To Netflix,
Intro
As people who use your streaming service, both of us gravitated towards the #1 show on the charts in Canada, “Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story”. As people of colour, the stories and suffering of the victims and their families struck a chord with us, because we could identify with the differential treatment, and discrimination they were bombarded without throughout the course of the TV series. As sociology majors, we could not help but critically analyze the problematic show; and now we want to use our knowledge of critical race theories to take a stand against systemic racism, and ask you, (Netflix) to remove the deeply troubling and re-traumatizing show.
Many scenes are re-traumatizing
Many scenes within the series displayed violent and traumatizing racist acts, such as when the police repeatedly called the Sinthasomphone family, and assaulted them with racial slurs after their neglect led to the murder of their son. The show included many such scenes of blatant racism, but racism was never explicitly talked about in the show. The families of victims and people of colour never received justice for these racist acts, and the end of the series left viewers feeling like there was no hope for people of colour, who were fighting for justice and respect within the legal system. This is problematic, because when severely racist scenes such as the ones in Dahmer are not also paired with justice, repercussions, discussions or at the very least, labeling such acts as racist, it normalizes it. When racism is not explicitly named in the show, it leaves these interactions up to the interpretation of the viewer, and for many people who do not understand the complexities and nuances of racism, these scenes may reinforce and perpetuate stereotypes that viewers may hold about racialized people. This was a major oversight by the creators of the show. It could have been framed in such a way, that the show could have discussed why Dahmer chose mainly black and brown victims, and why systemic racism in America allowed him to continue with his atrocious acts, because law enforcement and society simply didn’t value the lives of queer men of colour, as much as they did if the victims had been white and heterosexual. This is an example of why white hetero-patriarchy is so harmful, and how the intersection of racism and homophobia helped Dahmer evade arrest for 13 years.
Ripple Effect & Social Media
The series has received a lot of backlash on the internet, especially from people of colour. The show details how the serial killer used systemic racism in law enforcement and the legal system, in order to evade arrest for 13 years. He took the lives of 17 innocent young men, mainly people of colour. This show is not only traumatizing for the average viewer, but has re-traumatized and shattered the lives of the grieving families of victims. The problematic issues arising from the show have made their way to Tiktok, where users romanticize Dahmer and his crimes, empathize with him, and make a mockery of the suffering that his victims endured. A new trend has arisen, where content creators complain that the show wasn’t gory enough, as though it is impressive to lack empathy. Many users also empathize with Dahmer, and express that he should not have been charged for his crimes. Unfortunately, social media users, and creators of the show failed to actually name and address white supremacy and systemic racism that contributed to the many lives lost, and instead glossed over these issues.
Stereotypes
People of colour were portrayed in a stereotypical fashion, and when faced with racism, never found justice. Stereotypes are not necessarily harmful because they are inaccurate, but they are harmful because they are not the whole truth. Stereotypes paint every one with the same brush, and leave no room for individual difference in regard to preferences, personality, experiences, or talents. They were portrayed as being poor, and the neighbourhood Dahmer lived in was illustrated as black, poor, and dangerous. Not once did the show mention how Dahmer chose his neighbourhood in order to easily find black and queer victims, and that he selected these men with purpose because he understood how systemic racism worked. The cops did not care about these missing men because they were black as well as being queer. The show should have address this directly, in order to demonstrate how systemic racism works, and to allow people to unpack their own prejudicial ideas. This was a major oversight, as many people who do not understand systemic racism would not make this connection like we did. It was deeply troubling to watch, because the media influences people, and how they will view people of colour based on these stereotypes.
White Supremacy
The story was told from Dahmer’s perspective, and this works to uphold white supremacy and patriarchy. Most of the media we consume, comes from a white character’s perspective, and this show was no exception. The majority of screen time was dedicated to Dahmer’s life story, and his voice monopolized the series. Because of this, viewers could not help but empathize with the murderer, because of the way he was framed as being abandoned as a child. Whiteness is normalized in our society, and we see evidence of this in the way that most mainstream movies and tv centre white lives. Not only does this show normalize whiteness and uphold white supremacy, it also further oppressed black Americans’ by exploiting them, and capitalizing off of their suffering due top systemic racism. Dahmer was the one who murdered, yet he was put in the spotlight, received the fame, gained empathy from viewers, and is now forever immortalized as the lonely and misunderstood killer thanks to the show. His name and case are now more prevalent than every before in the media and social networking sites. All of the people who contributed to the creation of this show have benefitted both social and economically, however, this fame and notoriety for Dahmer and the creators of this show have come at a great cost for victims and their families. The show could have been used to bring awareness to systemic racism and homphobia, and to dissect the intersecting forms of oppression that created the environment in which these men were unsafe and deemed unimportant. But instead, Dahmer himself has simply become more famous, and white supremacy has been upheld yet again.
We can dig even deeper still, and examine how not only were the victims exploited, but also the black actors who portrayed them. All of the BIPOC characters within the show were in small or supporting roles in relation to Dahmer. This mirrors the racial hierarchy within America, which amplifies the voices of white characters, at the expense of oppressing the voices of people of colour. Whiteness was centred, and people of colour were othered. We can also extend this idea beyond the screen, and think about Evan Peters, the actor who portrayed Dahmer. As the principle actor in the series, his wage, as well as hours worked would have been significantly higher than the actors of colour who were in supporting roles. His costars of colour, were simply used to support his role, and push forward the film that capitalized on the shock value and suffering of real people. People of colour may be allowed to work along side white actors in the film industry, but their voices are rarely centred, and therefore they continue to earn lower wages than their white counterparts.
Intersectionality
It is really important to view this show, and the Dahmer case in general, through an intersectional lens, because not only were the victim’s disappearances neglected due to their race, but also because of their sexuality. The police neglected to search Dahmer’s apartment because of their homophobic predispositions, and Dahmer used this knowledge to get under their skin, and manipulate them. An example of homophobia causing a neglectful investigation, was when Dahmer claimed that the boy, Konerak Sinthasomphone, was his partner. The police neglected to question Dahmer, check IDs, and search the apartment, because homosexuality made them uncomfortable, and they did not want to know about the nature of the relationship. The police made the decision to let the boy go back to a potentially dangerous situation, rather than investigating something that made them slightly uncomfortable. This is entirely unacceptable; it is their job to keep people safe. Perhaps the most problematic aspect of this show, is the amount of racist and homophobic content, without actually naming them as racist or homophobic and why.
Capitalizing from Black trauma
We found this show deeply troubling, and deeply problematic. We would like to have it removed. It is another show capitalizing off of black trauma, and in our opinion did not bring justice to the victims families like the introduction espouses. Media is a reflection of the racial hierarchy in North America, and this show made money from the suffering of people of colour, with no mention of the discrimination which sealed their fates.
Conclusion
This show is an example of a white led narrative, which exploited the suffering of people of colour to further capitalist interests, which primarily benefit white people. Crime docuseries have been gaining momentum on the streaming services such as Netflix, but what differentiates Dahmer from the rest, is that the horrific crimes and mental abuse inflicted on the victims was visually reenacted for viewers to experience, and not just described or stated as fact. This put us in their shoes, and it was deeply troubling and traumatizing to watch. It is always unethical to reenact scenes of murder and mutilation, but this was also exploitative and re-traumatizing, because these crimes were inflicted upon queer, black and brown bodies, belonging to people who are already marginalized and disproportionately exposed to discrimination, abuse, and violence within our society. Unearthing the suffering of these victims who already endured so much pain, discrimination and disadvantage, in order to achieve fame, shock value, and a profit, is entirely inhumane and criminal.
Sincerely,
Students seeking social justice