By MAXWELL BRIGGS

Netflix released a show titled “Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story,” on Sept. 21 and there are differing opinions on this show and how the cases of Dahmer and his victims were depicted. 

Accuracy

One glaring issue people have with this show is the inaccuracy throughout the show. 

For example, Glenda Cleveland, played by Niecy Nash, lived in a different apartment building than Dahmer’s and wasn’t his next-door neighbor as depicted in the show. To some, this may not seem like something significant, let alone something to think is wrong. 

Still, when depicting real-life instances like the Jefferey Dahmer case, details must be accurate, out of respect to the people that were involved in that case, especially those who lost family members and friends to that man; they deserve to have stories shared truthfully. 

The police on the case were already making the case even harder to solve due to their own inaccuracies about Dahmer.  Even the most minor details that may seem minuscule and irrelevant need to be depicted properly because this isn’t just an instance of disturbing fiction. 

This isn’t something that can be rewritten or have a spin-off, and that’s what some viewers of the show forgot.

Permission

This leads to another concern regarding the show, the directors, Ryan Murphy and Dan Brennan, did not get permission from the victim’s family to make this show and include their deceased loved ones. 

Eric Perry, the cousin of victim Errol Lindsey, shared on Twitter on Sept.  22, “No, they don’t notify the victims’ families when they do this. It’s all public record, so they don’t have to notify (or pay!)”

It was disrespectful and unnecessary for the directors not to do the bare minimum by seeking out the victims’ families and asking them how they feel about the show idea before they go along with any final decisions for the show. 

No matter which way you look at the dilemma of asking for permission and risk not being able to go along with the main plan for the show or  getting permission from the victims’ loved ones and possibly having to alter the whole show itself,  the most reasonable option seems clear. 

There’s a possibility that co-directors couldn’t find any link of family or friends to some of the victims, or maybe their loved ones simply shut the idea down right away; either way, straightforward communication is necessary when handling such cases.

Casting

Another complaint is the casting choice, especially for one person in particular. 

It was a poor casting choice in the long run to cast Evan Peters, a notoriously known and loved horror actor,  to play Jeffrey Dahmer, a genuinely vile human being. 

While Peters has played immoral roles in the past (i.e. Kai Anderson from “American Horror Story,” a raging sexist, alt-right, Trump supporter), the issue is, Jeffery Dahmer isn’t just some creepy spooky slasher from a horror movie like Jason Vorhees or Micheal Myers. He was a real person, who impacted other very real people, but some viewers from the show have made some kind of disconnect between this show and the real events that the show is based upon. 

It just seems as if some fans of his long life work, the viewers that will watch whatever piece of media he’s a part of as long as he’s in it, forget the fact that this isn’t just a typical casting role for Peters to play, it’s based on real life, real stories, real people that had the misfortune of coming across that man.

A question to those (specifically non-black cisgender heterosexual people) that have watched the ¨Monster¨ series and make jokes about what the victims had to live through before passing away for shock factor, or to the people who decided to dress up as Dahmer after getting inspiration from the show:

 How does fiction affect perceived reality; how do  real-life events affect fiction? 

And truly, is someone able  to decipher the fact that just because something is on television  it does not mean it can’t, doesn’t, or hasn’t already been carried out into reality.

In this case, unfortunately, it already has.

So there truly is no excuse.

Featured image photo collage designed by JUSTEN NGUYEN