Our Fascination with Serial Killers
By: Lee Carrillo
@L_Carrillo21
When I was younger, my mother always had true crime shows like "Snapped" and "Dateline" on while she was cleaning around the house. Since I had nothing better to do as a kid, I would sit and watch whichever was on at the time, exposing myself to things I probably should not have been exposed to at the mere age of five. My mother did not have a problem with this since the shows tended to keep me quiet while she got chores done, and she figured that I did not understand any of it. As I got older, my interest in the taboo topic of serial killers quickly increased, and I was given a variety of different books that taught me about the lives of these people.
This interest of mine was definitely not taken lightly by my teachers and classmates. They seemed to have a hard time understanding how anyone, especially someone as young as I was, could be drawn to such a gruesome topic. When I neared the end of high school, serial killers became a common fascination. Students walked around the campus sporting merchandise like shirts and buttons that had pictures of Jeffrey Dahmer and even Charles Manson plastered onto them. Suddenly, it was considered super cool and quirky to be interested in serial killers!
My own fascination with them had not come from an interest in them as individuals. Instead, it came from an interest in how their minds functioned as well as how the environment they had grown up in affected their future endeavors as serial killers.
Where did the sudden interest in people like Ted Bundy and Ed Kemper come from? In Criminologist Dr. Scott Bonn's book, "Why We Love Serial Killers," questions similar to mine are quickly answered.
"People are drawn to understanding the dark side, and the dark side is part of the human condition," Dr. Bonn explains.
This statement is correct. Everyone seems to have some sort of compulsion to focus on the dark and very unusual parts of life. For example, if a car wreck were to appear on the side of the freeway, it would be incredibly hard for one to look away. Does that mean curiosity is what is playing a huge role in regards to the fascination with serial killers? Yes, but there are plenty of other factors that encourage it as well.
In my opinion, the media and television have a lot to do with this sudden interest. With shows and films like "Dexter", "Mindhunter", "YOU" and "My Friend Dahmer" in existence, people's fascination with serial killers has continued to grow quite a bit. Directors and writers tend to make it so audience members can identify with, or feel sorry for whatever serial killers are being portrayed by exaggerating their backstory.
For example, in the show "YOU," its main character Joe Goldberg is made out to be this incredibly charming and romantic guy but in actuality, he is a serial killer. Goldberg kills anyone who wrong him or those he cares about, and it makes audience members believe that he is justified because of how charming he is.
Whether it is genuine curiosity or media and television that has encouraged our fascination with serial killers, it is hard to deny that the taboo topic is now a very common interest amongst people of all ages. Whatever the reason might be, with an interest as taboo as serial killers, one should always remember to be respectful. Although I do wish it was a more accepted topic to talk about when I was younger, it is always awesome when someone unexpectedly brings it up.