Ashley Hefner, Photographer and Staff Writer
In 2022, famous television writer and director, Ryan Murphy, created a true crime series called Monsters. While season one follows serial killer and cannibal Jeffery Dahmer, the second season centers around the more morally gray case of the Menendez brothers.
In 1989, Lyle and Erik Menendez ruthlessly killed their parents, Jose and Kitty. However, they claimed they did it because of the horrific sexual abuse they endured at the hands of their mother and father.
The newest season of Murphy’s Monsters, released on September 19, follows the brothers through the lead up to the gruesome murder of the Menendez parents as well as the events after it: their time in jail, conversations with their lawyers and the trial itself. In the part of the show after the brothers get caught for the murder of their parents, they reveal the horrible abuse they suffered from Jose and Kitty Menendez.
The Netflix series, Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, has brought public attention to this case, possibly allowing a judge to reevaluate it. However, it also sexualizes many aspects of the horrendous story, turning viewer attention from the unfathomable experiences of the brothers to the appearances of the actors that play them.
The show objectifies Lyle and Erik through the substantial number of scenes where they are shown shirtless, flaunting their bodies while at the pool or playing sports. The excessive amount of scenes eroticising the brothers is bad enough by itself. However, the show depicts multiple scenes that insinuate the falsity that Lyle and Erik had a sexual relationship with each other. The only reason for this addition is to increase viewership, because who would want to watch a show based on only truth and honesty?
The sexualization of the Mendendez brothers is highly problematic because they themselves are alleged sexual assault victims. A huge part of the Menendez brothers’ case is that they claimed that for the majority of their lives, their parents took advantage of their bodies. These scenes of clear sexualization and lies about the nature of their relationship ignore the actuality of their case, bringing the audience’s attention instead to horrible fabrications of their story – the validity of which most audience members will not even question as fact or fiction. Having an immense amount of people sexualize them again on one of the most popular streaming services in the world must feel even more degrading.
Ultimately, the sexualization of the Mendendez brothers does not add any context to help explain their story. The only goal achieved by showing these scenes is distracting the audience from the actual details of the case. Rather than focusing on the horrible reality of the situation, the audience is caught up in ogling the actors, which also shows that the goal of creating this series was not to help people internalize the tragic reality of this story, but rather to gain a large amount of viewership and publicity.
This goal was clearly achieved, as Murphy’s sexualization of Lyle and Erik has also caused viewers to idealize the characters, adding to the lack of focus on the real story. While the release of the new season of Monsters has gained the Menendez brothers a lot of attention on social media, rather than an increase in information about the case, TikTok and other platforms have been flooded with scenes from the show of risqué moments between Lyle and Erik.
Many viewers even dressed up as Lyle and Erik for Halloween and posted videos of their outfits on social media, demonstrating that they think their costumes are “cool” or “trendy.” The lack of empathy shown by turning murderers and alleged sexual assault victims into Halloween costumes is absurd and proves that people do not understand the severity of the Menendez brothers’ case.
Ryan Murphy’s new season of the Monsters series could have been the catalyst for the resentencing of the Menendez brothers, if not for the repulsive choice of prioritizing the aesthetic pleasure of the audience over telling the story in a way to give the brothers justice. While the importance of engaging the audience is understandable, there does need to be a certain level of sensitivity provided to the subjects of the series because of the sensitivity of the case. There are countless documentaries about the Menendez brothers that serve as more realistic depictions of their story. Morally, viewers should think about that before choosing to watch this offensive fabrication.
Photo Caption: Lyle and Erik Menendez
Photo Credit: Orfs / Wikimedia Commons