With Netflix’s new series “Dahmer- Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story” gaining popularity, controversial reactions have started to surface on social media. The series revolves around the serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer, who murdered 17 young men, some of which he consumed, in the time span of 1978-1991. 

With Evan Peters portraying Dahmer, many fans on social media have started to create a kind of fan base for his version of Jeffrey Dahmer. Students at Bryant state how they feel about the romanticization of Dahmer on apps-such as Instagram and TikTok. 

Sophomore Gabriella Webb has watched the series and feels troubled with the attention the media has given to the show. 

“There’s a lot of people that find it funny or hot when it’s really creepy. If you watch the show, it’s really messed up. I think social media just almost makes [people] feel like saying what they say is okay because other people feel it, when it’s not,” Webb said. 

With the reactions on social media, many fans of the series or of Dahmer himself have made some comments that concern students. Sophomore Heaven Jenkins, expresses her concerns. 

“I feel like everytime something has popped up on my feed about Jeffrey Dahmer, it’s all been jokes. Everyone’s been joking about it. People are talking about all the people he murdered, but they’re not talking about it seriously, they’re talking about it as the people are fictional,” Jenkins said. 

Like Jenkins, Sophomore Sydney Pomtree, has also seen responses that romanticize Dahmer on her feed. 

“People are saying, ‘he had a hard life.’ People have hard lives, that’s not an excuse. They’re making excuses for him, and I saw a bunch of people saying it was the mom’s fault. They’re blaming all the women in his life, his family, being bullied, but that’s not an excuse. People go through that every day, and they don’t end up murdering people,” Pomtree said. 

When discussing the seriousness of these comments justifying his actions, Webb had some additional statements. 

“I think it’s disgusting because it’s idolizing someone that caused so much pain to so many people. Just because you can watch it like a movie doesn’t mean that it’s fake and that it didn’t happen and that real people didn’t experience this,” Webb said. 

Another reason people had problems with the series is the timing of the series’ release, considering it was a month before Halloween. 

“People are childish, immature, and selfish. I think it should have probably been filmed earlier in the year instead of close to Halloween. Knowing that people might try to cosplay him, try to be him for Halloween, and try to take it as a joke,” Jenkins said.

The comments on social media about the show have students wondering about what the victims’ families might be thinking and how these reactions are affecting them. Webb feels like the series today would affect the victims in a negative way.

“It would almost feel like reliving it to me because they’re literally having to watch someone play themselves in trial, and they just have to see all this be talked about all over again. I would feel so disgusted to know that people are romanticizing my child’s murderer. I think it’s just really painful,” Webb said. 

According to Stylecaster.com, an article was written that included quotes from Rita Isbell, who was the sister of Errol Isbel, one of Dahmer’s last victims. In the article, Isbell explained how the show bothered her when watching the scene of the actor playing her in the courtroom. Isbell explained how Ryan Murphy, the director, didn’t reach out or ask permission from her or her family. “They just did it,” Isbell said. 

With it also being revealed that Netflix didn’t donate any profits from the series to the victims families, students at Bryant were not pleased. 

“I would definitely be mad because [they’re] not getting any money for that. You are filming stuff without the family’s permission,” Jenkins said. 

Like Jenkins, Pomtree explains how she feels about Netflix’s lack of sympathy.  

“[Netlifx] is just doing it for the money. I think it’s just retraumatizing for [the families] especially with people thinking that he was attractive and didn’t deserve what happened to him is just really unfair to [the families],” Pomtree said. 

With Evan Peters having such a large fanbase, students have different opinions on the choice of the actor. 

“I’m not saying he’s not talented because he is a talented actor, but obviously people think he’s attractive and so they just look past that he’s playing a literal serial killer,” Pomtree said. 

Jenkins expresses how she feels the series’ could’ve focussed more on the victims. 

“I feel like it talked more about Jeffrey than it did the victims. I get it was about him, but at the same time, it should be about the people he killed. It should have been more about them,” Jenkins said. 

When discussing the series overall, Pomtree expresses how she feels the retelling of the case of Jeffrey Dahmer has had enough publicity. 

“I watched it and I’m not saying it’s a bad show. I like how it went into the backstories of the victims too, a little bit, but there’s already so many documentaries and cases on it. People talk about it all the time. It’s pretty much an ongoing topic, and now it’s just resurfacing even more,” Pomtree said.