LONDON:
Back in the 90s, the main networks were stumbled to produce fast television films below based on real crimes, in the hope of capitalizing on public fascination for scandalous titles. Quick advance until today, and this impulse has evolved. Streaming services like Netflix now serve polished mini-series that deeply dig into the same sensational stories, giving them a prestigious veneer. Monsters: the story of Lyle and Erik Menendez is the last addition to this trend, with Ryan Murphy once again at the helm. Murphy has mastered how to turn these stories to run in the ultimate frenzy of the weekend whose clips end up going around your page for you until you finally give up and look. He did it with DahmerThe transforming it into a feeling of Tiktok, with young women fantasizing about a murderer with the face of Evan Peters. Now he has turned his attention to the Menendez brothers, and it is clear that he uses the same bag of stuff.
Over the duration of nine episodes, Monsters Parade in the sordid history of Erik (Cooper Koch) and Lyle Menendez (Alexander Chavez), who were found guilty of having murdered their parents, José (Javier Bardem) and Kitty (Chloe Sevigny), in 1989. Killings, flashbacks of family dysfunction and possible trials of the brothers. Murphy, predictable, aims to give the public all juicy gossip and horrible details they want, before blinding them with disturbing moments of ambiguity. Were the brothers really victims of horrible abuse, or were they simply socio-political connectors?
A story of ambiguity of truth
There is a time off competition in the series, a fifth episode that breaks the rules that zooms in on a single 35 -minute conversation between Erik and his lawyer. In this episode, Erik tells the abuse he claims that the two brothers endured in the hands of their parents, and the camera slowly pushes on him as the tension accumulates. It is a masterclass in the cinema, which ends with Koch delivering an extremely detailed monologue which seems painfully intimate. Unfortunately, the show does not support this momentum, quickly returning to its usual chaos as soon as the credits roll.
The story of the Zigzags show from front and back, confusing the public more on the quantity of the history of the brothers to believe. Have these two broken boys were unleashed after years of trauma, or are they killers of composure, certifying a way to inherit the richness of their parents? Sometimes the series succeeds in launching a doubt, especially when Vanity Journalist Dominick Dunne (played by Nathan Lane) raises the question: “Either these boys have endured the most disgustable abuses, and their parents had exactly what was going to happen. Or you were able to train this performance from a mental deadly psychopath. I do not know which of these possibilities scares me the most. Dunne serves as a Greek choir of the series, expressing suspicions about the real motivations of the brothers, but his character ultimately resembles a vehicle for the uncertainty of the public rather than an individual fully achieved.
Tragedy for sensations
At the base, Monsters Soule an ethical question crucial: should we really use these real tragedies for entertainment, especially when the legal battles that surround them still take place? There is something intrinsically disturbing to transform a story of alleged abuse and murder into bingable content. Murphy’s point of view on the Menendez affair highlights the blurred lines between victim and author, but the spectacle never closes the delicate balance necessary to explore such a nuanced subject. It is the whole value of shock and moral ambiguity, with little real overview of real human suffering.
An area where Monsters Really drops the ball is in its management of male sexual abuse, a subject still rarely discussed with the same gravity as its female counterpart. The show had the opportunity to dive deep into this problem, but instead, it bursts the surface, offering a little more than ephemeral references to the alleged trauma of the brothers. In later episodes, it even seems to suggest a strange sympathy for José, especially in a tender scene between him and Kitty. These are moments like these which clearly show that Murphy had no intention of managing the subject with the care it deserved, preferring rather to look at its well worn trope of romanticians and murderers.
And then there is the most confusing decision in the series: the inclusion of an incestuous relationship between the brothers. A relationship that they vehemently denied in court and which has never been corroborated by any credible source. This additional layer of sensationalism feels inexpensive and entirely useless, not further serving the spectacle of any semblance of an intellectual story or responsible for the facts.
The great ditch
Despite his faults, Monsters managed to rekindle the public interest in the Menendez case. Although some viewers have praised the performances – in particular the frightening representation of José, winner of the Oscars, who was identified by some psychiatrists for having played the most convincing psychopath on the screen – others, including the Menendez family , were far from delighted. In fact, Koch admitted to an interview with Variety That negative reactions have “definitively affected” him, although he has always felt empathy for Erik.
The case is far from closed, with new evidence concerning José’s alleged sexual abuse in light. Erik and Lyle are planned for a new audience in November confirmed by the Los Angeles district prosecutor George Gasxon, and they even obtained the support of large -scale personalities like Kim Kardashian. In a personal test for NBC NewsKardashian expressed the hope that the life sentences of the brothers could be reconsidered, stressing the differences in their second trial where key evidence of abuse have been excluded. It remains to be seen if the series will influence this new chapter in the legal saga of the brothers, but it is clear that Monsters is less to reveal the truth and more to feed our collective hunger for the macabre.
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