Jeffrey Dahmer was a cannibalistic serial killer who brutally murdered and sexually assaulted seventeen young men and boys, mostly from Black, Hispanic, or Asian backgrounds. On the 21st of September 2022, Netflix released the first season of his biography: Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, produced by true crime aficionado Ryan Murphy. The Netflix show explores the motives and murders of Dahmer (played by Evan Peters). It reached the number one spot on Netflix within the first week of its release and is now the second most-viewed English-spoken Netflix series of all time (Tassi, 2022).
Besides amassing popularity, the show also sparked a lot of controversies. Many people have accused the show of being insensitive toward the families of the victims (see Vlamis, 2022). More importantly, the show has faced huge criticism for romanticizing Dahmer and his crimes (see Mishra, 2022). On top of that, Netflix has been scrutinized for presenting real-life crime as entertainment. Particularly after the company posted a tweet on the 21st of September 2022, which commercialized a crime committed by Dahmer (see fig. 1).
Yet, Netflix is not the only contributor to the trivialization of Dahmer. Social media platforms like Twitter and TikTok have seen an upsurge of ‘’Dahmer content’’. Generally, this content jokingly discusses the Netflix show. However, some fans have posted unsettling content, ranging from joking about real-life crimes to confessing one’s love for the serial killer.
This paper analyses the online content that trivializes Jeffrey Dahmer. I will illustrate how classic examples of participatory culture – like memes – can lead to blurred lines between truth and fiction. In addition, I will use Horton & Wohl’s (1956) concept of parasocial relationships to demonstrate how lines between truth and fiction have faded in the case of Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story.
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