's most fascinated TV show lately is "Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story" from Netflix.
Jeffrey Dahmer was the notorious serial killer of the 1990s, and his misdeeds are replete with horrific details online. "Quicksilver" Evan Peters of
's "X-Men" series plays the perverted madman in the play, restoring some of the crime as much as possible.
But compared to this man's real evil deeds, the extremely uncomfortable performances in the TV series are only a drop in the bucket. The
serial killer has always been a popular source of crime movies and TV dramas, and we will have a lot of imagination about murderers.
but Damo 's story is neither as elegant and noble as "Silence of the Lambs", nor as suspenseful as "Seven Deadly Sins", not the thrill of " Scream ", nor the Texas Chainsaw Maniac , the blood of the Halloween killer.
not only tells the story of Damo's life from childhood to committing crime, to being arrested and imprisoned until his death, but also spends a lot of pen and ink to describe his parents and grandmother, neighbors and classmates, and victims. and their families, the police officers involved, politicians and civil rights leaders involved in the scandal, other murderers and prisoners of all kinds, the legal profession and the clergy. The script of
disrupts the narrative sequence. From line to face, takes this murderer as the center and weaves a network that reveals the face of the times and the ills of society. In some places, it is quite epic.
's nearly ten hours of detailed, slow-paced plot-oriented works are not the kind that will be favored in this era, let alone become a hit in the circle.
so it's normal if no one around you is talking about the show at all.
is actually based on the material in the play, if only the parts related to Da Moqiang are selected, it is enough to shoot a two-hour crime blockbuster with a tight rhythm, a thrilling atmosphere and a shocking scene.
will undoubtedly attract more audiences and topics, but it will inevitably lose some more important things.
A lot of serial killer movies and TV series ask the same question, what is the cause of those crimes?
Some people think that some evils of are carried in their genes. The wicked existed in his body before he was born, and serial criminals will show their evil side sooner or later. The reason should not be attributed to the influence of family and society. Some people in
also believe that seldom exists in for no reason. The serial criminals in most cases are normal people like you and me at first. their criminal fate.
also insisted that the serial criminals are actually patients suffering from various mental illnesses, their evil behavior is a symptom of the disease, their brains cannot control themselves at all, and their destination is a hospital rather than a prison.
And the show "Damo" is like a large-scale debate contest supported by various facts, and everyone can find the support of their own positions.
insists that perverts are born audiences, and can see all kinds of facts that fit the view -
has neither directly abused nor almost insulted Dahmer despite his parents arguing.
Of course, his family is far from harmonious, but it doesn't seem to be that bad. At most, it leaves some childhood shadows, and it's hard to say that it can force people into perverts.
Damo lived with his grandmother when he was an adult. He could eat and drink well, and he could come and go freely in the big house. Apart from verbally taking care of his special hobbies, his grandmother almost never interfered or criticized him. The society of
is not too bad for him, and it is true that he is regarded as an outlier in middle school, but he has not encountered serious campus bullying.
failed to go to university to join the army, ruined his career in the army because of petty theft and unspeakable things, and lost several jobs because of disorderly conduct.
On the contrary, society is actually quite tolerant towards Damo, giving this guy with a small criminal record a chance to start over again and again, and every time he gets out of the valley, his father remarries with a kind-hearted manHis wife also stayed by his side to cheer him up.
looks like a process where the mud can't support the wall.
But on the other hand, the audience who thinks that the murderer is influenced by the day after tomorrow can also find solid evidence from the play -
's father saw that Dahmo liked to dissect animal carcasses since he was a child. Strengthening his skills and deepening his bloodthirsty thirst is emphasized many times in the second half of the play.
Mother has never hugged Dahmo since he was born. She is so mentally ill that she has to rely on a lot of pills every day. One day, she left home with her younger brother. . After
's crime in Dahmo was revealed, the elderly father deeply reviewed that he could have stopped all this by listening and intervening, and the mother also felt guilty and tried to end her life.
Since the parties believe that they are responsible, what qualifications do bystanders have to excuse them?
And the society has also provided "cover up" for this white youth living in the black area, intentionally or unintentionally, after Dahmo made mistakes again and again.
's female neighbor was tortured by the abnormality next door, and countless calls were ignored and perfunctory. The black victim of
who narrowly escaped, accusing Dahmer categorically and unequivocally, did not get the slightest attention from the police.
The most outrageous one was when Dahmo took a delusional underage victim on the street. The two policemen not only did not question them strictly, but also helped him return the victim to the room, which indirectly contributed to the success of the crime. There is an extremely ironic scene in the
play. On one side, the upright female neighbor was awarded a good citizen, and on the other side, two policemen who were dismissed under the pressure of public opinion are being reinstated in a high-profile manner.
Two rituals with diametrically opposed intentions were staged in parallel, revealing the enormous hypocrisy inherent in society at the time.
In such an environment full of hypocrisy, it seems understandable that a child who had hoped to live a normal life gradually went on the road of losing control of his desires.
and viewers who think that evil comes from mental illness can also see that there are many assumptions about this in the play, and even Dahmer's parents broke out into an argument because of this, and the plot did not give a reason to refute in the end. Is
human beings inherently evil, poisoned by society, or terminally ill? The finale of the
series took several scenes to cut into the issue in great detail, but none of the characters came up with a convincing answer, nor did Dahmer's brain research come to a conclusion.
Whether they are ordinary people or demons, there are too many mysteries in their minds that are still beyond cognition, and human beings cannot draw a conclusion at this stage.
Perhaps as the judge near the end of the play said, the idea of to discover the source of evil is itself a dangerous temptation, and we may never know the answer. A somewhat depressing truth like
also seems to lend a more enduring sense of horror to serial killer stories.
So, going back to what I said earlier, a theme like "Damo" needs to be told in depth, moving and unforgettable in the length of a TV series.
If Dahmer's life can only be condensed into the length of the film, it will be difficult to reflect the complexity and ambiguity of the motives of a serial criminal, and it will be even more difficult to elicit a thought-provoking exchange of views. The show
helps us open our minds in a patient way that should be appreciated. Even in this fast-paced era, not everyone likes the .
