The Problem With The True Crime Genre

By Synthia Tashfi

Trigger warning: murder, sexual abuse.

Quite a while ago, I decided to watch the Netflix crime drama, Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story. I knew about the real case the show was based on prior to watching, and was intrigued that Netflix was adapting it. While I expected that there would be a level of dramatization when portraying real events, the blatant ignorance and insensitivity the series had in its representation to such a case was beyond what I imagined. How can the showrunners mess up this badly? What unravelled in the weeks after the release of the show painted a clear picture of what the true crime culture embodied in this day and age.

For context, the show is based on the real life incident of two brothers, Lyle and Erik Menendez, who had killed their parents in their Beverly Hills mansion, California, the summer of 1989. At the time of their arrest, they were 22 and 19 years old. The prosecution charged them with first degree murder, with money being the main motive as they would possibly inherit their

parents’ funds. However, as the trial began, the existence of a much more disturbing side of the case unfolded: the possibility that the brothers were subjected to years of physical, emotional and sexual abuse by their parents since childhood, and were in fear that they would be killed themselves in exposing this.

Although their crime is not to be justified, there is significant evidence surrounding the abuse that the brothers went through- this includes over 50 witnesses (consisting from relatives to teachers), photographs, medical records, psychological analysis, all indicating the signs of abuse. The defence attorneys rested the case with these key details in order to achieve a

manslaughter conviction, as the brothers had testified to acting in fearful self-defence rather than premeditated murder. But the sensationalised coverage in the media and the sexism of the 90s’ turned the case against their favor; the brothers were mocked relentlessly for getting emotional on the stand as they recounted the abuse and the public were in belief that men cannot be

sexually abused (an argument that was used by the prosecution). By their second trial, the jury had convicted Lyle and Erik of first degree murder, sentencing them to life in prison, which they are serving to this day, well in their 50s.

There should not be an expectation that the Netflix series should show the Menendez brothers as completely innocent, but to intricately portray all the sides, as it is not a black and white case. However, Netflix decided to take a gross spin on it: by heavily sexualizing Lyle and Erik in the show. Various unnecessary scenes where they are either minimally clothed or nude,

were present throughout the series. There were even scenes portraying the brothers to be in an intimate relationship with each other - a fabricated lie to further fetishise them. Representing real, abused victims in such a manner is a diabolical approach that disregards the real subject matter.

Ryan Murphy, one of the showrunners for Monsters, had justified including such narratives as he felt they had an “obligation” to show all the different perspectives of this case; after all, during the 90s there were many such theories and rumours circulating around the brothers. Which makes one wonder - are all perspectives necessary or warranted? Why include

every sensationalised theory without credible sources to back them up, just for shock value? The series goes back and forth in between multiple narratives, blurring the line between rumour and fact, ultimately causing confusion rather than understanding of the underlying issues of the case. With so much research available out there, Monsters failed to shed light on the topic of sexual abuse properly and managed to offend the real people involved in the tragedy.

Thankfully, a few weeks after the release of the show, a documentary film titled The Menendez Brothers, was also released on Netflix. This time, the case is depicted more accurately, featuring real trial footage, interviews with experts from both sides, as well as recorded audio interviews of the brothers themselves from prison. The film manages to capture the pain and fear of what the brothers went through while also emphasising the gravity of their crime. Which makes one wonder again - what was the point of Monsters when Netflix already had a better alternative in production? To strike controversy, before actually detailing the events properly? And to have them release just several weeks apart from each other, feels intentional. It seems to be a pattern in true crime media; Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story and The Jeffrey Dahmer Tapes were also released a few weeks apart in 2022; the Zac Efron starred biopic on Ted Bundy and The Ted Bundy Tapes were literally released days from each other in 2019.

All these productions centered around the high profile cases, were intentionally made to sell on what crime story could be the “trend” or “hype” during those times. Why else would the media retell the story of a serial killer like Dahmer, multiple times throughout the years, despite the families of his victims having spoken about the trauma of reliving the experience? The reason surely isn’t about educating people, but to profit off of people’s interest in true crime. An interest that can disturbingly turn into glorification, whether it is the romanticized Dahmer edits on social media or the Menendez “aesthetic” of people dressing up like the brothers on Halloween. Fictional recounts in particular have set off such glorification it seems.

Media representations of real events are necessary to create awareness about important issues, but one must question if they are creating more harm than good. As someone who is interested in true crime myself, I tend to take a deep dive into certain cases but feel that maybe that the culture surrounding the true crime genre has turned these events into a spectacle of some sort. At the end of the day, these are real tragedies that occurred and one must tread with sensitivity in representing them.