The Impact of the Jeffrey Dahmer Series

Everyone loves a little true crime, especially during the Halloween season, whether it’s watching your favorite YouTuber talk about a famous case or watching a documentary about a serial killer. With the Jeffrey Dahmer series dropping on Netflix only a few days before the start of October, people are eager to get their fill.  

However, since the start of the series, many people have had mixed feelings. While most people are satisfied with how the series has turned out, many have questioned the morality of the show.  

For many families of the victims, they live every day of their lives trying to heal from the trauma of their sons, nephews, or brothers getting murdered. However, it seems as soon as they’re able to get some sort of closure, another discussion about it is brought up and their wounds are reopened. This has been especially clear with the popularity of the Dahmer series.  

The show focuses on the tragic deaths of the 15 Indigenous, Black, Asian, and Latino men and boys that Jeffrey Dahmer murdered and ate. It also provides us with background information into the life he lived before, during, and after he was caught and tried for the murders.  

Each episode tends to focus on one or two victims, with the first telling the story of Tracy Edwards, the man who escaped from him and got the killer arrested. From there, the viewer is shown Dahmer in the police station getting interviewed, telling the stories of the murders and how they occurred.  

The graphic scenes that follow the interviews show how Dahmer would lure his victims into his home and eventually kill them. And as if this wasn’t enough, the families of the victims are shown with their sons only moments before disaster.  

For many of the families, however, they were not aware that these scenes were occurring. In fact, after watching and/or hearing about the series, some of the families came out to say that the series was “careless” and “falsely depicted.” 

So, should you watch the series?  

Well, with many of the victims’ families coming out to say that they don’t believe the series is an accurate representation, viewers might want to steer clear of the show and instead search for a better told story of the murders, regardless of the 5-star ratings or the popularity of the show. Because in the end, nobody knows the truth like the ones who lived it.