Why Are We Obsessed With Serial Killers?
CW / TW / Spoiler Warning
Earlier last year, I spoke to some fellow students of mine. They introduced me to Netflix’ Original series Don’t F*ck With Cats. Before that, I had never had any interest in watching any true-crime series. I thought they would be overrated, and I was more interested in watching comfort series like Brooklyn 99. Hence, my colleagues warned me:
“This one is hard to swallow!”
“Don’t watch it alone at night!”
And:
“It’s f*cking disturbing!”
I binge-watched the entire series on the very same evening. And I enjoyed it. I found some strange fascination with it and couldn’t wait to talk about it with my peers. I was baffled that I forgot about the news back then. A parcel with dead body parts of his victim sent to the Canadian government. One guy, one ice pick? One of my school mates told me about that. And finally, the killer being caught in Germany. Amazing!
With the lockdown upon us, I had even more time to indulge in my new-found hobby. Consequently, I looked for every single true crime documentary on Netflix to kill time. Tiger King was of course a no-brainer, especially with the media attention it had gathered during the first months of self-isolation. But The Devil Next Door or The Confession Killer, too,had my eyes glued to the television screen. At one point, I had been considering using the topic of serial killers in media as a research area for my bachelor’s thesis.
Even after finishing every single series on Netflix, I still had been longing for more. So, I found Parcast’s Serial Killers podcast on Spotify — with even more details to over 100 serial killers from all around the world. Meanwhile, I listen to this podcast to fall asleep. The calm narrative makes a pleasant comfortability.
The big question: Is something wrong with me?
According to Dr Scott A. Bonn: No.
In his book, he compared the interest in serial killers with a car accident or a natural catastrophe. There is no arguing that what happened was bad and tragic. You know that if you were to drive past an accident site and look at the victim, you would see something you would wish you hadn’t. Then, again, you might miss something exciting, something you could tell your colleagues or friends about.
“People don’t want to look, but they can’t look away.”
A paradox in itself. And it has always been a fact of humanity. Think of the public execution in France or the witch burnings in the middle-ages. Even in the bible, Judae’s citizen wanted to see Jesus crucified instead of notorious murder named Barabbas. People convened because of their curiosity. And nowadays, instead of cheering on the executor or hindering the emergency personnel of ambulances, we hide in our favourite sweater and fix our eyes on a screen. So, we’re safe from any danger.
The trend of being enthralled by serial killers had already started during last century when we hadn’t had a listen to the stories of Ted Bundy, Richard Ramirez, or Jeffrey Dahmer, but rather Hannibal Lecter, Dexter, and Norman Bates. Fictional serial killers intrigued us back then, and it might be not enough anymore. Jason Voorhees and Freddy Krüger aren’t as exciting as they used to be; they are merely monsters on a screen. We know that their routine has been “Kill. Die. Rebirth. Repeat” for decades now. But something we don’t know is why Bundy had killed so many people.
The question of why is another reason for audiences watching content about serial killers. Serial killers always feel like real-life monsters, remorselessly murdering other fellow human beings. The motivation behind those heinous acts is often mysterious — and not always explicable. In many interviews, not even the perpetrators themselves could find a reason for it. Experts of Criminology, Psychology, and Sociology try their best to come up with a reasonable explanation. Often, it has to do with sexual abuse during childhood, a dysfunctional family or mental disorders. Things which are socially stigmatised, that make the killers even less “like us”. Mindhunter on Netflix, which is a TV series based on true events, explores the mind of the killers amazingly. Serial killers are complex, nihilistic and anti-social, and they break the commandment almost every person lives by:
Do not kill.
It is perhaps unsurprising that there are people who actually idolise serial killers- being a rebel and fighting against the mainstream is regarded as cool, and Heath Ledger’s Joker from Batman: The Dark Night proved this claim. When a villain portrayed by an actor shows a convincing performance on-screen, go ahead and show them the respect they deserve. The same, however, certainly does not apply for a real person who killed other very real people. Most recently, I finished The Night Stalker about US American serial killer Richard Ramirez. So far, this was the best documentary I’ve seen. One thing which irritated me was a scene from his trial. Besides people who had been cheering for Ramirez’ prosecution, I saw a few people with different signs adoring Ramirez. Despite his teeth reminding me of pins in a bowling alley. This guy had killed dozens of people, raped many women, and on top of that, worshipped Satan? Not the kind of profile bio I would want to see showing up on Tinder.
This phenomenon is known as Hybristophilia, sexual arousal and desire to have an intimate relationship with a partner, who had committed crimes. Because Ramirez is behind bars, he couldn’t cheat, which would qualify him as “the perfect boyfriend”. You weren’t allowed to have any intimate interactions, but at least you know he wouldn’t go clubbing with his friends.
Returning to the initial question of why I am so obsessed with serial killers, it might be all the above. Watching those dark series gives me a strange feeling of comfort. I know that I won’t end up like them, which nobody wants to. The shows have high production values and better plots than many horror movies. Also, the sensationalisation by the media plays a crucial part in how we perceive serial killers and their almost rock star-like presentation. I really want to know why an individual chose killing over getting a normal 9 to 5 office job. But also, I am always happy to find out that they have eventually been caught… in most cases — I’m looking at you Zodiac Killer.
So, yes, it might be a guilty pleasure for all of us. But it also keeps us busy, especially during a global pandemic. Most recently, a documentary about the Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel has been added to Netflix as well as Spree, a satirical approach starring Joe Keery!
