As some viewers pointed out on social media, Netflix used an “LGBTQ” tag to categorize its new true crime series, “Monster: The Jeffery Dahmer Story.” Credit: Olivier Douliery via TNS
| “Dahmer- Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story” has captivated Netflix audiences, ascending to the top of Netflix’s Global Top Ten List with a staggering viewership intake of 299.8 million viewing hours.
Right away, the series presents itself with an intriguing angle. The story begins at the end of Dahmer’s reign of terror with the attempted murder of Tracy Edwards, who escaped and alerted the police of Dahmer’s crimes in 1991. It captures Dahmer’s arrest, the unveiling of multiple dismembered body parts and the disturbing photographs that led to his undoing. In roughly 10 hours, the series takes the audience through the life of an infamous serial killer and how he was able to avoid the police long enough to take the lives of 17 young men and boys. |
Evan Peters, who portrays Dahmer, delivered a chilling performance. He blew audiences away with his ability to capture the gruesome compulsions that overcame Dahmer while incorporating human qualities, such as his awkwardness and self-doubt. His facial expressions, body language and subtle accent contributed to capturing the real Dahmer’s disposition. Although it’s physically and emotionally taxing to portray a character asimmoral as Dahmer, Peters rose to the challenge and executed his role with a high level of realism and authenticity.
The chronology flashes between Dahmer’s past and the events leading up to his arrest in the present day. The series dives into Dahmer’s personal relationships with his family: his father, Lionel Dahmer, mother Joyce Flint and grandmother, Catherine Jemima Hughes. The series follows his odd behaviors at school, encounters with peers and childhood traumas.
The audience is made aware of the multiple times Dahmer experienced run-ins with the police, including charges of molestation and indecent exposure. These encounters raise a key question addressed in the series: How did Dahmer get away with his crimes?
Dahmer’s actions are later revealed, and it’s discovered he received multiple complaints that were largely ignored. Glenda Cleveland, Dahmer’s next-door neighbor in the show, heard the screams, grunts and power tools coming from his residence at all hours of the night. She even came face-to-face with one of his victims, a 14-year-old boy named Konerak Sinthasomphone, who escaped Dahmer’s apartment drugged and severely abused before being murdered.
Despite Cleveland’s concerns, local authorities returned the boy to Dahmer’s residency under the guise that he was 19 years old and the two were in a romantic relationship. The actress, Niecy Nash, brought this perspective to life and successfully delivered Cleveland’s frustration after notifying the authorities of Dahmer’s suspicious activities multiple times, without any real action taken. Nash also depicted the exasperation of the Black community as a whole, whose cries for protection and pleas to be acknowledged by the local authorities were largely ignored.
Like many true-crime adaptations, the series has received highly controversial reviews. Critics feel the show glorifies the Milwaukee Cannibal and forces the families of the victims to relive their pain through the big screen. Because Dahmer primarily targeted victims of the LGBTQ+ community and minority cultures, the disappearances of the victims received little police attention. This resulted in discouragement for the families, who received little help in locating their loved ones until their remains were discovered.
Dahmer has multiple shows and films dedicated to depicting his crimes, such as the recent “My Friend Dahmer” released in 2017 and starring actor and musician Ross Lynch. These Hollywood representations trap the families of the victims in a state of perpetual suffering as they keep having to relive the loss of their loved ones, all while reading internet frenzies fascinated with the heinous crimes.
In many ways, the series can be seen as exploiting the pain of the families in order to make money on a TV show. Though the series remains intriguing to true crime fans, the effects of its airing can be enormous, putting the morality of these depictions in question.
Despite these claims, the series does a respectable job of bringing awareness to how the victims lived as young men. For example, Anthony “Tony” Hughes (Rodney Burford) was depicted as an ambitious man who never let his deafness stop him from pursuing his goals. Viewers watched the relationships with his loving family as well as his aspirations to become a male model unfold, only to discover the disturbing nature of his fate. The audience was able to see these young men as humans who lived, rather than victims who fell prey to a serial killer.
Although many true crime adaptations receive controversy, “Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story” gives the world a look into how these murders were perpetrated through varying perspectives. It also allows people to be reminded that the victims of Dahmer are not a collection of images used to appease true crime fans or sell TV shows, but they were real people, with hopes, dreams and lives taken far too soon.
Rating: 3/5
