Why are we so obsessed with true crime?
We find satisfaction in solving a mystery, feeling prepared, getting an adrenaline rush, and feeling relief that it’s not us. But here are the 3 reasons I found most interesting regarding our deeply loyal obsession to crime and true crime.
1. It’s a way to safely explore the darker side of humanity.
There is a dark side to humanity that has many shades of grey before it gets too black. Cutting someone in line to get to the checkout sooner, giving your friend the smaller piece of cake, reading someone’s texts over their shoulders, we all have a dark side. We all do things we shouldn’t. But there is some darkness so dark and malicious that it’s very rare to see it firsthand. Sex trafficking, child abuse, murder, torture. This level of evil is a progression from simple misdemeanors to extreme evil that we do not typically see up close. But it exists. And ignoring its existence only perpetuates and encourages its continuation.
Psychologist Dr. Meg Arroll said in an interview with The Telegraph
“As humans, we want to understand the darker side of our nature, True crime stories allow us to explore that in a safe way, from a safe distance.” [sic]
When we can acknowledge this level of evil and face it in a fictional and safe environment, we can more effectively acknowledge and combat its existence in the real world. If we avoid watching crime to protect our own hearts and minds from the horrors of kidnapping or domestic abuse, how can we expect to face them head-on and stop them in real life?
I have seen 234 episodes of Criminal Minds and have killed zero people and kidnapped zero children. But the show broke my heart for child abuse victims and made me acutely aware of the dangers homeless people face daily. And since then I have become a regular donor and advocate for these people groups. Ask yourself why you avoid any “evil” content or why you see it as “wrong” or “sinful”? Asking those questions may be the first step in acknowledging a fear of evil that you need to address before you can fight the real monsters in the world.
2. We are obsessed with other people’s lives…especially their aberrant behavior.
Teaching Fellow at the University of Law, David Green, said in an interview with The Tab “I believe that, as humans, we have a morbid fascination with events that can have such an impact on the lives of others. The same base instinct that draws us to look at a car crash in some ways draws us to these documentaries.”
We have a natural tendency to be interested in how other people live their lives. And watching true crime reveals how and why some people exhibit behavior we would never do ourselves. Author Caitlin Rother said in that same interview “We want some insight into the psychology of a killer, partly so we can learn how to protect our families and ourselves, but also because we are simply fascinated by aberrant behavior and the many paths that twisted perceptions can take.”
We are deeply interested in the taboo of murder because most of us do not have the desire to murder anyone. Its sadistic behavior we will likely never experience or witness ourselves. Therefore, we are intrigued by those who have experienced it. Similar to how we want every detail of stories that didn’t happen to us. We are nosey people, especially when it comes to those with unique tales to tell.
3 Crime content reinsures our moral compass.
Consuming a crime podcast, books, and shows begs the question “what would I do in this situation?” If I was kidnapped or had a gun pointed at my head, would I leave my family behind? Would I commit a crime to save my own life? Watching crime encourages consumers to address their moral compass and think critically about what’s right and wrong. Whether it’s to acknowledge a lack of morals or to reaffirm strong ethics and morals within us, crime brings up something about ourselves we rarely have to think deeply about.
Lastly, as someone who researches American religious influence on human rights, I see the American Christian culture as a challenger to this idea. The Christian church has had a history of condemning things like Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings to protect children from witchcraft and bad influences. But were they unintentionally also teaching children to ignore the evils of the world instead of actively addressing them? The obsession with fearing books, movies, and other pop culture movements seems like misplaced fear. What this large and powerful community could do is teach children to look at everything through a lens of relativity. Is this book bad or is it just a book that reveals the good and bad of humanity that inevitably exists? Teaching kids to look at things as neither black nor white but a mixture of good and bad, things they can choose to engage with or ignore, helps kids develop skills for navigating the real world. If we take away every book and movie that depicts “sin” then children will have no way of navigating the good and bad elements of the society they will soon be a part of. And they’ll likely cope by doing what they were taught: ignoring evils entirely for fear of being “influenced”.
