Our Obsession with Serial Killers, Essays (high school) of English

Download Our Obsession with Serial Killers and more Essays (high school) English in PDF only on Docsity! The Glorification and Romanticization of Serial Killers: Let's Stop This! Why are we as a society so intrigued by the monstrous acts of serial killers? This intrigue has recently amplified the normalization of serial killers. As more media is released on serial killers, from shows such as Netflix’s hit, Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, to edits on TikTok of serial killers such as Richard Ramirez, this increased media has led to an unhealthy fixation on serial killers. The increased media of serial killers in this digital age has caused people to become even more exposed to violence. This causes people to be inspired by killers, which then allows them to exert violence on others. In the New York Times article titled "Man Who Lured Victim on Grindr Gets 45 Years in Prison For Kidnapping," a 21-year-old man attempted to recreate the heinous acts of Jeffrey Dahmer by luring men on a gay dating app and attempting to kill them. In the end, he was caught and never actually ended up killing anyone but he left a man with severe injuries. This case exemplifies the idea that we as humans are very impressionable, especially with the media constantly glorifying serial killers, causing horrifying consequences. Later, in the same article, the perpetrator “later told the authorities that he had slit Mr. White’s wrists in an attempt to cut off his hands — which he planned to keep..” This man wasn’t inherently violent as he didn’t have the same murderous drive and mentality as Jeffrey Dahmer, but he is an example of how people tend to reflect the media they absorb. Many people have begun to romanticize these killers with no regard for the trauma it brings up for the victim's families. With the recent show Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story entering the Most Popular chart for English-language TV at No. 9 with 491.1 million hours after just 12 days of streaming, it was awfully hard to avoid hearing about or seeing this show. With this knowledge in mind, it was disheartening to hear about the effects of this show on Dahmer’s victims. In the NY Times article, “We Don’t Want to Relive It’: Jeffrey Dahmer Drama on Netflix Draws Anger”, Rita Isbell, whose brother Errol Lindsey was murdered by Dahmer, described how watching a portrayal of her victim’s statement at Dahmer’s trial in the Netflix series felt and she described it as “reliving it all over again.” She also stated “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.” Along with Rita Isbell, there were many other similar reactions to this show all describing it as a reliving of the heinous crimes of Dahmer. The plethora of serial killer media has led to the fact that the horrific nature of murderers and their crimes are popular in American society to the point that these killers are almost celebrities. Recently, a new killer celebrity has risen, Gypsy Rose, who just got out of prison in the last few months. She has almost instantaneously become verified on social media platforms such as Instagram where she is seen as a celebrity. Increasing her celebrity status, Rose has now been interviewed on many talk shows and is in progress with a new show on her story. We shouldn’t put people on such a high pedestal, though she has served her time in prison, we shouldn’t forget the direct involvement in her mother's death. People in Rose’s position shouldn’t be seen as celebrities not only due to the nature of her case but also for her well-being. In my opinion, to stop these issues, we should work on creating media that is reliable and has cooperation as well as consent from victims. As Sophia Di Maida, the author of the article, “The Problem With Our Serial Killer Fascination”, puts it, “Tweeting that you find Zac Efron as Ted Bundy ‘strangely hot’ isn’t