To think it’s weird how murder is just normal telly entertainment?

[SnugShaker]

It hit me the other day, most of the shows we casually binge are about murder. True crime, detective dramas, serial killer documentaries… it’s everywhere. We’d find it unsettling if someone obsessed over real-life murders in conversation but when it’s on Netflix or ITV, it’s just normal evening viewing.

I get that it’s interesting but isn’t it a bit strange how desensitised we are to watching stories about people being killed for entertainment?

I suspect it is partly that there is escapism to be had on both sides of a murder story, and neither says great things about humanity tbh!
There is pleasure in being scared in a safe situation, but also the 'glad it was them not me' (with its even nastier sibling 'it wouldn't be me anyway because I'm smarter /more deserving than them') and also the whole appealing 'breaking the rules/rebelling against authority' aspect of 'getting away with murder' - Sherlock Holmes type super-detective stories remain popular because they have the winning formula of criminals who can cleverly outwit the police but also will still always get their due punishment in the end. The flip side, of course, is when clever police can calmly use their rational tools to quell violent chaos in society, which is also reassuring - especially if you are someone likely to lose a fistfight but who likes to feel they are quite clever themselves.
There is also the popular trope of killers who only kill bad people, or to get much-deserved revenge, at which point they loop right round to sit next to Batman and Robin Hood as justice vigilantes - in real life direct vengeance is bad for society so it gets punished but it would almost certainly be a lot more popular (probably not generally to the point of death) if there wasn't a robust law enforcement system.

So true.

I like reading and watching detective fiction. Apart from the content matter, it is a puzzle to be solved. Of course, the modern variety are often more complex that the old fashioned Agatha Christie. I also think it can make people much more aware of other people and how people are not always who we think they are. This directly corresponds to real life, and helps to make us more aware, I think.

I like it because it's a mystery to unravel - who did it, why, etc. Also, the psychological suspense can be gripping.
I don't actually like seeing dead bodies or anything too graphic, but since there is a separation between a story and reality, I can deal with it. I do not like true crime and don't ever watch that.

I recommend Lucy Worsley's "A Very British Murder". It's a few years old now but available on iPlayer, she traces the public's growing fascination with murders from real life cases to detective fiction, games etc. I personally can't cope with gore and violence so totally avoid watching / reading crime and horror, but found the series excellent and very convincing (even though I did have to close my eyes a few times!) I also learnt a lot - I won't be using the term 'sweet FA' anymore, it does not mean what I thought it meant 😢 And apparently the first ripper murder was two days after a spectacular Jekyll and Hyde play opened in London, which seems to me like proof enough of the potential danger of violent content...

I think the nature of TV is also partly to blame.

There is a 9 o'clock watershed. You can't have all this murder and mayhem being broadcast before then but you may after. Some seem to have taken "may" as "must".

There is more and more TV. They can't repeat the same stuff so they have to find something new. It's a bit of an arms race with more murder or more-grisly murder. Goodness knows where it will end.

Well, the masses loved a good Shakespeare play at the globe if there was plenty of murder in it! People also used to take the equivalent of picnics and have a ‘nice day out’ with entertainment to watch tangents, beheadings, burning at stakes etc. So, modern tv programs are just a version of this really, people have not changed.

I see those magazine covers when queuing at the supermarket and they’re incredibly creepy… headlines like ‘My uncle scalped my daughter’ or ‘Mum’s new boyfriend stole everything she had’ next to a big picture of a woman with a huge smile. Absolutely nuts.

I agree. I was scrolling through Netflix for something to watch last night and there’s just so many documentaries about murders, usually of women by men. It’s bizarre that it’s a sub-category of mainstream entertainment.

Horribly true.

I once witnessed a very nasty accident where a car ran into a queue of people. The number of people who rushed out of shops and cafes, got their phones out, not to call 999 but to stand there filming it.

I’ve never forgotten it.

Just to add, whilst I wouldn't (what with not agreeing with capital punishment) I happily devoured books on true true as a youngster. Especially the biographers of pathologists like Keith Simpson (with their photos of crime scenes, bodies and bits of bodies). There was a slight scientific edge (forensics).

The bloodier and gorier the better.

(This is one reason why I'm not as into the Online Safety Act as some. I was able to access plenty of "unsuitable" material as a child. Just by going to the local library ...)

Lots of people watch true crime you might find it bizarre but they wouldn't be showing these programmes if people didn't watch them
There are whole channels devoted to true crime.

I don’t think it’s the murder but more the problem solving/whodunnit aspect.

Several years ago I went to an author talk/Q&A with Jasper Fforde. This fascination with crime (especially murder) came up and his take was that the day we lose our taste for murder mysteries is the day that we really need to worry for our society, as it would mean that we no longer care, or even believe, that justice will prevail.

As someone upthread said, fictional murders usually bring order to our most chaotic fears.

You’ve just reminded me to check if Jasper Fforde ever got round to writing the next Thursday Next. I see he did, I must pick it up at some point.

It is not like anyone is entertained by just the murder. It is all that surrounds it too. The background and psychology behind it. It is fascinating.

Pterry on fairy tales / fantasy: the stories don't teach children that there are monsters. Children already know perfectly well that monsters exist. The stories teach them that the monsters can be defeated.

I dont think its particularly new is it, even Greek and Roman theatre was full of it, plus Shakespeare

The original Fairy Tales were horrific. Think of Cinderella's stepsisters butchering their own feet to get the shoe to fit, and that's mild! And whilst not aimed at children per se, stories such as these gave them a safe place to explore situations and meet villains who couldn't harm them.

Think, also, of the old cartoons such as Tom and Jerry. So much violence disguised as comedic entertainment.

And at least these days it's only escapism. Two thousand years ago popular entertainment was a trip to the Coloseum watching people murder each other for real. (Similar happens today but it's far less accepted than it was.)

People used to go to beheadings and hangings for entertainment 🤷🏻‍♀️

I agree with you OP. I get the thing about it connecting to primeval fears. But It’s also the overwhelming volume of it, especially, I have noticed on Netflix.

Apple TV+ has a much broader range of drama that doesn’t hinge on just horrific crimes.

We enjoy murder mysteries.whodunnits.true crime not so much really. Moors Murders was on this week. I was a child then and not allowed at the fair .never realised why until older.i think it's hard for the families.Midsummer murders and poirot I love .just whodunit we can all be a Armchair detective.just thought Cluedo is a Children's game!

I wonder if anyone’s done an analysis of the victim types in these dramas. What % are women? What % are sexy young women?

Slightly different but when I was growing up in the 80s/90s there was a magazine series about murderers, the Moors Murderers, Denis Nilsen etc that followed their crimes, investigation etc. It was one of those collect the whole set type things. I know this because my mum bought them and, aged 12/13 I read them avidly. I think there’s a morbid curiosity about the darker side of life that draws people in, with an associated need to see people get caught and punished.

I remember reading a comment on a thread similar to this a while ago, it was something along the lines of 'we like to watch these things as it helps us to feel like it definitely wouldn't happen to us '.
The sexy young woman, who must weigh about 100lb wet through declines a lift from friends so she can walk home at 3am - she 'needs some air'. Instantly I know that scenario would never happen to me, I weigh about 250lb and am lazy enough to always appreciate a lift😂
The suburban couple that get murdered in their beds, they never locked the door in their safe community and had always slept in a ground floor bedroom with hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of jewellery in the top drawer. Everyone in town knew this, they also knew the couple's exact daily routine as it hadn't changed in 40+ years. Again, this is something I know won't happen to me as I live in a mid terraced property with the door always locked and sadly no jewellery worth stealing!
I think part of the allure of this kind of program is the 'training' it gives us, it almost makes you feel like you would have a chance if this happened to you because you know what someone else did and you have the opportunity to do it differently.