If you look at the history of cinema, at some of the greatest films ever made. Which ones come to your mind. Now see many of those are based around crime or horrific true stories? Even fictional drama films tend to have an element of suspicious or illegal behaviour. Why is this? Does Hollywood have a crime fetish, well the history of Hollywood stardom is riddled with illegal activity which has continued into the modern day. Are they just playing to the audience? Do the public crave stories which seem taboo, crime filled and something they would never consider doing themselves?
This all came to my mind with the recent talk of a Ted Bundy film recently screened at Sundance Festival. The serial killer will be played by Zac Efron and the latest trailer for the film sparked this idea. It didn’t seem to sell the film as this dark, twisted story but rather it had an upbeat tone to it. Why do we keep seeing films such as these be released and do the film studios/directors owe a duty to portray the twisted characters/individuals in their truest form or should they have creative freedom to portray them however they wish. If we take the Godfather films for example, we follow a family who clearly do illegal deeds however we are not rooting for the Police or rival families to bring them their demise; you follow the families’ journey and warm to them, sometimes you may root for them to succeed. The same can be said of Goodfellas which is based off a true story. Zodiac tells the true story of the Zodiac killer, of the San Francisco Bay Area, but is it important to tell this story on the big screen? I believe film companies know the audience will continue to seek out these types of stories and that reveals the nature of humanity itself. One of the most famous films in recent times, The Wolf of Wall Street shows you the glamour and decadence of a high-rolling lifestyle and you can’t take your eyes off of it. Did the film do enough to show the darker nature of it? I’m not so sure, while it had a good balance of highs and lows the film was comedic and ‘in your face’.
It’s obvious we as humans crave stories and news that we can’t live for ourselves. Serial killers and mafia families are given cult status and usually known worldwide. True Crime dramas on television are by far the most popular and over saturated genre and psychologists put forward the idea that the general public have a desire to see the darker side of life, that our brains love to put together the pieces of a story for ourselves. Horror and ‘slasher’ films have had an increase in popularity over recent years and this has coincided with the return of more crime filled television or film, we love to see unimaginable and dark entertainment. Is it wrong to want to watch these stories? I don’t think so. They are intriguing, usually done well and there’s no real harm to spending about 2 hours of your life (more if it’s a television series) getting lost in a world so far from your own, especially when the stories are fictional. However when the story is factual and historic, it’s important to take it seriously and show the true dark nature or the events. Take the hit series Making a Murderer on Netflix; not only is it done brilliantly but they do a decent job with making it seem grounded and informative. Everybody watched it and talked about it, you come up with your own theories and it really works like a puzzle. It’s proof of the genre done right.
This has been a bit of ramble and I didn’t really plan it. It was more just an idea that I wanted to write about. To answer the question as to whether Hollywood has a crime fetish, I would have to say no. Hollywood and the various studios put out all types of genres, whatever is popular at the time they will make because it’s all about money at the end of the day. Look at superhero films now, massive cash cows and we get around 6 of them a year it seems. I do think the general public has a fetish for watching criminal activity on our screens and to be honest I don’t think that is necessarily a bad thing.
Robbie Dhesi 