Background:

Jeffery Lionel Dahmer was an American serial killer who was born in Milwaukee, May 21, 1960. He was arrested for killing, dismembering and even eating 17 men and boys. When Dahmer was a child, he developed strange hobbies and habits that included murdering animals and cutting up roadkill with a saw in his garage. As he got older, Dahmer’s impulses and life choices only got worse. After getting expelled from college and then being discharged from the army, Dahmer moved back to his hometown to live with his grandmother, where he starting secretly drugging males he would meet at gay clubs so he could molest them while they were unconscious. This led to Damher killing the men that he drugged, dismembering them in his grandmother’s basement, and keeping their remains, most notably their bones. As his behavior toward his grandmother became more volatile, his father had Dahmer move into his own apartment. After Dahmer moved into his own apartment, his compulsions and unrestrained impulses allowed him to kill more often, continuing to get away with it for years. It wasn’t until 1991 when he tried to murder a 32 year old black man named Tracy Edwards, who managed to escape Dahmer and go to the police, where they came back to his apartment and found all the dismembered body parts and murder weapons in Dahmer’s apartment. After his trial in 1992, Dahmer was sentenced to 941 years in prison, where he then devoted himself to Christianity and was eventually baptized in 1994. This however did not stop Dahmer from getting the karma he deserved, as one day while he was cleaning the prison gym, a black inmate named Christpher J. Scarver, who was repulsed by Dahmer and his crimes, used a 20-inch metal bar to bash Dahmer’s head, killing him instantly. 

Miniseries:

Dahmer’s story was adapted by Netflix into a miniseries on September 21, 2022, with Evan Peters starring as Jeffery Dahmer. The series covers the life of Jeffery Dahmer and everything leading up to becoming a serial killer, such as being left alone for months after his mom and dad abandoned himafter their divorde, and how the aftermath of his murders being revealedimpacted teh victims family and the milwaukee community. The most notable aftermath was Dahmer’s neighbor, Glenda Cleveland, who was suspicious of Dahmer for years and reported him to the police numerous times, but her warnings were ignored by the police each time. In my opinion, the subject matter of the miniseries was extremely depressing and revolting. It gratuitously shows the intensity of Dahmer’s murders. For instance, like drilling a hole into an already drugged 14 year old’s head and pouring acid into his brian in a deranged attempt to turn the victim into a zombie, and how instead of being suspicous of Dahmer, the police actually send the 14 year old back to Dahmer’s apartment after he managed to escape into the street. Tragically, these events were due to the police’s attitude toward the gay community at this time. Some people may consider it well made and historically accurate, but most will definitely be polarized by it.

Controversies:

Upon release, the series was incredibly controversial for it’s appalling portrayal of Dahmer’s murders. It was heavily criticized by Dahmer’s victims’ families, who described it as really unpleasant and brought back horrible memories. Numerous people also had criticism towards the show being placed in Netflix’s LGBTQ category. Many felt that even though the show is about a queer serial killer murdering other queer men, it did not deserve to be represented as an LGBTQ series. Netflix eventually removed this tag as a result of this criticism. To make the controversy even worse, some people even started dressing up like Dahmer for Halloween due to the success of the series. This probably caused even more backlash than the LGBTQ category controversy as many found that dressing up as Dahmer was promoting and glorifying unspeakble evil toward humans. Thankfully, eBay banned the Dahmer costume in an effort to stop people from making light of him and his murders.

Overall:

To sum it all up, Jeffery Dahmer was a very sick man, who murdered innocent men and children for his own enjoyment. The series was very well directed, acted and accurate, but the way the series portrays Dahmer’s murders is bound to give a person nightmares. Though Dahmer’s murders were very high in detail, in my opinion, it was somewhat unnecessary to see Dahmer’s murders in a nauseating fashion. Did the filmmakers make the right choice making Dahmer famous again? Did anything good come out of this show or did it just create massive backlash? Though the series did demonstrate some good points about how racism and homophobia prevented society from stopping Dahmer, it would probably have been best not to recreate these awful events for everyone involved.