You’ve seen it everywhere. The anti-heroes Lyle and Erik Menendez killed their parents but escaped years of abuse. Their case is known by almost all of America, and it was seemingly exploited by the media. 

“Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story” is a true crime drama about the brothers’ 35-year-old case. The show uses a fictional take, leading Erik Menendez to comment that the show is “blatant lies.” 

Ryan Murphy, co-creator of the series, chose to show somewhat of a romantic relationship between the brothers. NBC said Murphy has an “irresponsible” take, not to mention the dramatization of the crime that truly turns it into a drama with aesthetic sets and costuming, an interesting soundtrack, and actors that attracted social media. 

Edits started spurring on apps like TikTok to the song “Dirty Cash” from the show. You can’t help but wonder if viewers are influenced to find actors attractive because of the casting and portrayal itself. The media is not totally to blame. It seems that the intention from the very beginning was to make the characters more likable through their looks. 

This is not the first time people have thought that TV shows have intentionally romanticized killers. The same producing company made “Monsters: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story” a couple of years ago.  There have also been people like Ross Lynch used in Dahmer docuseries who had other roles that make people consider him a “childhood crush.”

Maisie Enriquez ‘28, an avid true crime fan, mentioned a sad truth that emphasizing the actor’s looks attracts more viewers. “They [viewers] overlook what they [killers] did or put other people through, and think ‘Oh he’s hot so it’s fine,’ but they aren’t looking at the victims or the victims’ families.”

For years killers have been romanticized in the media, going all the way to Ted Bundy. Enriquez said she saw someone put the famous serial killer on a “hear me out cake” in a TikTok this year. This trend involved people putting pictures of well known figures or characters that they found attractive on a cake that would typically be controversial. 

Those who are terminally online tend to band together, and upset those who aren’t. When UnitedHealthCare Chief Executive Brian Thompson was murdered on December 4, 2024, the main suspect for the attack was Luigi Mangione, an Ivy League college graduate who came from a prominent Maryland family. So much controversy was held around this murder as it turned into a way for people to express their problems with America’s healthcare system, especially over social media. 

BBC stated that Mangione was motivated by his resentment towards “parasitic health insurance companies”; this caused people online to completely defend and stand behind him. People began creating alibis, TikTok edits, and merch, totally meme-ifying the event. One person even went as far to create “El Corrido de Luigi,” a corrido is a Mexican narrative song that retells a story through its lyrics.  

There were multiple reasons for the support of Luigi, for some it was the fact that he had become an “American outlaw-hero,” as Richard E. Meyer would say. However, for others chronically online, it was because he is attractive. Like Maisie said, people tend to overlook the event itself or the victim and their families. 

The truth hurts, and many people will try to blissfully ignore the fact that what is happening in a show or media is a real story involving real people. Docuseries and movies alike are documentaries that should be highlighting a case and what was potentially happening, not disrespecting the people involved.

Yet, the media and viewers themselves are also to blame. Mangione was praised, and became a hero to some. It begs the question, how can the media capitalize off of something that caused pain for so many?