Over summer 2021, true crime videos have sparked a heavy interest in the public. Youtube channels like JCS would show up on our recommended page or a Ted Bundy edit on Tiktok. Either way, the interest in true crime has sky-rocketed. Possibly an obsession for some; leading those to act irrationally towards the content itself. When the content involves real people, full of survivors, victims, murderers, abusers, etc., when has the line been crossed for yourself & the victims involved?
There is nothing wrong with watching true crime content, but when it leads to the point of paranoia, isolation, or stalking, it is time to take a step back. “Shows that focus on murder and rape can really take you to a bad place,” Dr. Childs says. “They can help you become more vigilant and aware, but you don’t want to become overly reactive to the point where you’re not leaving your house, you’re not socializing, you’re not functioning.” Being curious about criminal behavior isn’t out of the norm, we observe signs & patterns from cases to learn how to avoid it ourselves. Gaining the awareness of possibilities or situations that crime(s) can happen to you is within the norm, but to the point of social withdrawal & isolation isn’t healthy.
Neither is stalking family & friends of the victims or assaulter. People would treat horrid cases like scavenger hunts; as professor of criminology and sociology, Scott Bonn, told Psychology Today, ”As a source of popular-culture entertainment, serial killers allow us to experience fear and horror in a controlled environment, where the threat is exciting, but not real.” Us, the public, don’t know all the details of cases of missing people or murders at times, but it is invasive & disrespectful to pressure close loved ones into releasing information about the abuser or victim. What is strange is that we treat these instances of grief & destruction of what Jack Miles says, “popular entertainment.”
The romanization of criminals has been a concern for a while but the obsession has only gotten worse. Although true crime is like any other media, it needs to be treated differently because of how sensitive the topic is and how real it is. The scary reality is that there are people who admire & defend the assaulter/abuser. These people then go on to create fancams, fanfiction, edits, merch, or podcasts solely based on the person or people. An example of this is what has happened to Ted Bundy with fangirls during his trial or now with Tiktok romanticizing a teen who ran over a mother & her child.
Of course, there are upsides to what the true crime community has done: helped closed cases be reopened, given falsely convicted people a second chance, and held law enforcement accountable for sloppy investigations. The format in how cases have been presented to us has changed over time. The development of the digital age & advanced technology has changed how these investigations are being processed by the public. As Dr. Hamilton theorizes, “Fascination with wanting to understand darkness, with these men often posing as something of a mystery and enigmatic.”
Image Source:
Sources:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oY7Dj5RQuwk (Look at description)
Comments