LONDON:
In the 90s, the main networks were shooting to produce fast change television films based on real -life crimes, hoping to capitalize on the public’s fascination with scandalous headlines. Fast advance until today, and that impulse has evolved. Transmission services such as Netflix now serve polished miniseries that deepen the same sensational stories, giving them a prestigious sheet. Monsters: The story of Lyle and Erik Menéndez It is the latest incorporation into this trend, with Ryan Murphy once again to the helm. Murphy has dominated how to turn these stories in the best weekend binge whose clips end up surrounding his page for his he did it with Dahmerturning it into a sensation of Tiktok, complete with young women who fantasize with a murderer with Evan Peters’s face. Now he has directed his attention to the case of the Menéndez brothers, and it is clear that he is using the same bag of tricks.
In the period of nine episodes, Monsters It deepens the sordid story of Erik (Cooper Koch) and Lyle Menéndez (Alexander Chávez), who were convicted of killing their parents, José (Javier Bardem) and Kitty (Chloe Sevigny), in 1989. The series takes place Among the previous days for murders, flashbacks of family dysfunction and the eventual trial of the brothers. Murphy, predictably, aims to give the audience all juicy gossip and the frightening details that yearn for, before they are blinded with disturbing moments of ambiguity. Were the brothers really victims of horrible abuse, or were they simply sociopathy?
A story of true ambiguity
There is a prominent moment in the series, a fifth episode that breaks the rules that approaches a single 35 -minute conversation between Erik and his lawyer. In this episode, Erik recounts the abuse that affirms that both brothers suffered at the hands of their parents, and the camera pushes it slowly as the tension accumulates. It is a master class in the cinema, which ends in Koch delivering an extremely detailed monologue that feels painfully intimate. Unfortunately, the program does not support this impulse, quickly returning to its usual chaos as soon as the credits are thrown.
The narrative of the Zigzaguea program from one side to another, confusing even more to the audience about how much the history of the brothers is believed. Are these two broken children who lashed out after years of trauma, or are they are cold -blooded murderers, making a master way to inherit their parents’ wealth? Sometimes, the series succeeds in throwing doubts, particularly when Vanity Fair The journalist Dominick Dunne (played by Nathan Lane) raises the question: “Or those children suffered the most imaginable disgusting abuse and their parents obtained exactly what came. Or you could train that performance of a liar murderous psychopath. I don’t know which of these possibilities is scared me. completely done individual.
Tragedy for emotions
In its nucleus, Monsters It raises a crucial ethical question: should we really exploit these tragedies of real life for entertainment, especially when the legal battles that surround them are still developing? There is something inherently disturbing to turn a story of alleged abuse and murder in content that can be seen. Murphy’s version about the Menéndez case highlights the blurred lines between the victim and the perpetrator, but the program never nails the delicate balance necessary to explore such a nuanced issue. Everything is a value of shock and moral ambiguity, with little genuine vision of true human suffering.
An area where Monsters The ball really drops is in its management of male sexual abuse, an issue that is rarely discussed with the same gravity as its female counterpart. The show had the opportunity to immerse yourself deeply in this issue, but instead, the surface is sneak, offering little more than fleeting references to the alleged trauma of the brothers. In later episodes, it even seems to suggest a strange sympathy by José, particularly in a tender scene between him and Kitty. These are moments like these that make it clear that Murphy had no intention of handling the subject with the care he deserved, preferring instead to rely on his widely used trope of romantizing and murderers abusers.
And then, there is the most disconcerting decision of the series: the inclusion of an incestuous relationship between the brothers. A relationship that they have denied vehemence in court, and that has never been corroborated by any credible source. This additional layer of sensationalism feels cheap and completely unnecessary, only serves to distant more the show of any appearance of an intellectual or responsible count of the facts.
The great division
Despite its defects, Monsters He has managed to revive the public interest in the Menéndez case. While some spectators praised the performances, especially the chilling interpretation of the winner of the Oscar Bardem by José, who has been identified by some psychiatrists to play the most convincing psychopath on the screen, others, including the Menéndez family, have been less than they have been excited. In fact, Koch admitted in an interview with Variety That the negative reactions “definitely affected him”, although he still felt empathy for Erik.
The case is far from closed, with a new evidence about the alleged sexual abuse of Joseph, coming to light. Erik and Lyle are scheduled for a new hearing this November confirmed by the district prosecutor of Los Angeles, George Gasxon, and have even obtained the support of high profile figures such as Kim Kardashian. In a personal essay for NBC newsKardashian expressed hope that the life sentences of the brothers could reconsider, pointing out discrepancies in their second judgment where the key evidence of abuse was 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 It is less about revealing the truth and more of feeding our collective hunger for the macabre.
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