Storytelling has captivated civilizations for thousands of years through histories, bed-time stories, and the tellings of things that go bump in the night, so it may be little surprise that a dark, growing trend in the media has been keeping many entertained over quarantine: true crime investigation and serial killer shows.
The ratings are sky high. So what is the allure? Why are these shows so popular right now?
Ashley Jackson, a first year Liberal Arts student (and Managing Editor of The VOICE) says “There’s something cathartic about keeping the chaos on the screen. I’m a true crime junkie, and watching all the pieces of the case come together can be incredibly satisfying. But there’s also a distinct emotional connection to the show because they’re talking about another human being. And those pieces came from their life as it fell apart. It’s gut-wrenching.”
The current trend goes back more than five years. Somewhat similar to now, it was a time of change in power in our country, a time of anxiety and struggle for many.
First, HBO released a six part series called The Jinx, about a super-wealthy business man named Robert Durst who was accused of killing at least three people but managed to get away with it. In the final episode, the filmmakers confronted Durst with damning evidence they had found, and he basically confessed to the crimes by accident.
Netflix had its first major true crime hit just a few months after The Jinx, in 2015, with Making a Murderer, which followed the story of Steven Avrey, a man from Wisconsin who served 18 years in prison and was later found to be wrongfully convicted.
Now Netflix is churning out horrific retellings and killer television shows at a terrific rate. These include American Murder: The Family Next Door, Murder Among the Mormons, Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel, and Night Stalker: The Hunt for a Serial Killer.
The first movie to really stir the current conversation was Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile, starring teen heart-throb Zac Efron, playing the infamous Ted Bundy.
Director Joe Berlinger received major pushback when critics heard of his intent to romanticize Bundy.
Berlinger told Bryan Alexander at USA Today that his intention was to make the audience “root” for Bundy, “and then to have the experience by the film’s end, of being conflicted and disgusted by the idea that they actually liked the guy. It’s the experience of everyone who is gas-lit by Ted Bundy.”
The real question is why are serial killer and true crime shows so popular? What does that say about the viewers?
Much like the twist and turns of these shows, loving suspenseful, documentary based killer shows is completely normal.
Patti Greco, a reporter for Health.com says, “Experts say watching true crime can be oddly comforting—a way of reassuring yourself that such a terrible fate could never befall you.”
She interviewed several experts who support this theory. These included Dr. Margot Levin, a clinical psychologist based in New York City and Dr. Amanda Vicary, an associate professor in psychology at Illinois Wesleyan University.
Vicary and Levin said that there were several key psychological elements that draw us to true crime shows including:
- Rehearsing for a crime as if to protect yourself
- Distancing yourself from a crime to feel reassured it isn’t happening to you
- Feeling like you cheated death yourself, and
- Exploring the dark side of humanity or yourself
The fact that we have been suffering through a global pandemic and everything seems to have been at crisis point indefinitely, suggests that seeing even more awful things happen on screen and knowing they aren’t happening to you might be particularly attractive.
One group, in particular, has been particularly drawn to these shows. Research by Dr. Vicary found that women are more likely to watch true crime shows than men.
She says her research showed that a “desire to understand how one becomes a victim and to know how violent crimes are perpetrated, and to learn techniques to avoid and survive violent crime were identified as the main reasons women are drawn to true crime.”
The odd reassurance of these shows has provided people–especially women–a way to unwind after a long day’s work.
In a way, murder shows are the upside down version of baking shows – a methodical, process oriented serial that brings familiar ingredients together and creates something sharable for all.
