When is Exploitation Ok? | The Dark Side of True Crime

[@Giantstalking]

Idk I think “humanization” arguments are fairly weird. He is human - that’s what makes the issue such an issue to us. The scary part and the part we have so much trouble grappling with is that serial killers, murderers, etc are all humans. They aren’t hungry near rabid bears. They have motives and loves and desires.

[@themagnificentblueart]

Yeah this is a bit of a point I thought about as well. He isnt a made up character either, just l like the victims he himself is human. And no doubt people like him have done things to make em selves do things to either do thing to make themselves look better or simply just normal things. I mean hell there are actual killers that have used "charm" and the better side of themselves to lure people.

[@tell-me-a-story-]

The story shouldn’t be from their point of view. I doubt cereal killers love anyone past their childhood. Even in their close relationships they are abusive.

[@Dm34421]

Too many tv producers and KZbinrs are exploiting tragedies and call it “spreading awareness”. These tv shows are just rehashing tragic murders and not adding anything new. The whole documentary genre is getting over saturated

[@an_earth_angel]

Anastasia is actually more inspired by the real-life “Anna,” a woman who truly believed she was the surviving Anastasia Romanov. She is confirmed not to have been, but a LOT of the Russian public thought she was, including some members (aunts, cousins, etc) of the Romanov family. Anastasia is a…’fix it’ movie, where Anna actually WAS the surviving Romanov daughter and the family wasn’t totally destroyed in one night

[@mrmoviemanic1]

I always saw the film in some way as a beautiful tribute to an otherwise tragic story. Outside of that, I did find that the film was obviously fictional in so many areas that it's honestly more sweet to just see it as a fairy tale love story with lots of heart.

[@margaretmediaxxi6409]

Really well-thought-out and executed essay. There are no easy answers, there's always a fine line, and never a guilt-free solution. So how do we learn from our mistakes? Unfortunately, the public has a short attention span, and sadly each generation must be 'schooled' all over again, and on the level they culturally understand. No longer are straight facts or documentaries respected or sought after. People must be entertained too, and there is money to be made in the streaming wars. Are the trade-offs to bring it to the forefront worth it?

[@TRyanLearnBikes]

Brilliant video , very well written ,delivered and edited . Knowing you do this all on your own makes it all that much more impressive . Huge respect to you !

[@quiquenet1756]

This is a completely different point of view I had never thought of. Well said!

[@foxqueen6214]

I know this is a year old, but I loved The Act and I didn't know Gypsy didn't consent to it, I thought she had. I can't imagine how it would feel seeing yourself portrayed on tv like that without your consent, it must feel awful. Even in the testimony where they recreated it line by line it would feel like someone else is telling your story for you whether you like it or not

[@Nick_CF]

Anastasia and the rest of the children were used to hide all of the family's diamonds and such, their clothes were lined with them. Due to this they survived the initial barrage of machine gun fire and were subsequently chased round the basement and bayoneted like rats. No bats were harmed though. History is brutal.

[@hollowwoods7130]

Still remember when not one but two horror podcasts i like directly used real events, it was disgusting

[@Ammoroth9]

A great video as always. Sound arguments combined with different viewpoints put in perspective to other works of media. A typical Ari production. Well done!

[@ITGETSBETTER101]

Haven't found a channel about media this solid since Mr Sunday movies keep it up👍

[@jamesmurray8572]

when they showed his childhood, i saw that more as “hey, this is shit that others have gone through too, but they didn’t do what he did.” i mean , jeffrey had a brother, right?

[@cozynosy]

12:42 while i understand your thoughts on this take, i seriously don't agree. this scene could have been the most beautifully shot scene ever it could have literal perfect and impossible cinematography, but it is nothing short of reenacting and recreating the absolute Worst day in a persons life. whether or not its faithful or "respectful". it makes me sick

[@johnmatthew7991]

Thanks for your insight Ariana! Awesome content as always and thank you for not promoting phone apps!!!

[@saulBBQandFootMassage]

i really appreciate your videos, they're well thought out--to the point, and smart. I just felt yucky seeing this show being so...Well you describe it really well later on in the video.

[@Scarygothgirl]

I prefer fictionalised versions, like Titanic. It feels less disrespectful when there aren't individuals who's families can watch the film and see misinformation about their loved one being presented to millions.

[@darcibeachy]

You’re so well spoken and I appreciate the level of research you do! I’ve never recommended a channel to so many people, so insistently lol. Love your video essays so much. Did you go to school for writing?

[@christopherkaiser8369]

Great video. I like the setup you have

[@bianca28928]

You make great points here ! So many youtubers do it technically. Great essay !

[@vaishnavigosain7197]

I am very off the fence about the topics of crime documentaries. As a student of criminal law i do think they are quite insightful from the perspective of the first responding officers and lawyers on the case for me personally so i indulge.

[@concrete_dog]

Another well thought-out video essay. Can't help but agree with what you said. I always find it funny when people have a problem with humanizing serial killers and other criminals. Because, spoiler alert: those people were definitely 100% human. There's a not-insignificant chance that during your life you will talk to someone, befriend someone, or even fall in love with someone, who has or will commit some kind of crime. So when we see Dahmer in a romantic relationship with that deaf guy (even though it didn't really happen), we must come to terms with the fact that, yes, that person talking to Jeffrey could be us... and that is sometimes a hard truth to accept. And some people will just deflect and criticize the film/show for showing them this reality.

[@mrmoviemanic1]

Here’s my honest take on the subject of using crime, death and pain from a real life story in a fictionalised one. It’s painful and saddening, but these are things that happened in life and at the end of the day, people need to find meaning in even the worst of humanity. What I would like more of is stories centred around victims and their tale but sadly the fact would mostly turn out that it wouldn’t sell, which honestly I do think shouldn’t matter all that much, if your telling their story they should be an important part of the story.

[@EdM796]

Interesting: I think that TV show is horrible due to the fact that they're telling the audience what they have to think about the main character right there in the title. That's the complete opposite of what My Friend Dahmer (the comic, not the 'meh' movie) achieves: after reading it, you're even capable of feeling sorry for that subhuman Dahmer. I'm not excusing him, he obviously caused so much pain and suffering, but Jeff Dahmer is a rather strange serial killer: he wasn't a sadist, he had an ordinary childhood even if his parents got divorce, he was a born necrophiliac (that's weird: he didn't even understand what he was in his teens, for what he fantasized about men lying motionless next to him, but not dead. This sick paraphilia normally appears in adults), he had to be drunk most of the time when he killed people... And this TV show makes of him a monotonous psychopath cliché from the very beggining: His neighbor never felt threatened by him at all. And that's just an example.

[@Lindsay-Makes-Videos]

Dang I'm so glad I watched this. You also helped me resolve some cognitive dissonance 😅😅

[@LONELYòvó]

quick note here: Elanor Neale has been making true crime videos for 4 years now, she is very respectful to the victims in the cases and never justifies the killers.

[@syntaxerorr]

Calling the Titanic an exploitative movie seems like a stretch. You could apply this to any movie at that point.

[@hamiltonv1]

Exactly. It was off-putting to see my favorite movie at the beginning of this video. We all know how Titanic ends. No one was glorifying the iceberg like people are glorifying Jeffrey fckn Dahmer. 🤦🏼‍♀️

[@luisalfonso4694]

great video, thanks

[@randomstuff6786]

AMAZING AS ALWAYS OMG!! However, I think in people's criticism of the Dahmer show with the altering truth and humanizing him being bad things are inherently flawed. As you said, he was a monster, what he did was irredeemable and horrible BUT he was still very human. I don't think that's something we should ignore because that is context and truth of the story no matter how painful seeing that is. I don't think humanizing someone ever justifies their actions, but in treating all people who commit crimes equally and seeing every part of their story I think even how horrible he was he deserves it as well, he just fails immensely to outweigh his atrocities. On altering truth as well I see that as a fairly good?/required thing in nonfiction media. I know we all want things to be plain facts but facts don't reach victims or assailants as you were saying, so changing small details too strengthen the most important themes of a piece and dramatizing it I think are extremely important so the audience WILL actually care, [using Truman Capotes work as an example]

[@no-wq7gr]

Would you consider either Forensic Files or Unsolved Mysteries as exploitation?

[@MissDragGunn]

I know this is an older video. but I feel the line is: facts and fiction. If a true crime displays facts, all the facts, without trying to literally romanticize any part of the "story" is acceptable. Monster, failed at this. After watching Monster I went and explored what was real and what was fiction. There is a lot of fiction and romanticism in the Dahmer story on Netflix. Just like you, the show made me feel icky. But once you know the whole case. Front, back, left, right, up, down, inside, and out. Dahmer is like a fairy tale telling of the true story. Once you know everything, you grow angry. Not only angry that this sick individual flipped upside down so many victim family's lives who are still hurting today, but angry that this docuseries has so many views and the majority wont care to investigate the full truth. Its almost like a opportunity was wasted, but at the same there was no way all that truth could be put into a docuseries and be acceptable. Even be rated R, it would be its own horrific rating. Thats the line and most of the docuseries can't go into the most horrific crimes like Dahmer, Gacey, Bundy, (which tbh any of those I just mentioned would be exploitive) without getting its own rating and it not be acceptable even though its true. I feel Monster should've focused on a true crime like Jack the Ripper where no victim's families are still alive and with so much of the crime unsolved, leave it for some fiction (or more like "what-ifs").

[@ModernMouse]

Anastasia is based off of that? How am I going to sleep tonight now knowing this information?

[@andrewravindran8122]

Great video!

[@shaghayeghtehrani6285]

Bailey serian's youtube channel is my Netflix

[@charletteseaver5923]

they are also human..does not change the fact that they are monstrous ..but people are fooled all the time by that appearance of humanity..or the fact that they are actually human..i think it is important to acknowledge it. They hide in that appearance, people are stunned when they find out the truth..but maybe there were little clues all the time..and denying that monstrosity can hide behind masks of ordinariness or even kindness, or some sort of frailty can make a person blind to those little glimpses that show through.

[@ruaoneill9050]

Thanks for ruining Titanic for me, lol. But seriously, I think we have to be human before we're artists or consumers of art: just because you want to tell a compelling story or even want to make a comment on how gross exploitation films are doesn't give you a go ahead for hurting and disrespecting people. Maybe that scene did get a lot of people to watch the real life footage (it's weird that there is footage of court proceedings) and think more about how they contribute to exploitation, but that doesn't excuse anyone from treating real humans like a means to an end, especially if those humans are still alive and trying to recover from a trauma.

[@mauriciovillaverdemorales5409]

This video is Top G

[@Sueuhevffbcjjidis]

Konerak deserved so much better

[@Sueuhevffbcjjidis]

No I didn't watch the video

[@dustycoal183]

It would be best to hear out opinions of actual victims.

[@RavenPeake]

Oh no. >-< I love true crime, and yes it does help my mental health and that seems odd...

[@boyouttatime]

yh no. I thought this would be an insightful video talking about the inexcusability of Netflix's dramatization; i'm honestly that surprised that you're defending how they said "it would never be told from Dahmer's point of view", even though the show demonstrates this numerous times. You also mention how the show comments on the exploitive nature that was present around Dahmer's incarnation, yet you fail to at least comment on how the series was responsible for the resurgence of pop culture what with the INSANE amount of Halloween costumes around that time, alongside the VERY MUCH sexualised imagery what with him shirtless and working out. (don't even get me started on that animal gut quickie 🤢). And what was the point of showing THAT John Wayne Gacey scene? Make it make sense.

[@Oanjoexterminador]

Well, I have to admit knowing what the Russian people suffered through the tsar regime, I can't bring myself to feeling bad about the Romanov family 👀

[@carlosdumbratzen6332]

tbf I laugh at the romanovs dying. No sympathy for monarchs ._.

[@StainedBrain]

I LOVE Anastasia

[@rsl9294]

Please do active persian language

[@barginbinbrody1809]

If you take video essay out of the title you will get more views and a higher ctr. Just some advice

[@robinchirps1775]

This essay has a critical failure: You just assume no criticism exists about your other examples. Plenty have criticized the True Crime genre on KZbin or Netflix, many have criticized The Act, many have criticized any of the movies you brought up. Just because you didn’t look for it, doesn’t mean it doesn’t mean it didn’t exist.

[@croissant_6735]

I think humbling dahmer is good because Jeff wasn't a monster like Michal myers he was a person and it shows how thi snotmal dude did these terrible things

[@vhgcbjbkjhvkjvlik]

if i wanted to see how a normal person could be pushed to doing bad things i would watch: breaking bad, joker, carrie, the shining, the godfather, all home alone, the boys, the big lebowski, war dogs, the wolf of wall street, bojack horsemen, better call saul, oazrk on my block, the platform, and so many others, we dont need to bring up old trauma from very real people to see this.

[@hamiltonv1]

Michael Myers is FICTIONAL you smooth brain

[@boyouttatime]

What kind of a "person", rapes, kills, tortures and eats innocent POC's, one of whom was a fucking child? Also Michael Myers is a fictional character you shit stain.

[@patrickkierreyes9652]

Surprise Quiz in #CriminalLaw: What are the crimes committed by Jeffrey Dahmer? What are the aggravating and/or mitigating circumstances, if any? Is pardon allowed in his case? Why or why not? (15%)