What makes someone a serial killer? Are they born evil? Or could it be their upbringing, childhood experiences, psychology and socialisation? These questions surround our obsession with serial killers. With Monster: the Jeffrey Dahmer Story (2022) streaming now, we look at the ongoing media fascination with Dahmer.
What makes someone a serial killer? Are they born evil? Or could it be their upbringing, childhood experiences, psychology and socialisation? These questions surround our obsession with serial killers; in fact, much of the fear they hold over us is based on our inability to understand or comprehend their motivations and actions; after all, as humans, we like to place behaviour in easily defined boxes. For example, when we view the act of murder through a lens of self-defence, war or revenge, we find it easier to identify a person’s motivation. But a random homicide based on desire remains obscure and scary. At the same time, the murder of a child remains unfathomable due to the power dynamics at play, even if it’s another child who perpetrates the crime.
In 2012, based on the graphic novel by cartoonist John Backderf, who was friends with Dahmer in high school, My Friend Dahmer placed the viewer into a series of uncomfortable teenage encounters, exploring Dahmer’s youth. For some, this proved far too upsetting, as humour, awkwardness and adolescent hormones reminded us that Dahmer was once a teenager with parents unaware of his developing darkness. This descent into darkness is one of the key things we find so fascinating when exploring people like Dahmer. But if My Friend Dahmer unnerved and upset its audience by challenging our notions of what makes a young man become a vicious killer, then Monster: the Jeffrey Dahmer Story clearly aimed to explore the failures of a society that allows them to grow.
The Netflix drama is as stomach-churning in its horror as it is scathing of the institutions that were supposed to protect and serve. Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan’s complex and layered drama rejects the notion that Dahmer killed freely just because his victims (Black, Hispanic, Bisexual and Gay men) had no one who cared about them. Instead, it squarely places much of the blame for his evasion of justice at the doorstep of the authorities, whose actions were laced with racism, bias, homophobia and corruption.
Like My Friend Dahmer, Monster is keen to put a human face to the horror, and Evan Peters is charged with this near-impossible task. Peters not only achieves this, but he also offers us a performance of such uncomfortable depth and realism that it clearly takes a heavy emotional toll on the young actor. There have been and will continue to be accusations of exploitation, with many arguing that the show should have placed its focus on the victims of Dahmer rather than the man himself. Maybe this is true, but the upbringing, psychology, childhood and internal horror of the man who took so many lives are essential in attempting to answer the pivotal question of why? And it’s this simple question that surrounds our ongoing interest in serial killers. Why?
Psychologists will attempt to provide answers based on uncertain science. Still, the thing that scares us most, the thing we find difficult to navigate, is the idea that these people walk among us. Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story is uncomfortable to view because it should be; it’s revolting, heartbreaking, infuriating and challenging as it unpicks the crimes of a man who should have faced justice long before he did. But it’s also stomach-churning, due to the ‘ordinary’ if at times chaotic upbringing Dahmer had, making us question whether it’s really nature or nurture that gives birth to a killer.
No film or TV drama is going to provide us with all the answers we seek, but they do enable us to question the actions and inactions of those who spotted the warning signs long before anyone lost their life.
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