Content Warning: This article contains references to domestic violence.
A Brooklyn-bred bookstore manager with a penchant for the works of L. Frank Baum. An observant intellectual who prefers to keep his social media presence minimal. A mild-mannered debonair that frequents feminist platitudes. Played by none other than former “Gossip Girl” star Penn Badgley, in his opening moments, Joe Goldberg initially strikes audiences as a charming young man — the quintessential average Joe.
This illusion quickly dissolves when it is revealed that he is also an unreliable narrator, a manipulative stalker and a severely deranged serial killer.
Badgley’s captivating portrayal of Goldberg has once again dominated our screens with the recent release of “You” season four, part two on Netflix. To recap, in the past few years, viewers have watched Goldberg bury an ex-girlfriend alive, confine multiple individuals in a cage until eventually murdering them, light a suburban California kitchen on fire and abandon his young son to flee the country. Yet despite all of these abominable actions, Goldberg continues to be idealized by a mass of dedicated fans. The character has attracted a cult-like following with several fans — including actress Millie Bobby Brown — dismissing his harassment as mere acts of devotion. The series’ ability to make audiences fall effortlessly in love with its complex Byronic hero is exactly what allows it to function so brilliantly as a visual satire and psychological thriller. But the overwhelming success of the show’s broader genre reveals a startling collective obsession with normalizing — and even romanticizing — violence against women.
This is far from a new phenomenon. In “American Psycho” (2000), Christian Bale portrays sadistic yuppie Patrick Bateman, a man whose greatest aspirations include securing reservations at the trendiest new restaurant, flaunting the most expensive business card in the office and murdering women for sexual pleasure. While the film was intended to be a satire about consumerism and conformity, Bateman has since solidified his place in cinematic history as an overtly romanticized symbol: straight women fantasize about his lavish lifestyle, and straight men place him on a pedestal as the archetype for the perfect sigma male. Meanwhile, the movie’s warning messages about the potential consequences of toxic masculinity and excess capitalism seem to fly over both audiences’ heads.
Bale is just one example of casting conventionally attractive actors to play serial killers. Four years ago, heartthrob Zac Efron took a sharp detour from his “High School Musical” (2006-2008) days with his portrayal of notorious mass murderer Ted Bundy in “Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile” (2019). Although Bundy attacked an estimated 30 women between 1974 and 1978, the film trailer for the biographical crime drama appeared to almost sexualize him, depicting Efron giving the camera a flirtatious wink and clutching love interest Elizabeth Kloepfer (Lily Collins) in a passionate embrace. In more recent years, 2022’s “Dahmer — Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story” has received heavy criticism for its dramatization of the renowned Milwaukee Cannibal. In response, several social media users turned to lusting over lead actor Evan Peters, overlooking the graphic violence the real-life killer enacted on his victims.
Perhaps Badgley summarized it best in a 2020 interview with Stephen Colbert: Romanticizing serial killers is an alarming narrative that demonstrates just how passive society is to the actions of white heterosexual men and the lengths many individuals will go to in order to forgive their wrongdoings. This can have devastating implications for women considering the fact that one in four experience severe intimate partner physical violence, and an estimated 19.3 million women in the United States have been stalked during their lifetime. Alarmingly, women between the ages of 18 to 24 — college-aged women — are the most commonly abused by an intimate partner. When viewers praise and glorify the likes of Goldberg, Bateman, Bundy and Dahmer, they subvert attention from victims, enabling the vicious cycle of violence to continue.
Hollywood’s thriller and true crime genres are some of its most compelling. I don't believe in their cancellation but rather in a change in perspective. These pieces of media should not be consumed through the lens of romanticization; they should encourage thought and reflection. Would Goldberg, Bateman, Bundy or Dahmer receive the same acquiescent treatment by fans if they were not straight white men? Likely not. While they may be beguiling because of their killer psyche, they are also dangerous representations of privilege in action — manifestations of the fact that in 2023, men are often applauded for being devoid of all morality.
Reducing the staggering domestic violence statistics in the United States begins with first redefining American masculinity and better socializing the next generation of young boys. But this cannot be accomplished when we continue to romanticize men for committing acts of violence on small and silver screens alike. It is time to start treating gender-based violence as the epidemic that it is and stop making excuses for incredibly gruesome crimes.
If you or someone you know is experiencing abuse or domestic violence, you can reach Emory’s Counseling and Psychological Services at https://counseling.emory.edu/ and intimate partner violence resources at https://womenscenter.emory.edu/resources/violence.html. You can reach Georgia’s domestic violence statewide hotline 24/7 at (800) 334-2836.
Safa Wahidi (24Ox) is from Sugar Hill, Georgia.
