The new Netflix Original crime TV show, Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, has been hitting the charts lately. It became the number one most-watched series on Netflix in the U.S. for a few weeks. This shows portrayed one of America’s most infamous killers who is known for his gruesome murders of 17 young men, including a few teenagers. 

The problem with dramatized crime TV shows or media content is that the sole focus is on the killers, not the victims or survivors. There is more effort put into humanizing such killers rather than focusing on how their evil acts have scarred the victims’ families. As a result, some of the audience romanticize or side with such murderers. 

Netflix’s casting team has faced criticism and backlash for casting famous actors as serial killers. As a result, some of the audience -young adults mainly- begin to romanticize or sexualize those serial killers simply because of the actors playing the role. Even Peter as Jeffery Dhamer and Zac Efron as Ted Bundy of Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile, are two examples of potentially attractive actors playing the role of an atrocious serial killer. The fanbase of those actors tends to view their favorite actor as just a  mere character and refutes the criminalization of the serial killer that is played. 

After streaming such crime TV shows, serial killers such as Dhamer, are glamorized by internet users. Often, serial killers crave admiration and attention for their crimes. So when trends on TikTok or Netflix originals feature them, it only increases sexual violence glorification as well as disregarding the families of victims. Those dramatized series only push families of the victims to relive the most traumatizing events of their lives.

Therefore, it is essential to remember there are real people behind those documentaries, podcasts, and internet trends. These victims are real people and not just characters, so do not glorify or romanticize serial killers or the acts committed by them.