This Business
Sucks
November 2022 - Netflix | 2nd Runner Up
Last quarter’s Bad Business Awards winner received the distinction for hiking up prices and airing transphobic comedy specials. The ante has been officially upped, as the streaming giant, “The Crown” aside, continues its downward trajectory by attempting to soften the reputation of a cannibal (!).
Lately, like many of its subscribers, Netflix has been on a true crime binge. Given the success of hits like Making a Murderer and The Keepers, it’s no wonder they would want to add another controversial case to their roster. Enter Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story—the notorious serial killer, sex offender and cannibal with a known body count of at least 17 gay men and boys between 1978 and 1991.
There appears to be no depth to what Netflix will exploit for capital gain. Families of Dahmer’s victims have begun to publicly detail how the series retraumatized them. Tony Hughes’ mother spoke out to The Guardian, stating, “It didn’t happen like that. I don’t see how they can use our names and put stuff like that out there.”
Their problem? The film completely glosses over the horrific details of Dahmer’s crimes. In doing so, they make light of what he did and fail to truly capture the horror of his actions. What’s even more troubling is that Netflix seems to be glorifying Dahmer in some ways. They present him as a troubled soul who was misunderstood—when in reality, he was a monster who preyed on innocent people.
Not one to cave to negative feedback, Netflix has since renewed the controversial Monster series for two more seasons. Anything to keep those shareholders from selling off their stakes.
Visit Netflix.Sucks to see how a .SUCKS domain can be used as a safe space for critiquing the consistently baffling programming decisions by the pioneer of the streaming service era.
This series is a disservice to the victims of Dahmer’s crimes and does nothing but sensationalize the whole ordeal. This speaks to a larger issue society is having to come to terms with—the ethics of the “true crime” genre and what happens when you try to exploit a tragedy to make a quick buck.