How far is too far: How true crime twists the truth

November 2, 2022

With the new documentary series that recently came out on Jeffery Dahmer, many opinions and strong beliefs for and against it have been raised. Many people are watching it for certain reasons, ranging from learning about previous cases that took place in the past, to their favorite actor portraying the main character, to them just having an interest in true crime. But no matter which reason you're watching it, it's really important to remember that these events really happened to real people. With any true crime documentary you have to keep that in mind and be able to separate that happening to someone in real life from a fictional character killing someone in a made up story.

With the documentary on Jeffery Dahmer, many people decided to watch it because of the main actor portraying him, Evan Peters. Because of his roles played all throughout American Horror Story, he's a very well liked actor and does amazing with the roles he plays. But along with that, having attractive people playing roles like this brings in the wrong audience. This is because a true crime series shouldn't be watched because of an attractive actor, it should be watched for knowledge and information on what took place in the past. Just like how you would watch any other documentary, in watching them you have to have respect for the things that took place. As stated before, you really have to be able to remember these things happening in real life and finding the main character attractive from playing the role of a serial killer is not okay on many levels. Many families, not just of Dahmers victims but many more victims, have to live and struggle with the absence of the family member they lost. So at the least, respect should be given, because you're watching a breakdown of what happened in their last moments.

It's really important to be aware of those things and not to romanticize a show or person that is blatantly killing people. Watching true crime shouldn't be where you are infactuated with the actor or in many cases the murderer, thats just straight up disrespectful and wrong. True crime should be watched by people who are interested in the information and want the facts of what all went down. Also it should be appreciated that it is being shared and respect should be given for the victims that lost their lives.