THANGO NTWASA | Growing interest in content about serial killers is disturbing

For the longest time, reality TV has had a chokehold on what we watch on television.

Influencing people’s tastes, creating its own lexicon and even fandoms dedicated to much of the tomfoolery seen on screen.

In the past couple of years, this has swiftly changed and we see more dedicated followings obsessing over documentaries.

It’s nothing new to see documentaries on our screens, they’ve always been there.

From the obligatory ones that often played on SABC channels to commemorate our national holidays to the artsy Loerie prize-winning kind that people rarely come across.

However, there has been a considerable shift in viewing preferences, particularly with documentaries about serial killers.

This could all be the work of the great digital migration of the 2010s where people moved from shout-outs on radio and TV to the quicker feeds on social media.

As conversations became more confrontational and “woke”, those who bore the brunt often found some niche to belong in. Even if it wasn’t spurred by the topics of the time.

More and more niche groups developed in an ever contentious digital landscape, resulting in the internet we see today.

But as this came to rise so did the type of entertainment people enjoy.

You were always likely to find something that fed your soul, even if someone else felt it was oppressive to them.

So by the time 2020 rolled in, the many people who sought to express themselves while sitting at home bored resorted to podcasts.

As pressure mounted for people to stay informed, conversations also evolved. Screen grabs and screen recording became the new Harvard referencing.

Nothing was safe from proving a point as more and more people looked to all kinds of source material to better understand a topic.

This also includes fandoms that were attempting to understand their favourites and the smaller worlds they are in.

Along with documentaries being cheap to produce, viewers gobble them up to stay in the know.

The morbid fascination we have comes from a natural need to understand the psychology of the person being talked about.

Why they did it, how the cops got them and ultimately how people’s lives changed if the person ever got caught.

But like anything not taken in moderation, there is a risk of abusing it.

While it’s the responsibility of viewers to consume content responsibly, there’s a risk of being fed too much of one thing by production companies.

One case that has concerned me is the growing interest with the serial killers themselves.

While being informed on these people’s heinous crimes is one thing, it’s another when they start developing a following long after the misdemeanours have been made.

Take Hollywood producer Ryan Murphy, who recently produced a documentary about Jeffery Dahmer. The latter was found guilty of grizzly murders in 1992.

While there is some semblance of importance to telling his tale, there is a risk in giving this responsibility to fiction storytellers.

Murphy has been famed for his love affair with camp-themed content. This usually refers to outrageous and melodramatic entertainment that often earns the title long after its run.

This sub-genre has often been linked with the LGBTQIA+ community as well, which plays an integral role in the direction of much of Murphy’s work and life.

While this has been his approach in teen-centred content like Glee or Popular and the adult show Nip/Tuck, he’s also taken a similar direction in his infamous horror offerings like Scream Queens as well as the American Crime and American Horror Story franchises.

Taking on Dahmer continues this slate of series that often revolve around perverse sexual encounters that turn grizzly, a staple in his work that is harmless when in a fictional setting but glamourises the horrors of real murderers in his retelling of true events.

So much so he has often been criticised for concentrating on incorrect information rather than prioritising actual events.

In the past few weeks since the release of the Dahmer series, watchers have responded to his portrayal by expressing feelings of attraction.

It comes as no surprise that fans are willing to throw their panties and briefs at a mass murderer who is being played by an actor who has played similar roles before for Murphy.

While it’s seemingly harmless watching a dramatised version of a serial killer, it begs the question of why such a show exists and whether there is any point to watching programmes like this.

Even more so, are we still watching documentaries to learn something or are we using them as opportunities to react for our own morbid version of instant social media fame?