I can safely assume that the majority of people agree that serial killers are awful people. The drive to kill people should be enough of a red flag to deter any sensible person from engaging with them. 

Yet in recent years, some have decided to look past that giant stop sign of immorality and instead, drive forward in some search of good. 

Shockingly, some of the worst people on Earth will have a fanbase where people are dedicated to making somebody like Ted Bundy redeemable. In most cases, the fanbase will try and make a serial killer redeemable by pointing out all the attractive things about them. The majority of the time, it’s the killer’s charm that seems to woo the fanbase over. Ironically, most serial killers lured in their victims through their devilish charm.

It infuriates me that in recent years, Hollywood has been contributing to the exposure of these people, and therefore, more people join those horrific fandoms. It doesn’t help that conventionally attractive actors, such as Zac Efron or Ross Lynch, play the serial killers. This can give a false idea to the audience that just because your favorite actor plays them, that makes the actual person seem charming, someone you can have a crush on. 

Hollywood further contributes to the resurfacing of traumatic events for the victims family and friends, as most don’t want to relive what happened to their family members. Victims in these dramaticized adaptations are reduced to a static character, not at all encapsulating the many different personalities and memories that the victims had. 

Additionally, I have a problem with how serial killers stories’ are being adapted for entertainment purposes. You shouldn’t dramticize a horrific story to make it seem more appealing for an audience. Instead, you should portray the story how it actually went so that the audience doesnt get a false perception of the serial killer. If you can’t do that, then you shouldn’t make it at all.

Nobody should want to or let alone be near a serial killer. They are terrible people who shouldn’t get the amount of attention they currently get. Sure, they’re interesting to learn about; I like learning about them too. But when you do learn about them, it’s important to keep in mind that thay have ruined many families and left them with irreversible trauma. They are not “bad boys” in need of your saving. They are psychologically damaged.