Guys... Let's Really Look At This and Think About It For a Second

 

You saw the title. You clicked on this post. You know it's going to be bad. We need to talk.

So, with the release of Netflix's Dahmer, many audiences are being introduced or reintroduced to the story of Jeffrey Dahmer and the atrocities that he committed in the 90s. While the film has been rather influential, it's arguable if that influence is positive or negative. Due to the unfortunate proximity of the release date of the film and Halloween, there are those who thought it appropriate to dress themselves and their children as Dahmer for Halloween.

Alright. Full stop.

Let's get one thing straight. That is messed up, it should not have happened, and those who thought it was a good idea should be ashamed of themselves.

With that out of the way, let's talk about what this means. I don't think that the people who did this should automatically be labelled idiots or monsters or whatever. Was what they did incredibly insensitive? Yes. But there's more nuance than that. What do we dress up as for Halloween? Horrors, most often fictional. There's the classic canon of Frankenstein, Dracula, the Wolfman, etc. along with more recent additions from more recent pop culture like Michael Myers, Ghostface, and so on. Even though these characters have all done terrible things, no one bats an eye because they're entirely fictional. So, what does this have to do with people dressing as Dahmer?

This film, whether intentionally or not, has blurred the lines between reality and fiction for these people. It has immortalized Dahmer and his exploits in the form of film and has convinced these people that these things are fiction. This could be accomplished by the people's ignorance of the truth of this story, it could be that they do know but simply don't put the pieces together. Whatever the case, they aren't properly recognizing that they are parading themselves around as a figure that affected real human lives whose actions are still affecting lives to this day. For these people, Dahmer is just another Myers, just another Voorhees. 

As an action and horror fan myself, I am somewhat desensitized to the things that people can do to one another, but I recognize that it is important to know how real events affect people. This phenomenon has shown me that there are people who don't quite understand that. This film, and those that have been confirmed to follow in its footsteps, may prove to be incredibly dangerous and harmful to those whose lives are tied in with people like Dahmer, Bundy, Gacy, and others. If these films are to be released, I implore those who see them to approach them with as much intention and tact as they can.