Released in 2022, the new Netflix true crime series, Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, gave us a different insight to the serial killer that we have never seen before. Varying from the perspective of the victims to Dahmer himself, it had sparked a lot of controversy on if the show glamorized him or if it was just beyond a comprehensible level of disrespect.

To start, the Webster definition of glamorize is “to look upon or depict as glamorous: romanticize”. Since we get more insight into the mind and life of Dahmer during his active years, it is easy to see that this brings a sense of empathy towards him, validating the glamorization of his being. For example, we see scenes of Jeffrey calling his father, crying about how alone he feels while his father says nothing on the other line, as well as Jeffrey being an outcast. Unfortunately, these scenes only help others to relate to someone who was a dangerous individual. This idea can be associated with the casting of Evan Peters, as he is a highly beloved actor within the American Horror Story’s fandom, which is also produced by Ryan Murphy. 

Murphy did mention that he realistically wanted to center the focus on the victim’s, however, if this was the intent, it was delivered in poor taste. Following its release, many of the victims’ families have stated that Murphy never reached out for consent to use their stories. The families have even expressed how this series only reopened the wounds and made them relive the trauma. This would not be the end of this trauma for them, as none of the streaming revenue was portioned for the families, even though their lives were the ones directly affected and being depicted. 

Lionel Dahmer, Jeffrey’s father, who was equally upset regarding the lack of contact, considered suing Netflix in October 2022, shortly after the series’ debut alongside Confessions of a Serial Killer: The Jeffrey Dahmer Tapes. The lawsuit was never pursued further though, leaving the reasoning for this up to speculation. Lionel refused to give more insight on how this has affected him due to privacy reasons, only iterating that everything he has needed to say is in his book. Sources close to him disclosed on his behalf that he was harassed by fans in front of his home, making him feel unsafe in his own neighborhood. Inevitably, the series also sparked up Jeffrey Dahmer Halloween costumes and the creation of memes that poked fun at the dim, and grueling events. 

Ryan Murphy denied the claims regarding the victims’ families, specifying that he contacted 20 of them with no response, but with Lionel, he claimed to not see any reason to contact him prior to filming. Even though Murphy elaborated that since Lionel recounted everything within his memoir, that there was no need to reach out further on the matter, this takes the validity of the stories and makes them less credible due to the lack of respect. 

In the case that the stories were recounted by the families themselves, this would have prevented this outcome and provided more respect to all parties involved. Each of the victims and their families deserved to be shown accurately and memorialized in a sense, with Dahmer only being a small section of their story. We were, instead, shown the relationships of each one with Dahmer, which he had manipulated to gain the control he craved, taking most of the spotlight away from the people whose lives were taken too soon. 

It is simple to look at the series as another typical dramatization of a crime, especially due to the way serial killers are portrayed within modern media in general. This immediately changes upon peering deeper at the production of it, and all the backlash received when it was released.  Dahmer was shown in a light that made you want to empathize with any feelings he may have had and give a second look with his newfound search for God and Christianity during incarceration. For the victims, the series did bring more attention to how the police system failed the POC and LGBTQ community. In the end, Dahmer was still the main character for each of their stories. If the victims were genuinely the focus of this production though, Dahmer would not have gained more notoriety by the end of the 10-episodes as we saw occur months following debut. All in all, this series caused more harm than it honored those who lost their lives. 

References:

“Ryan Murphy Explains Why Lionel Dahmer Wasn't Involved with Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story” https://movieweb.com/dahmer-lionel-dahmer-ryan-murphy-explanation/

“DAD'S ANGER Jeffrey Dahmer’s father may sue Netflix claiming series glamorized crimes and gave ‘zero care’ for his wellbeing” https://www.the-sun.com/news/6491690/jeffrey-dahmer-father-netflix-series-glamorized-crimes/

“Ryan Murphy Explains Why He Didn’t Reach Out to Jeffrey Dahmer’s Father for Netflix Series” https://variety.com/2022/tv/news/ryan-murphy-jeffrey-dahmer-dad-netflix-1235456131/

“The glorification of Jeffrey Dahmer is harmful” https://thedispatchonline.net/16878/commentary/the-glorification-of-jeffrey-dahmer-is-harmful/

Jeffery Dahmer Netflix series slammed by victim’s family” “https://nypost.com/2022/09/26/jeffery-dahmer-netflix-series-slammed-by-victims-family/#:~:text=Isbell%20told%20the%20outlet%20the%20show%20felt%20%E2%80%9Charsh,members%20were%20involved%20or%20shared%20in%20its%20profits.