his real-life neighbor Glenda Cleveland, who in the show unlike real life is his left next-door neighbor. Perhaps the most notable thing about the series is that it explores how system racism and homophobia aided Dahmer in the fact he got away with these horrific crimes for so long without getting caught, despite Dahmer having a criminal record. This, along with the fact that much of the story is told from the perspectives of his victims, sets it apart from many retellings of Dahmer’s troubling life and gruesome crimes. Critics however, said that the show borders on exploitation. As Rotten Tomatoes says,

“While Monster is seemingly self-aware of the peril in glorifying Jeffrey Dahmer, creator Ryan Murphy's salacious style nevertheless tilts this horror story into the realm of queasy exploitation.”

• Rotten Tomatoes, Critic Aggregator

Family members of the original family have spoken out about how the show retraumatized them as the show reveals some of the insights and personal trauma that comes from showing the perspective of Dahmer’s victims and families. Rita Isbell, sister to Errol Lindsey, who was one of Dahmer’s victims, is one of the show’s detractors. Isbell gave a powerful victim impact statement at Dahmer’s 1992 sentencing, which was recreated in the Netflix series with horrific accuracy. She said she watched parts of the show and was “bothered” and also wrote:

“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. “But I’m not money hungry, and that’s what this show is about, Netflix trying to get paid.”

• Rita Isbell, sister to Erol Lindsey

Eric Perry, Isbell’s cousin, spoke out against the show as well, saying that even though he knows true crime media is very popular, the victims' families are “pissed” about the show. He continues, saying “It’s retraumatizing over and over again, and for what? How many movies/shows/documentaries do we need?”

The recent popularity of Dahmer is an example of how true crime can be a fascinating genre for many, a genre that many people obsess over and watch for entertainment. On Tiktok, the hashtag #jeffreydahmer has 8.3 billion views, a lot of social media attention on Jeffery Dahmer coming from this Netflix series.

But, what is true crime in the first place?

According to Dictionary.com, true crime is basically “anything based on or describing an actual crime.”

True crime as a genre is a complicated minefield to navigate, because it involves reasonable ethical questions as well. True crime has been criticized as being disrespectful to real victims as well as their families, and some might see it as exploitative rather than informative, some even glorifying and sanitizing the event. For example, even the movie Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile about serial killer Ted Bundy could not escape the criticism of glorifying Ted Bundy or sanitizing the real-life events.

Monster has been criticized for prompting many Netflix watchers to sympathize for Dahmer and forget how real the events depicted in the series were. Viewers have been called out for thirsting over Dahmer, who is portrayed by Evan Peters in the show. Content creators on TikTok have even shared that they feel sorry for the killer, which is getting criticism from fellow tiktok creators.

The controversy of Monster makes you wonder about the ethics of true crime in general, and to what extent does true crime become exploitive? Is watching true crime unethical or is it merely educational? Why do we enjoy true crime in the first place? Are people even capable of learning about evil people’s tragic backstory without feeling empathy in some way?

Many people’s fascination with morbid things such as serial killers is a reflection of people in general being “intrigued by dangerous situations’ '”, according to psychology today.com.

As Criminologist Dr. Scott Bonn says, “Many don’t want to look, but they can’t look away.” The very question of why a person like Jeffery Dahmer, Ted Bundy, or John Waynce Gacy exists and why his mind works the way it does is enough to intrigue millions. Dr. Bonn likens these stories of serial killers as adult scary stories, that just like scary stories many of us like to be scared. Some consider their true crime obsession a guilty pleasure, they are intrigued by the worst of humanity as well as enjoy the feeling of obtaining that fear in a way that is not actually dangerous.

True crime is a double edged sword: a medium that can be used to educate as well as exploit. There is a fine line between being educational - and being exploitative. Stories like these should not be glorified and neither should the perpetrators, glorying and obsessing over serial killers is concerning in of itself.

It is natural to feel sympathy when learning about an evil person’s origin story and to figure out what went wrong. It is quite another thing to glorify and sympathize with these people entirely despite the victims that they hurt. Finding serial killers somewhat intriguing or fascinating is not unusual,however, some become even fans of said serial killers such as Ted Bundy, called the Bundyphiles. It is one thing to be intrigued by stories of human depravity and tragedy, but it is quite another to treat serial killers like comic book villains and fictional characters, to act as if they are just characters with no real devastating effect on real people’s lives, which is ultimately disrespectful to the victims and their families.

Dahmer - Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story is an interesting take on the real life story of Jeffery Dahmer that manages to not glorify the story of Jeffery Dahmer. By telling the story from the perspective of not just Dahmer but focusing on his victims, it manages to set itself apart from the many retellings of the life and crimes of Jeffery Dahmer as well as many retellings of serial killers and their crimes. But we can learn from the dramatic retelling is that there is a grave line between fascination - and glorification - a moral line that should never be crossed on the basis of entertainment. Jeffery Dahmer is not just a character from a t.v. show, he was a real person, with real victims, and the effects and consequences of the devastation that he brought to the world should never be forgotten.