True-crime formats can contribute to the retraumatisation of victims. This caused much criticism most recently with the Netflix hit “Dahmer”. With “The Watcher”, the same people in charge are now doing it better – but they shouldn’t be praised too much for it…
It caused a lot of trouble around the serial killer series “Dahmer”: Several victims (or their relatives) were angry that Netflix adapted the true story as it is told in the series, which has become a huge success – and above all did not talk to the victims at any time. They learned – at the same time as the general public – that there was a new “Dahmer” series through the internet, through trailers or perhaps even only by calling up the Netflix app on their own TV set.
Mother of Jeffrey Dahmer victim, Tony Hughes, speaks out against the Netflix series:
“I don’t see how they can use our names and put stuff out there like that.” pic.twitter.com/Pz79TAKomb
– Pop Base (@PopBase) October 12, 2022
With “The Watcher” it’s different now. The real victims of this story were not only informed by those responsible behind the series, but were even able to influence it (to a small degree). This has ensured that there have also been some changes to the story. By the way, we have written down the real story and the background for you here:
But if you think that series creator Ryan Murphy, who is behind both “Dahmer” and “The Watcher”, and his client Netflix have learned, you are wrong. Of course, “The Watcher” could not respond directly to the criticism of “Dahmer”. After all, the series had long been finished and then appeared only shortly afterwards.
THE VICTIM INTERVIEWS FOR “THE WATCHER” WERE CERTAINLY FOR RESEARCH
It’s also probably not that Murphy and his team were particularly considerate now. No. Because while the case surrounding Jeffrey Dahmer, who murdered between 1978 and 1991, is now well documented, they were probably hoping for some helpful information and insights in the story of a mysterious stalker who terrorised a family in 2014. Therefore, it was actually logical that one sought to talk to the victims for “The Watcher”.
The fact that consideration was perhaps not exactly in the foreground is also shown by the insights that the real victims gave to The Cut magazine around the talks for the Netflix series with Naomi Watts and Bobby Cannavale. It becomes clear that they saw the chance to gain at least a little control by selling their rights. Otherwise, there would have been the danger that Netflix and Murphy would have made the series without them (as the US TV broadcaster Lifetime already did in 2016 with a TV movie). Ergo: the series would probably have come one way or another.
CHANGES ARE, AT LEAST IN PART, MORE FOR DRAMATIC PURPOSES
Neither do we believe that the changes are just for consideration. At the request of the real victims, their names were changed in the film and also the number of children in the family. This eliminates the need for identification. But these are, of course, small changes, which the makers around Murphy could surely quickly agree to, since they do not play a role in the narrative. With another major change, on the other hand, they move far away from the true story.
The real victims never moved into the house, but refrained from doing so because of the Watcher’s terror. In the series it is different. But this is certainly not to change the story and thus spare the real victims from retraumatisation. It is simply much more exciting, much more dramatic, when now the family including the children in the house is terrorised by the mysterious Watcher.
In terms of dealing with victims, “The Watcher” is clearly better than “Dahmer”, but Ryan Murphy and company should not be given much credit for this. In the end, it remains the case that true-crime stories simply always carry the danger of making the real victims relive the old trauma. The real couple behind the events in “The Watcher” thus also tells The Cut that they will definitely not watch the series. Just watching the trailer was “stressful enough. “
