DAHMER – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story is causing backlash on social networks, largely with regards to the families of the victims but the series appeals to the streaming site’s subscribers and turns out to be a hit for Netflix.
Are serial killers, the new protagonists of our TV series? From Ted Bundy and Edmund Kemper to Charles Manson, John Wayne Gacy, and now Jeffrey Dahmer, they have all inspired series or films that have been successful in terms of ratings. Released on September 21, 2022, on Netflix, the DAHMER – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story series has already attracted the ire of some internet users. The new miniseries by Ryan Murphy, creator of the American Crime Story anthology series, traces the life of the American serial killer and his brutal murderous madness. This 10-episode portrait drew criticism for its lack of consideration for the families of the victims. Although Netflix described the miniseries as a means of “giving the victims a voice,” their families don’t seem to see it that way. In an interview with Insider, Rita Isbell, the sister of Errol Lindsey, one of the victims of the serial killer, regretted not being consulted by Netflix: “I have never been contacted for the show. I feel Netflix should have asked if we’re sorry or how we felt about making it happen. They didn’t ask me for anything. They just did. ”Her touching testimony at Jeffrey Dahmer’s trial was recalled in the Netflix series.
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This situation continued to fuel criticism on social media. Eric Perry, who claims to be Errol Lindsey’s cousin, also mentioned Netflix’s approach on Twitter: “I don’t tell anyone what to watch, I know the real crime media is huge, but if you’re really curious about the victims, my family (Isbell’s) is crazy about this show. It’s retraumatizing again and again, and for what? How many movies/shows/documentaries do we need? His post has over 411,000 likes.
Rita Isbell also lamented the fact that the victim’s descendants did not benefit from any form of financial gesture: “It’s sad that they are only making money from this tragedy. It’s only greed.”
This isn’t the first time a serial killer has made the rounds on social media. After the success of the film Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile, and the documentary Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes, killer Ted Bundy was previously the center of a trend on TikTok. Some Internet users have even decided to embody it in their videos, reproducing a tense and anxiety-provoking atmosphere. Critics of some romanticization of serial killers then erupted online. To date, the hashtag #TedBundy has accumulated more than a billion views on TikTok, while #JeffreyDahmer has reached 1.3 billion views on the Chinese social network
