During September of this year, Netflix released a new crime-drama adaptation on the Menendez brothers’ story, Monsters. Erik and Lyle Menendez, who were 18 and 21 at the time, murdered their parents in their Beverly Hills home in 1989. They explained in court that they committed the crime because of ongoing abuses (primarily sexual) that their father, Jose Menendez, forced onto his sons. Meanwhile, their mother, Kitty Menendez, knew about the sexual abuse, did not defend her sons, and abused them emotionally. In 1996, Erik and Lyle Menendez were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. They were placed in separate prisons but later reunited in 2018. Many viewers stand behind the Menendez brothers, who claim that committing the murder was the only way to escape their abuse. Many viewers of Monsters were familiar with the infamous case and expected the disturbing content of the show. Despite these expectations, many reviews were negative because the brothers’ story was not portrayed accurately.
The show was never advertised as a true-crime documentary, as it uses the story for a somewhat fictional drama that has sparked debate on where to draw the line between fiction and facts. Creator Ryan Murphy also created Dahmer, another Netflix series that follows Jeffrey Dahmer and his crimes as one of the most famous serial killers. However, Dahmer was received much better than Monsters because the Menendez brothers are still alive, whereas Jeffrey Dahmer was dead long before the series’ release and was a cannibal who killed innocent people, while Erik and Lyle were victims before they were killers. Erik himself has even criticized the show, stating that “Murphy shapes his horrible narrative through vile and appalling character portrayals of Lyle and of me and disheartening slander,” according to NPR. Murphy disagrees, and while the story is obviously unsettling for viewers, he thinks “it’s good that they’re uncomfortable,” according to Tudum by Netflix. It is important to be mindful of portraying true stories, especially ones involving crime, because the lines of fiction and truth can be blurred, incorrectly representing those involved.
Works Cited:
https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/monsters-ryan-murphy-interview
https://www.npr.org/2024/09/23/nx-s1-5123898/menendez-brothers-comment-netflix-monsters
