Netflix: Expert Explains Serial Killer Romanticization in Dahmer

The media around the world has been completely taken over by the saga of discovering more and more about the dark story of the serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer, responsible for murdering, dismembering and eating about 17 men and boys between 1978 and 1991. The boom that surrounds the “Milwaukee monster” was inspired by the miniseries Dahmer: An American Cannibal, released by Netflix last week. It turns out that the production of Ryan Murph (Glee and American Horror Story) caused controversy because of the supposed romanticization of a cold and brutal criminal. It doesn’t take much to prove this point: in 1991, when Dahmer was arrested, the series showed that the murderer received love letters from his fans. Now, in 2022, netizens have raised a sexual interest in Jeffrey on social media, while an Australian has even tattooed the serial killer’s face on her leg. wrote a netizen on Twitter. “Jeffrey Dahmer is hot,” pointed out another. Another person was still irritated by the fact that Evan Peters, an actor who plays Dahmer in the Netflix miniseries, was the first result when looking for something about the serial killer on the internet.Jeffrey DahmerJeffrey Dahmer, the American CannibalReproductionJeffrey DahmerThe victims of Jeffrey DahmerReproductionPartner advertising Metropolis 1Jeffrey DahmerJeffrey Dahmer killed 17 men and boysJeffrey DahmerHe was sentenced to life imprisonment in all casesDisclosure / NetflixPartner advertising Metrópoles 2Jeffrey DahmerDahmer was killed by another inmate in prison in 1994Disclosure / NetflixJeffrey DahmerActor Evan Petters was the one who played the serial killer in the Netflix series Disclosure / Netflix0 That said, it is worth remembering that Jeffrey Dahmer had as a modus operandi to attract men, usually homosexuals, to his apartment, promising a financial remuneration if they posed naked for him. He then put drugs in the victim’s drink and strangled her. His crimes still involved necrophilia and cannibalism.

This romanticization and infatuation with a serial killer, however, is not uncommon. The Doctor. Leonardo Rodrigues da Cruz, a psychiatrist at the Instituto Meraki-Saúde Mental, explained to the metropolises that the practice is called hybristophaly, a condition in which sexual arousal, facilitation and achievement of orgasm depend on being with a partner known to have committed an outrage or crime.

Rodrigues da Cruz explained that people tend to “find interest in serial killers as a manifestation of their own curiosity for aggressiveness”. He also pointed out that there is a type of profile in people who usually create romantic or sexual involvement with murderers: “Usually they are people who had a childhood, an adolescence, where there was deconstruction, violence, traumatization. Those people [serial killers] they can have social skills, they can have charisma, they can be charming when they want to. It’s a person. [Eles podem] show other people things that appeal to you. Many of these psychopaths end up becoming what the victim wants.” Ethics in the portrayal of crimes Despite all the success of Dahmer, the second most watched series on Netflix in its debut week after the fourth season of Stranger Things, the streaming platform has been receiving criticism from the victims’ relatives and netizens who indicate an attempt by the “red rental company” to cause empathy in the story of the cold-blooded killer. Eric, cousin of Errol Lindsey, killed by the killer at age 19, used social networks to condemn the production and talk about how the family felt watching the production.

“I’m not telling anyone what to watch. I know the true crime media is huge right now, but if you’re really curious about the victims, my family [os Isbells] is furious with this series,” he tweeted. Eric also pointed out that reviewing the story makes them relive painful feelings too.

The Doctor. Leonardo Cruz recalls that exposing a criminal’s life story can generate empathy, but that a murderer’s attitudes should not be normalized: “When you expose the criminal’s life story, you end up generating empathy for him. It’s as if his actions were justified by the difficult story. What is not true. Many people have gone through difficult stories, but most will not commit crimes like him. [Jeffrey Dahmer] committed.” How long is it healthy to watch? The psychiatric doctor also indicated that there is a fine line between how healthy it is and how far the retraction of these true crime stories should go. “Ideally, the perspective should always be that of the victim or the crime, not the criminal. We cannot normalize this type of behavior or justify it. We can consider his human history, but that doesn’t undo the damage he caused. All the traces he left”, he ponders. The specialist also commented on the overexposure of the victims’ life stories: “When we have a victim of violence, we tend to avoid, in a first approach, talking to them to retell this story. , because this can cause a revival of violence. When this is demonstrated in a series of global reach, surely the privacy, the pain, has been broken and these people can experience this suffering again.” Do you want to stay inside the world of the famous and receive the news directly on your Telegram? Enter the Metrópoles channel and follow the editorship on Instagram.