Netflix’s new release, “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story,” tops Nielsen Streaming Charts with 1.7 billion viewing minutes. The nine episode series depicts the crimes of Lyle and Erik Menendez, two brothers who shot and killed their parents in their Beverly Hills home in 1989. The show, created by Ryan Murphy, inaccurately represents the crimes of the Menendez brothers. Although 57% of Americans consume true crime content, this capitalization idolizes criminals and harms their victims.
“Monsters” inaccurately displays an incestuous relationship between Lyle (Nicholas Chavez) and Erik (Cooper Koch), including a scene of the brothers kissing. In the seventh episode, Vanity Fair journalist Dominick Dunne (Nathan Lane) testifies about his belief that the brothers murdered their parents after the discovery of a disturbing secret about the brothers’ relationship. In reality, Dunne did not testify in the Menendez brothers’ trial, and did not mention an incestuous relationship between them in his 1990 article, “Nightmare on Elm Drive,” which covered the case.
In the fifth episode of the series, Erik and Leslie Abramson (Ari Graynor), Menendez’s lawyer, discuss Erik’s sexual orientation. Erik dismissed the theories about his sexuality during an interview with Barbara Walters in 1996. Scenes like this heighten the drama surrounding the case but drift away from the actual facts. Instead of centering the abuse and trauma the Menendez brothers claim to have endured, which could have sparked a much needed conversation about domestic abuse and childhood trauma in men, Murphy leans into dramatizations that distort the facts.
Murphy has inaccurately portrayed a crime and profited from a tragedy before, in “DAHMER – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story” in 2022. The show is focused on the crimes of Jeffrey Dahmer, a serial killer who murdered and dismembered 17 men between 1978 and 1991.
The families of Dahmer’s victims were not notified about the show’s creation. Eric Perry, a cousin of Errol Lindsey, one of the victims, stated in a tweet that the show “retraumatized” his family. He wrote, “[The family is] pissed about this show. It’s retraumatizing over and over again, and for what? How many movies/shows/documentaries do we need?” It is insensitive to dramatize a crime, making families relive something so harmful. Murphy also got several facts about the crime wrong, including who Dahmer’s neighbors were, who Dahmer chose to be his victims and how Dahmer was perceived.
True crime has the potential to shed light on marginalized victims and systemic issues, but Murphy’s approach in shows like “Monsters” and “DAHMER” misses that mark. Erik’s wife, Tammi Menendez, shared Erik’s statement on the show in a tweet, saying that “Murphy shapes his horrible narrative through vile and appalling character portrayals of Lyle and of me and disheartening slander.”
Fictionalized true crime content becomes more of an issue when the production team chooses who they are casting. “Monsters” fans gush over Chavez in the series. The online romanticization takes away from the fact that true crime involves real people, and distracts from the real issues at hand.
True crime TV shows give criminals a platform. Gypsy Rose Blanchard, a woman convicted of the second degree murder of her mother in 2015, is currently making headlines because of “The Act,” a Hulu series portraying her crimes. Blanchard’s reality TV show and large social media platform make her an influencer, with public focus on her internet persona and romantic relationships.
True crime should honor the truth and amplify the voices of victims, rather than sensationalizing or distorting their stories for entertainment. While dramatized series like “Monsters” may draw in viewers, they often blur the line between fact and fiction, overshadowing the real issues at the heart of these cases. True crime should be presented through real life documentaries that stick to the facts, allowing for a more respectful, accurate and impactful exploration of these tragedies. Documentaries maintain the integrity of the stories, focusing on the human experience and systemic failures without the distractions of fictionalized drama, ensuring that the voices of victims and survivors remain front and center, untainted by unnecessary embellishment.
Editor-in-Chief: Jordan Premmer, Chief Copy Editor: Sophia McCrackin, Managing Editor: Jordan DelFiugo, Opinion Editor: Dakota Duran, Scene Editor: Elina Graham
