Netflix's newest series focuses on serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer and his horrific crimes, and it has many asking "how far is to far ?"

Netflix’s DAHMER – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, produced by Ryan Murphy and starring American Horror Story star Evan Peters, has been a major topic of conversation since its spontaneous drop on the streaming platform. A lot of the conversations surrounding Dahmer have been praised for Peter's chilling performance as the serial killer. The series follows the titular killer through his high school career, a brief stint at university, and the chilling crimes he committed before he was arrested by police.

Over the short time since its debut, the ten-episode series has managed to break records on the streaming platform. It is currently Netflix’s most-watched streaming title, having accumulated over 196 million viewing hours. However, the show's success has many scratching their heads, based on its subject matter and what the series depicts on screen.

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The story of Jeffery Dahmer has appeared in the media before. Disney alum Ross Lynch starred in My Friend Dahmer, portraying the serial killer. However, My Friend Dahmer focused its lens on Dahmer's upbringing and depicted none of the killings. The only allusion to the murders was the film's closing scene, an eerie foreshadowing of the encounter that would lead to Dahmer's first victim. Lynch was praised for his portrayal as the story was told in a way that was more sensitive to the victims as it didn’t depict their vulnerability on screen.

However, in Murphy's series, that is not the case. The first episode by depicting the moments that led up to Dahmer's arrest, showing the police as they discover the jarring details of his crimes. With polaroids of severed bodies and graphic images of body parts of victims being pulled from Dahmer's freezer, the viewer is placed directly in the scene of the crime. And that’s where the problem lies.

Throughout the series, the murders of Dahmer's victims are depicted graphically to the audience, with no remorse or sensitivity for those affected by these deaths. The families of the victims have spoken out since the show's release, after many of the family members have been portrayed on screen without their consent. Rita Isbell, who lost her brother Erroll Lindsay at the hands of Dahmer, stated that watching the reenactment of her victim impact statement “felt like reliving it all over again.” She went on to add that she was never contacted about the show being made. She felt that Netflix should have reached out to the victims' families, especially since the content is sp triggering for them. In her words:

“They didn’t ask me anything. They just did it.”

Eric Perry, Isbell’s cousin, also took to his Twitter to express his feeling about the docuseries and to propose a question: “How many movies/shows/documentaries do we need?” Perry's question shines a new light on how audiences consume authentic crime material, and Murphy’s Dahmer is being slammed by many.

Not do people take issue with the show's insensitivity to the victims of these crimes, but it’s also been said to exploit both black trauma and the trauma LGBTQ+ community. Many of Dahmer's killings that the series shows were black Americans. The racism that the victims faced is believed to be the reason that the killings went on as long as they did, and this is depicted in the show. Police ignore calls from Dahmer's black neighbors about mysterious smells, and even attempt to question a black survivor who managed to escape Dahmer's attempt on his life. The silencing of black voices in society is accurately depicted; however, the exploitation of black trauma clouds the story Murphy attempts to tell, leading to this message which is integral to the case as a whole getting lost in the fog of it all.

Netflix also faced major backlash for originally listing the series in the LGBTQ+ section on the website. Although Dahmer did identify as a gay man, the show is not a piece of LGBTQ+ media — it's a tale of death and sorrow. This even further shows how the streaming platform didn’t take sensitivity into account. It’s also worth adding that despite the show's rating, the platform failed to add trigger messages before the start of episodes that show extremely graphic material.

In this day and age, true crime is a popular genre. But, are there ways to tell these stories without crossing these lines that exploit what's been lost? It's not impossible to depict these stories in such a way, but the glitz and glamour have to be taken out, and it has to be a raw fact-driven story. Dahmer is not that. As a matter of fact, it gets major facts about the case wrong. For example, the show depicts Glenda Cleveland (played by Niecy Nash) to be Dahmer's next-door neighbor, which wasn't true. Cleveland was not a resident in the Oxford Apartments; she actually lived in the building next door. It was Pamela Bass who lived across the hall from Dahmer. It seems that the series meshed both these women's experiences into one. This was an odd choice, and contradicts the message about amplifying black voices, since Bass’ voice gets lost in the midst.

Dahmer gets this major detail wrong, but made a point to romanticize Dahmer's choice to get baptized on the day fellow serial killer John Wayne Gacy happened to get his death sentence. The cinematography parallels these events, and depicts a lunar eclipse that happened that day too. There are also details the show missed. For example, Peters as Dahmer during his trial is always shown in his eyeglasses; however, in real life, Dahmer chose to not wear his glasses during the trial because he didn’t want to clearly see the victims' families. These types of details like are so small, but so impactful.

Nonetheless, Peters' performance is bone-chilling, as intended. However, it is in the best interest of these studios to make an effort to protect these families and unprivileged communities who have suffered so much. Forcing them to abruptly relive this dark chapter is unfair, and for many of the families, it will be a major step back in their attempts to heal from what they've endured. Going forward ,hopefully Netflix and other media giants who choose to bring true-crime stories to the screen take a moment to weigh the impact of the story they are telling.

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Sources: The Tab, People, Insider