By Melanie Taveras
Correspondent
The notorious case of the Menendez brothers was extremely prominent in the 1990s — they were known as the two monsters who killed their parents in cold blood.
The brothers’ case is regaining popularity among a new generation with different opinions about the brothers after the release of the Netflix docuseries “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story” on Sept. 19.
When the brothers were first standing trial in 1993, the public viewed them with hatred, not believing any of the reasons they told for the cause of their parents’ murders. Many agreed that they were putting on an act to sway the jury.
“The Menendez brothers were the reality stars of their day – swaggering real-life Patrick Batemans of the small screen,” Rolling Stone wrote in 2017.
Very few took the brothers' vivid allegations of sexual assault against their parents seriously, even when they became extremely emotional on trial when describing it. In 1996, they received life imprisonment.
Recently, on TikTok, supporters of the brothers have created accounts to spread awareness about them and the facts of the case. These creators helped inspire Ryan Murphy’s “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story” by re-examining the case themselves.
“Murphy, along with the show’s co-creator Ian Brennan, revealed that the project was sparked by TikTok and Instagram creators,” The Hollywood Reporter stated.
These accounts helped authentically advocate for the brothers, providing the emotional connection between the viewers and the brothers that seemed to be lacking in the original trial.
Since the release of the new season of “Monsters,” Murphy has been under much scrutiny due to the depiction of the brothers in the series.
One of the biggest controversies of the series is the allegation that the Menendez brothers held an incestual relationship with each other. Time Magazine stated, “Opportunities to empathetically explore the recurring nature of trauma are often abandoned in favor of leaning into titillating taboo.” Both of these brothers have denied the nature of this relationship ever happening.
In the series, Murphy seems to focus too much on Erik’s unknown sexuality. The sexual relations he has had with his friends are talked about quite often, and it almost seems like Murphy is trying to depict Erik’s sexual trauma as influencing his sexual orientation.
Not only does this portray false information on how sexual abuse is processed by individuals, but it also strays away from the horrific acts and trauma that the brothers went through with their parents.
Murphy isn’t a stranger to this controversy — he faced the same backlash in 2022 with the release of the first season of “Monsters,” which focused on the case of Jeffrey Dahmer. Many believed that it did an injustice to the victims and their families because Murphy attempted to make the viewers sympathetic towards Dahmer.
The Conversation stated, “Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story has stirred controversy over its apparent glamorization of a serial killer and perceived insensitivity towards the families of Dahmer’s victims.”
The case of the Menendez brothers will always be a topic of controversy. But, it is one thing to discuss the controversy of facts versus the controversy of made-up hypothetical situations.
Murphy did not help show the true story of the brothers and the horrific trauma they endured. However, he will still receive a pretty penny with the show being No. 1 on the chart for Netflix.
He has disappointed the lovers of true crime once again, and the supporters of the Menendez brothers as a whole.
