What Fuels Our Fascination With True-Crime?

Author: Shay Friedman

While true crime has been popular for decades, many believe the current cultural fascination with true crime re-emerged around 2014, when the podcast Serial was released (Boling, 2019). After the success of Serial, other networks were quick to jump on the bandwagon, with popular projects such as Making a Murderer, The Jinx, Cold Case Files, My Favorite Murder, The Ted Bundy Tapes: Conversations with a Killer, My Friend Dahmer, and The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story sweeping the nation (Boling, 2019; Williams, 2020). These programs have transitioned the genre from a lowbrow form of popular media into an intellectual and sophisticated form of content, with ideological, political, and social purposes appearing throughout the narratives (Hernandez, 2019). 

In December 2015, a third-party poll found that 19 million viewers streamed season one of Making a Murderer within the first 35 days of its release (Hernandez, 2019). As of 2016, an estimated 169 true-crime podcasts were available, and in July 2019, 22 of the top 100 podcasts on iTunes were categorized as true-crime (Boling, 2019). Platforms like Facebook and Reddit have introduced spaces for fans to “trade theories, advocate for justice, provide tips and information, and fuel the fandom” (Hernandez, 2019).

One major demographic responsible for the re-emergence of true crime is women. A 2010 study found that women are more drawn to the genre because they desire to avoid becoming victims of these crimes and educate themselves for a worst-case scenario (Boling, 2019; Scherman, 2019; Smith, 2018). A later study in 2018 found that audiences of true-crime podcasts were 73% female (Boling, 2019). Karla S. Mastracchio, a cultural studies professor, believes women form communities around true crime because they can relate to one another through a shared sense of vulnerability and collective paranoia (Bogart, 2018).  

Mastracchio notes that women who make a “girl’s night” out of something like Zac Efron starring as Ted Bundy in the Netflix movie Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile share a collective catharsis experience of recognizing they are not alone in their feelings (Bogart, 2018). Many have noted that podcasts like My Favorite Murder feel like therapy sessions, and the experience allows them to fully feel their dark curiosities (Kilgariff & Hardstark, 2019; Tuttle, 2019). It is important to recognize the paradoxical cycle at play here; women may want to learn about crime because of their fear of victimhood, but each time they absorb this media, hearing of another woman kidnapped, raped, or killed, it further increases their level of fear (Smith, 2018). 

The public is equally as fearful of violent crime as they are fascinated by it (McCarthy, 2018). True-crime writer Harold Schechter explains, “Stories about serial killers are fairy tales for grownups,” whereby we can experience the fear, thrill, and horror from a controlled environment (McCarthy, 2018; Scherman, 2019). Fear is one of the most basic and powerful emotions we experience, so it makes sense we are drawn to stories that trigger such a feeling (Scherman, 2019). True crime stories provide the perfect conduit for this addictive adrenaline rush, with the threat of danger being exciting but, more importantly, not real (McCarthy, 2018; Scherman, 2019). 

Retired FBI Special Agent John Douglas, also the inspiration behind the hit Netflix show Mindhunter, introduces us to the second element of our fascination with true crime by asking: “What kind of person could have done such a thing?” (Douglas, 1998). At our core, we seek to understand human behavior, particularly behavior that feels so far from anything we could imagine doing ourselves (Douglas, 1998; Scherman, 2019). This desire to understand criminal behavior is twofold; first, we are fascinated by abnormal behavior, and second, we believe we can protect ourselves and our families (McCarthy, 2018).

While we are drawn to true crime due to our fears and fascinations, critics urge creators and consumers to consider the risk of glamorizing notorious killers and erasing their victims (Cooper, 2019). Critics argue that true crime is “exploitative, ugly, prurient and voyeuristic” (Tuttle, 2019) and is “pornographic, shameless entertainment that profits from victims’ suffering, re-traumatizes secondary victims, or mythologizes the perpetrator” (Hernandez, 2019). Journalist Laura Bogart writes that true-crime stories often center on promoting the romantic “broody white male anti-hero” while simultaneously diminishing the victims – often women, people of color, and members of the queer community (Bogart, 2018; Hernandez, 2019). In response, some creators have attempted to recognize that many people “have to live in those stories, and it’s more to them than just a cautionary tale or a late-night thrill” (Kilgariff & Hardstark, 2019). For the mindful audience, these stories are about resisting victim-blaming and offering dignity and respect to victims (Kilgariff & Hardstark, 2019). 

With the re-emergence of the true-crime genre, easily accessed thanks to popular streaming services and podcasts, some of the most gruesome crimes are memorialized through dramatic retellings and reenactments (Williams, 2020). The public, most notably women, are flocking en masse to engage with these narratives due to desires for social connection amidst great vulnerability, the adrenaline rush, addiction to the sensation of fear, and the natural desire to understand the darkest of human impulses and actions. 

References

  1. Bogart, L. (2018, Jan 31). Why our true crime obsession is bad for society. The Week. https://theweek.com/articles/736073/why-true-crime-obsession-bad-society.

  2. Boling, K. S. (2019). True crime podcasting: Journalism, justice, or entertainment? Radio Journal: International Studies in Broadcast & Audio Media, 17(2), 161-178. https://doi-org.proxymu.wrlc.org/10.1386/rjao_00003_1.

  3. Douglas, J. E. & Olshaker, M. (1998). Mindhunter: Inside the FBI’s elite serial crime unit. Gallery Books.

  4. Hernandez, M. (2019). True injustice: Cultures of violence and stories of resistance in the new true crime. IdeaFest: Interdisciplinary Journal of Creative Works and Research from Humboldt State University, 13(3), 77-89.

  5. Kilgariff, K. & Hardstark, G. (2019). Stay sexy and don’t get murdered: The definitive how-to guide. Forge Books.

  6. McCarthy, E. (2018, Oct 10). 12 reasons we love true crime, according to the experts. Mental Floss. https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/559256/why-we-love-true-crime.

  7. Scherman, J. (2019, April 8). The psychology behind society’s true crime obsession. Rasmussen College. https://www.rasmussen.edu/degrees/justice-studies/blog/true-crime-obsession/.

  8. Smith, P. (2018, April 5). This is your brain on true crime stories. HuffPost. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/psychological-reasons-you-love-true-crime-stories_n_5ac39559e4b09712fec4b143.

  9. Tuttle, K. (2019, July 16). Why do women love true crime? The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/16/books/review/kate-tuttle-true-crime-women.html.

  10. Williams, A. (2020). Shockingly evil: The cruel invasive appropriation and exploitation of victims’ rights of publicity in the true crime genre. Journal of Intellectual Property Law, 27(2), 303-327.

Ashleigh DiserioAshleigh Diserio Consulting1 Comment