True crime is a genre that has exploded in popularity within the past few years, captivating audiences with tales of abuse, murder, mystery, and more. From the recent documentary on the Franke Family, called Devil in the Family, to Manhunt about Luigi Mangione at the end of last year, true crime is all over our screens.
However, these narratives all show a darker reality: a reality where those documentaries and podcasts and TikToks sensationalize the violence, exploit the true victims, and desensitize the public to the crimes they try to shed light on.
One of the bigger concerns is how gruesome they can be. These graphic depictions of violence and images of it can upset the families affected by it or simply just traumatize the audience. This focus on shock-value turns a real crime into a spectacle of craziness just to entertain the viewer, accidentally glorifying it.
This industry does one thing: exploit. Studios strive to up ratings or subscriptions, so they rush to be the first one to make profit off of someone’s trauma. In some situations, the media glorifies the perpetrator, such as in the case of Luigi Mangione. This can be harmful, however, when certain crimes can inspire other copycats.
Not only is it through documentary forms, but also podcasts. Every time you go on Spotify, podcasts on true crime pop up. In fact, depending on your usual media, they may even start playing after a totally different genre podcast. Hearing the details over and over and over of a horrifying crime can cause issues.
The constant exposure to true crime media can desensitize people to it. As we become used to the graphicness of it all, empathy goes away. What might have once seemed horrifying to you, like the Ruby Franke documentary recently released, stories from the children about the abuse they endured, doesn’t seem as bad anymore.
However, there is another side to it. Excessive exposure to true crime content can cause extreme issues with mental health. It can cause excessive fear and paranoia in a person, believing the world is much more dangerous than it is. Those who may have experienced a traumatic event could just be scrolling on TikTok and suddenly, they become triggered by it.
This isn’t to say that all documentaries are bad. For example, the Devil in the Family is a Hulu documentary about Ruby Franke and what her children, whom she had a YouTube channel about, endured. This isn’t in an exploitative manner, though. They chose to speak out. This story wasn’t just about her, and what was going through her mind. Instead, they wanted to tell it in their own way, and tell their own perspective.
While raising awareness about social issues is very important, there must be a balance between two factors: informing and explaining. The true crime genre isn’t necessarily bad. However, when it becomes fully for shock-value, that’s when the problems arise.
We have to remember: This isn’t just an unfortunate but interesting story. This is someone’s life.
