There has been a debate about whether the popularity of true crime shows says something about our society's fascination with evil.
While the horrific acts of criminals are condemned by the law and the public, true crime shows give the audience a more nuanced view of the cases to the point that it is also becoming an obsession.
Do True Crime Shows Reflect the Society's Fascination with Evil?
It has been debatable among true crime fans whether the genre's popularity indicates that society is fascinated with evil.
If we talk about the bigger picture, it is a difficult discussion since we also need to bring up "cancel culture" and how people online easily condemn malicious and criminal acts.
However, we've also seen some people get too fascinated with the criminals that were featured in true crime shows and are curious to learn more about their backstory and psychology on why they did the criminal act.
Perhaps society does not have a true fascination with evil and it's all just a projection that true crime shows give based on the popularity of the genre, but nobody would ever want to get themselves involved in a similar situation.
After all, true crime shows are always seen as a piece of entertainment and it's a type of fun discussion to have among your friends and other fans of the genre given the complexity of the stories.
The Psychology of Society's Obsession with True Crime
Psychology experts have also weighed in on society's obsession with true crime shows and explained whether it indicates that there is a fascination with evil.
Most of them argue that it might not be about the evil act that people are obsessed with, but rather it's all our curiousity about how the inner workings of the mind work since we cannot fathom the idea of someone doing such extreme cruelty.
"We all possess a dark side, although I would say most are light gray as opposed to inky black, and maybe that’s why so many of us are obsessed with the sinister doings of others," Janice Holly Booth explained.
"For me, the fascination is not so much about what these broken people do as it is about why they do it. Deconstructing that mystery, getting to the very dark heart of their deeds, is what keeps [many] hopelessly captivated by true crime stories."
Lawyer Marc Lamber added, "Because crime is foreign to most, the fascination with it and similar genres stems from the public’s curiosity regarding what would possess others to engage in criminal conduct, what it looks like and what happens as a consequence."
"Why does it draw such fascination? Maybe it’s the violence, maybe it’s the intrigue, maybe it’s the adrenaline it vicariously induces, or maybe all of the above. Most of all, though, I think it is [the] curiosity—a desire to understand that which is foreign to most of us."
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