True crime author Ron Stodghill has a peculiar op-ed in the LA Times today. He's calling out the fact that true crime stories are mostly about white people:
Critics of the genre warn that the homogeneity of true crime stories not only reflects racial biases — it exacerbates them.... Journalist Elon Green puts it this way: “It’s hard to overstate how inaccurate and damaging the results and perceptions created by so much whiteness has been. Generations of readers have been led to believe that murder victims most often are women killed by men and that Black serial murderers are rare. Neither assertion is true.”
I'm not being a smartass here, but it's not clear to me how Black communities are damaged by a perception that serial killers are mostly white. It might be inaccurate, which is reason enough for change, but I'd think Black folks would be relieved that for once they aren't being portrayed as thugs and killers.
Then there's this:
Incorporating more stories of marginalized people wouldn’t just make the true crime genre more accurate. It could make it more responsible, too. Consider that some of the most important critiques of the Netflix show about serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer, who killed primarily Black LGBTQ men in Milwaukee, came from queer Black people who had lived in that city commenting on how the production retraumatized their communities, failed to consult victims’ families and sensationalized tragic events.
Wait a second. Stodghill wants more Black representation in true crime stories, but then tells us how traumatic it was when they were included in the Jeffrey Dahmer show.
What am I missing here?
I don't know about true crime stories, but US crime dramas usually (and disproportionately) portray murderers as being white. To watch Law & Order, for example, one could conclude that almost all murders in New York City from c. 1990 to 2010 were committed by affluent white professionals.
And defense lawyers are the real bad guys.
And the hero of the Dahmer show was a Black woman!
It’s a late observance of Festivus — Airing of Grievances?
"Wait a second. Stodghill wants more Black representation in true crime stories, but then tells us how traumatic it was when they were included in the Jeffrey Dahmer show."
Well if you think about it for just a second... the issues stated with the Dahmer show aren't the same as the issues of inclusion. Except that the possibility of retraumatizing that community was ignored - that's just part of the same old pattern of marginalization. That's not hard to understand.
Right.
Both claims are decrying the lack of input from marginalized communities in TC representation.
I feel like this is a response lots of people won't like, but I think it is a true one: if you don't like the art that's out there, you have to make your own. The only way I've seen genres change is the same way science changes: one corpse at a time, replaced by a different voice.
I do think that's the solution.
On one side, you have creative people. On the other, an unmet need (so he says).
If that's the case, that's a self-correcting issue.
I thought the Dahmer series accurately portrayed him victimizing gay black men and the black community at large. There were repeated attempts to report strange and foul smells from his apartment only to be dismissed by white cops.
Stodghill does seem to be taking both sides of the argument.
I don't know enough about the genre to say if Blacks are under-represented. But even if you assume it's true and in some way a "problem," what should be done? He doesn't offer a prescription.
Take books, for example. Are true crime books with Black characters not getting written? Or written but not published? Or published but not read? That would be helpful to know. I suspect it' may be the first. In which case, the solution could be for authors (Black or otherwise) to get to work if they want to see more Blacks in their true crime stories.
I'm sympathetic to marginalization if certain groups are being excluded from representation in our culture. But that doesn't mean every genre and subgenre needs to achieve balanced demographics across its works. That's not a realistic goal.
It's creepy. I'll stick with law and order / NCIS etc. No need to peer into the depths of real human depravity by choice.
I wish I had the ability to bullshit better. Then I could make easy money writing dumb shit like Stodghill. Of course, I’d also have to believe my bullshit, because it seems like he does. Maybe that’s my problem: I can’t imagine believing this shit.
I am that rare bird of a guy into true crime. Of course unlike most women I prefer unsolved cases because 1) I like the mystery and 2) telling unsolved cases may lead to a solve and thus make the world a bit better.
Anyhow in the world of non-hollywood true crime (so YT, reddit, podcasts etc.) there is pretty good representation among criminals and victims and a pretty good push for recognizing both the centrality of the victim and that often black/brown/red victims get less effort by police.
It is my observation that true crime podcasts often devolve into arguments, drama, gossip between the true crime podcast personalities. And that seems to be a feature, not a bug.
What am I missing here?
The true crime genre helps no one except as study material for murderers, and achieves nothing but to increase anxiety and stress.
Everything people used to say about porn is true of true crime.
Yeah! You clutch those pearls! Harder!!
You feel better after watching 90 minutes on an unsolved serial killer?
I can only imagine how much he would welcome white authors writing black true crime.