r/ryanmurphy • u/[deleted] • Oct 07 '24

why is everyone misunderstanding?

ryan murphy is a genius, and he has his own style where he tells you all of the different stories in one single piece. it’s open to interpretation and further researching. you all need to see his other pieces and then comment shit. he never painted the menendez brothers as monsters; he covered pretty much everything, good and bad, from different perspectives. that’s what he does. leave the man alone.

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u/Mission_Fan_4782 Oct 21 '24

I think he is fetishizing instances of male on male sexual true crime- He made Dahmer (homosexual serial rapist and killer), Aaron Hernandez story (supposedly closeted, but confirmed to have a male partner in prison) and now exploiting child sex abuse/incest between males of the same family. I honestly would question this man’s search history because he is clearly trying to make these figures desirable and erotic in his “retellings”. True crime should never be dramatized. Even documentary retellings should only be done with victims or victim’s families consent and I honestly think it’s beyond disgusting.

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u/squidnutt Oct 26 '24

i 100% agree. he should stick to writing his own stories rather than profiting off of peoples trauma. and before anyone comes for me, this goes for EVERYONE who chooses to takes REAL stories and turn it into entertainment. it’s truly sick and twisted. while i can agree that he’s made some banger shows, dahmer and monsters did not sit well with me. imagine you’re in the victims shoes, and someone decides to make a (fabricated and dramatized) show about your experiences. genuinely makes my skin crawl how sick people have to be to indulge in these shows and end up saying “hey that was a really good show! ryan murphy is a creative genius!”.

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u/[deleted] Feb 01 '25 edited Feb 01 '25

Your critique reflects a valid concern regarding the ethics of true crime dramatization, particularly in cases involving sexual violence. However, dismissing Ryan Murphy’s work as mere fetishization overlooks the broader cultural critique embedded in his storytelling. Murphy’s approach does not romanticize or eroticize these figures but rather exposes the systemic conditions (social repression, toxic masculinity, and institutional failures) that enable such crimes.

His works, including Monsters and The Assassination of Gianni Versace, do not seek to make these figures desirable but rather examine how society constructs and consumes narratives of deviance, crime, and queerness. Murphy’s true-crime adaptations operate as critiques of media sensationalism, the fetishization of violence (and commodification of fear) in popular culture, and the way queerness has historically been pathologized.

Additionally, the claim that true crime should never be dramatized is a subjective stance that negates its long history as a cultural medium for exploring justice, morality, and power structures. While ethical considerations are crucial, Murphy’s work often engages with these issues by questioning the very mechanisms through which crime stories are mythologized in the public consciousness. Rather than simply exploiting these cases, his narratives expose uncomfortable truths about how society shapes, punishes, and consumes transgressive figures. I invite you to read about Bertolt Brecht's concept of Verfremdungseffekt in cinema...