Everything Wrong With Dahmer On Netflix

Image Courtesy: Strike Magazine Tallahassee 

Imagine the horrific discovery that one of your family members -- whether it be your cousin, brother, or nephew -- was brutally mutilated and murdered. Then, imagine having that traumatic memory replayed, and even romanticized, on social media every couple of years. This is the reality that the families of Jeffrey Dahmer’s victims face every time a new film or series displaying his grisly murders is released. The recreation of the atrocities by Jeffrey Dahmer in detail is off-putting, knowing how real and disturbing each of these murders was. His cannibalistic murder sprees have traumatized communities of color, the LGBTQ community, and the families of his 17 victims for a lifetime. The story behind Jeffrey Dahmer has captivated audiences for decades, as the most recent one dropped by Netflix, Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story is the sixth media series on Dahmer since 1993. This poses the question: how many more movies or series on Dahmer do we need? How many more times do we need to hear about the evils that went on in that apartment? How many more times do the families of the victims need to be reminded of it and relive it?

The cultural craze surrounding serial killer documentaries, films, and podcasts has recently risen to extreme measures with the popularity of shows such as Criminal Minds and True Crime podcasts. Although the science and mystery behind such crimes can admittedly be interesting and alluring, there needs to be a boundary out of respect for the families of victims as well as the victims themselves. The obsession with crime media in particular becomes a problem when viewers detach themselves from the fact that these are real crimes with real victims and instead obsess over their stories as if they were fictional. In extreme cases, individuals will glorify or romanticize serial killers, especially when they are played by conventionally attractive actors like Ross Lynch in the 2017 film My Friend Dahmer or Evan Peters in the newest 10-part Netflix series.  

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The obsession with Dahmer is a deeper societal issue to delve into, but when discussing Netflix’s Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, several controversies have upset widespread audiences. The biggest issue that has angered viewers is the fact that the families of the victims were not notified that their trauma would be recreated as well as not being financially compensated. Rita Isbell, the sister of 19-year-old Errol Lindsey (one of Dahmer’s victims), vocalized why she is not happy with the recreation of these tragedies in an essay she wrote for Insider. She slammed Netflix for forcing her and her family to “relive the trauma” as well as recreating an intense and emotional scene where Isbell confronted Dahmer in court, word for word. Isbell wrote that the recreated scene “…bothered me, especially when I saw myself- when I saw my name come across the screen and this lady saying verbatim exactly what I said. It brought back all the emotions I was feeling back then.” Isbell also called out Netflix for their “greed” and stated how twisted it is for them to be profiting and making millions of dollars off a tragedy that affected her and her family. Isbell’s cousin, Eric Perry, also voiced his concerns on Twitter, tweeting, “…recreating my cousin having an emotional breakdown in court in the face of the man who tortured and murdered her brother is wild.” Eric Perry also added how Netflix did not notify or pay any of the families, tweeting, “no, they don’t notify families when they do this. It’s all public record, so they don’t have to notify (or pay!) anyone. My family found out when everyone else did.”

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Although Evan Peters had a haunting, yet fascinating, portrayal of Dahmer, at the end of the day we don’t need any more media on the monster that Dahmer was nor give any more fame to his name. Although Netflix released a statement on how they wanted the show to humanize the victims and their stories, rather than being reduced to body parts left in a fridge or distant screams in the background of Dahmer’s story, there still seems to be an angle of trying to humanize Dahmer with his troubled backstory. One thing that the show was able to shed light on, however, was that most of Dahmer’s victims were men of color. Out of his 17 victims, nearly all of them were black or brown gay men. The show makes it clear that the reason Dahmer was able to get away with his atrocities over so many years was due to the homophobic and racist system that ignored the concerns towards Dahmer and allowed him to continue mercilessly taking the lives of young men with promising and beautiful futures ahead of them.

Dahmer used his white privilege to his advantage; in one shocking instance, the police handed back one of his escaped victims. Although disturbing, the fact is that white privilege, racism, and homophobia in our social systems are what allow for things like this to happen, and that is one thing that the show was able to effectively shed light upon. Whether or not you decide to watch the show, remember that these people were real victims, all with their own unique and beautiful stories that were so violently ripped from them. They were not nameless body parts in the background of a sick white man’s murder spree, they were real people with dreams, goals, and families who will forever be haunted by what happened to them.

The 17 Victims

Steven Hicks, 18

Steven Tuomi, 24

Jamie Doxtator, 14

Richard Guerrero, 25

Anthony Sears, 26

Raymond Smith, 33

Edward W. Smith, 28

Ernest Miller, 22

David C. Thomas, 23

Curtis Straughter, 18

Errol Lindsey, 19

Anthony “Tony” Hughes, 31

Konerak Sinthasomphone, 14

Matt Turner, 20

Jeremiah Weinberger, 23

Oliver Lacy, 23

Joseph Bradehoft, 25

Strike Out,

Writer: Emily Valmana

Editor: Jayna O

Graphic Designer: Katie Boucher

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