What Do People Think of Netflix’s New Jeffrey Dahmer Show?
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Last week, Netflix released the new show, Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story about the life of the infamous serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer. The show has been met with a variety of opinions and reactions, not all of which are positive. Read on below to find out what people think of Netflix’s new Jeffrey Dahmer show, as well as some interesting controversy surrounding it.
Viewership
Since it was released on September 21, Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story has quickly risen to be the current most streamed show on Netflix. In its first weekend alone, the show racked up an impressive 196.2 million hours of viewing.
Reviews and ratings
Despite the high viewership numbers, the show hasn’t polled well with critics or casual viewers so far. The show has received a 45/100 rating from critics on the review aggregator Metacritic. One reviewer from Variety magazine said the show feels like “a grim, sepia-toned slog that rarely justifies its own existence.”
A critic from Vanity Fair reviewed the show with a 30/100 rating and said it “does far too much work haloing its annihilator in an aura of appeal.” It seems to be a common thought that the show often portrays Dahmer in a far more romantic and even positive light than it should.
Controversy
On top of the overall negative reviews, Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story has already been the subject of quite a bit of controversy for several reasons. People ranging from family members of Dahmer’s victims to racial minorities and the LGBTQ+ community certainly have had some negative things to say about the show.
Family members of Dahmer’s victims
Some family members of Dahmer’s victims have criticized the decision to make yet another TV show about Dahmer, who has already been the subject of dozens of TV shows or episodes, documentaries, films, and books.
Rita Isbell, the sister of Errol Lindsey, one of Dahmer’s victims, said, “It’s sad that they’re just making money off of this tragedy. That’s just greed.” It seems that several of the family members and others are upset at those who seem to be milking the Jeffrey Dahmer story for even more money.
Racism and LGBTQ+ issues
The show has created some level of controversy for bringing more attention to the life of a serial killer who murdered young men who were primarily Black or Brown. While it may be painful to bring these events to light again, however, many have praised the show for exploring the racism and injustice in the 1980s and 1990s that helped Dahmer go free for so long.
In addition to issues of race, the new show originally garnered criticism from the LGBTQ+ community for being labeled as “LGBTQ” on Netflix. Although Dahmer was a gay man, the LGBTQ+ tag is typically used to promote content featuring positive LGBTQ+ characters and role models. One user on TikTok said, “This is not the representation we’re looking for.” Netflix has since removed the tag.