The Issue With Murder as Entertainment
True-crime content is often problematic and exploitative
Trigger Warning: While this article isn’t graphic, it does broach the topics of murder and violence, as well as the development of true-crime stories.
I was returning from an evening with friends in my sleepy hometown. There was a shortcut through a lighted area that cut the walk down significantly, but I couldn’t get myself to take it.
“This is the perfect place for a murder,” my brain whispered, while I stood there, frozen in fear. Then I ran home the long way, shaking by the time I got in.
I grew up in a middle-class suburb that’s probably never experienced a violent crime, but my hyperactive imagination was full of gory images from a diet of non-stop murder mysteries. I binged crime shows. I loved murder mystery novels. I’d sit through hours of Cold Case Files. Essentially, all of my “entertainment” centered around killing and violence.
No wonder I could barely leave my house.
Why is the true-crime genre so popular?
True-crime content has experienced a resurgence since the popularity of the NPR podcast Serial and documentaries such as Making of a Murderer. Of the top 15 most listened to podcasts in the…
