In case you’re wondering, no, the upcoming TV series about serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer isn’t meant to be sympathetic toward him. In fact, according to the co-creator of the show Marc Meyers (who also directed the movie), it’s actually “a meditation on how a sensitive kid can turn into a monster.” Meyers told NME that he hopes viewers will gain insight into Dahmer’s upbringing and “understand what makes someone like this so sick; that it doesn’t just happen overnight.”
“I think it’s just a different approach to what we’re used to seeing on television. It’s not a sympathetic lens, but it tries to be as truthful as possible. There were no tricks and no lies told in this show.”
Meyers also directed the film adaptation of “My Friend Dahmer,” which stars Ross Lynch as Dahmer. The film follows him from his high school years through graduation and into college, where he begins killing people with necrophilia and cannibalism before being arrested for murder in 1991 at age 27.
“I think that’s the thing that’s being misunderstood,” he said. “You don’t ever want to empathize with him or condone what he did. But I think we all have our own demons and struggles and things we’re dealing with in life, and we all have different ways of coping with them. For a lot of people who are dealing with mental health issues, it can be dangerous for them if they don’t find a way to express themselves in an appropriate way… We wanted to show how a sensitive kid can become like this — not through any type of generic monster narrative but through his own personal experiences and struggles.”
Dahmer Creators Denies Showing Sympathy
In the film, dahmer is a sensitive, troubled kid who lost his father when he was younger. Meyers explained that his show is not meant to be sympathetic to dahmer—it’s more of a meditation on how a sensitive kid can become a monster.
“It might seem strange that someone could kill 17 people and be so compassionate, but it’s not strange at all. I think most serial killers are really good guys, they really are. They have good intentions in their heart; they just don’t know how to deal with it or express it in healthy ways,” Meyers said. “Jeffrey did kill 17 people but you can see why he did this and where he came from.”
Meyers explained that the film will follow dahmer through high school and college up until his early 20s when he was arrested for killing Steven Hicks at age 25 on July 22nd 1981
The series is a meditation on how a sensitive kid can become a monster. It’s not meant to be sympathetic towards the murderer, but rather it’s meant to show what kind of person Jeffrey Dahmer was before he became an infamous serial killer.
