Exterior of this harrowing element, incest between Lyle and Erik has not been included within the discussions of the case, which has brought about some viewers to query its inclusion within the sequence. Many have shared their objections to this controversial plot level on social media, accusing the present creators of sensationalising the story for leisure worth, relatively than doing justice to the advanced actuality of the case. It is turn out to be such a speaking level that the time period ‘Menendez brothers gay’ has been trending on Google for 2 days.
However others have steered that hinting at inappropriate contact between the brothers is a method of highlighting how years of trauma at their father’s hand may result in a disturbing strategy to sexual relationships. Whereas that could possibly be a worthy level to discover in a purely fictional story, in a real-life-based drama, this element as a substitute lands as pointless conjecture, included to make the story extra surprising and discussion-worthy, relatively than a useful element to supply deeper context or emotional heft. By drawing the viewers’ consideration to a scandalous connection between Lyle and Erik, the sequence runs the danger of detracting from the horrific abuse, solely to make the story extra “captivating” – and it is a harmful path for true crime reveals to take.
Miles Crist/Netflix
Although there’s a wealth of choices for true crime programming, present creators shouldn’t really feel compelled to focus on layers of speculative trauma, to make their story stand out. Not solely is there a duty to remain true to the roots of the data, it is usually necessary to not trauma-mine actual folks’s lives purely for leisure, and to feed viewers’ growing appetites for better shocks. This style of present should not want so as to add additional drama to make the tales necessary or noteworthy – the tales themselves needs to be sufficient.
In one of many standout moments of the sequence, the fifth episode “The Hurt Man” options Erik giving a prolonged account of the abuse he’d been subjected to. This can be a story that deserves to be dealt with with care and with consideration for victims of abuse – the Menendez brothers, in addition to the numerous numbers of others who’ve skilled related. As a lot as true crime sequence could really feel as if they should go to excessive lengths to be distinctive, a number of the strongest moments can come from sticking extra intently to actuality.
On the time of writing, Netflix nor Ryan Murphy have publicly commented on the response to the sequence, and social media customers proceed to share their blended reactions to the sequence. It is more likely to shoot up the Netflix charts over the subsequent few days – and earlier than we all know it, there’ll be one other true crime sequence that everybody is speaking about. Although we will hope the subsequent true crime sensation received’t must exaggerate trauma to get their level throughout, it is uncertain this’ll be the case.
