True Crime: our new Bread and Circuses
Since the beginning of mass entertainment, humans have had have an inane pleasure in witnessing the violent confrontations between us. Tales of famed gladiators sparring against wild beasts, animals or other gladiators would pass through the streets after a risky win, children graffitiing popular public spaces with their favorite fighters. Legends of arduous battles won passed from our grandparents to be told to later generations. So what is the modern equivalent? While horror or thriller movies seem to satisfy this craving for some, more and more people are turning towards True Crime entertainment as their modern equivalent of the gladiators.
Even if you are among the minority who do not love true crime stories, it is nearly impossible to miss the multitude of new television and podcasts devoted to crime. Whether it’s a scroll through Netflix promoting ‘Making a Murderer’, or the extremely popular Australian podcast, ‘My Favourite Murder’, it is clear true crime entertainment is having a moment. The genre has transformed itself from lowbrow, low-budget stories to one of the most popular and promoted categories in the entertainment industry. It has transcended traditional forms of TV drama, with extremely popular podcasts and multiple-part documentaries centered around gruesome violence or charming criminals.
But how does this genre get the ever growing audience from? Why are people so obsessed?
One major factor of true crime’s rise to pop culture, is thanks to women. That’s right, women make up a much larger percentage of the audience than men in many true crime entertainment. While females remain listening to more podcasts overall, 60% of females to 38% of males, women have also led the overall increase in podcast listeners, almost two-thirds from 2017 to 2018. On top of that, data from the ABC stated that the rise of true crime has been “driven in part, by the growing appetite among women for true crime tales’ while men turned to comedies”.
One major reason behind this trend is that for women, true crime isn’t just another story. We are afraid that the crimes we hear may end up happening to us. While there is a plethora of contradictory evidence over which gender is the dominant target for crimes, data suggests that women are definitely more fearful of being a target over men. Some women see this form of entertainment as an act of survival, the more we know about potentially dangerous situations, the more we will better be able to respond or prevent it. A 2010 study into true crime stories suggests that women are more likely to pick a story in which they may be able to learn how to better protect themselves in a similar situation, where they can learn about the psychology of the killer and when the victim was female. Additional data also confirms that women, more so than men, were more drawn to true crime narratives that contained tips on how to defend against an attacker. Even if it is at a subconscious level, it seems that true crime stories allow women to access potential survival cues that could help us in the future.
In some ways, true crime entertainment lets us band together as women and share in the grief and anger in an online community together. The world was outraged over the Delhi gang rape, the true crime industry allowing the murder to be communicated and magnified on a global level through new technological platforms like podcasts and political blogs. While not specific to gender, most stories are a form of cleansing or closure when the killer or criminal is caught and sent to jail. It is a satisfying ending that remains meaningful to the audience.
Alternatively, the use of murder and mystery is not new to the entertainment industry. It is clear that there is a certain adrenaline factor in watching thriller movies or listening to a particularly frightening podcast. It is a way in which humans are able to experience fear, all from the comfort of our own living room. Scott Bonn in his criminology report of ‘Why We Love Serial Killers’ explains that the affair is similar to that of a roller-coaster ride, we continue getting back of the ride to experience that large thrill of falling and the adrenaline, all the while know we are always in a safe environment with no real threat or harm.
Entertainment has always provided some look into the dark and twisted minds of ‘evil’; true crime podcasts are just a new platform in which we can delve into the thoughts of actual criminals. The narrative of ‘evil’ versus ‘good’ is a true and tried trope; this fascination of the two beginning at a young age, just look at Star Wars. Humans are intrigued between the tension of good and bad. Psychologists suggest that a reason we are so interested in the mind of a killer is that we want to know exactly what pushed them to do it and the paths that led them to their acts. Similarly to a bad car accident of a gruesome shark attack, people cannot look away from the spectacle.
While there is nothing wrong with listening to podcasts or watching the documentaries we must remain vigilant in understanding what we are being told and ensure we are not becoming desensitised to such violent acts of crime. Emma Kenny, a British psychologist who appears in numerous crime documentaries warns us that we “really need to know why [we’re] watching it…. Because [we] don’t want to desensitise too much”. This come on the back of 24/7 news coverage channels that are constantly vying for attention by showing more and more violent content. While murder and mystery stories have always been a major genre in the entertainment industry, the potential of true crime violence or copycat criminals does pose a threat.
Either for good or for bad, it is clear that the true crime genre is definitely here to stay.
