Ryan Murphy’s Flaws as a Queer Historical Storyteller

By Quinn Jennings, Edited by Alexis Lopez and Emma Smith

Growing up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, I first heard of Jeffery Dahmer when I was seven years old, as the 20th anniversary of the headlines had teachers and friends' parents mumbling where they were and what they remembered from the day in 1991. As I got older, I learned the community believed the best way to respect the victims' families, many of whom still resided in the area, was to discredit any retellings. Most turned out to be dramatized, disrespectful, and created with monetary goals. When Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story (2022), created by Ryan Murphy, became the most streamed television show on Netflix in September 2022, the taboo around true-crime was severely intensified and cross-referenced with Murphy as a creator (White). Schools, publications, and social circles in Milwaukee discussed boycotts of Netflix and Ryan Murphy as a director. It was only when I saw teachers reprimanding students for watching Glee (2009–2015), an earlier Murphy production, during their lunch periods that I began to question the validity of the avoidance strategy and how the Dahmer series, tagged as an LGBTQ+ story by Netflix, fit into the portrait of queer television. 

Ryan Murphy himself is an extension of queer television; he serves as a representation of the genre due to his extensive work with queer media: Glee, Pose (2018–2021), Nip/Tuck (2003–2010), Hollywood (2020), to name a few. However, classifying queer television as existing under one umbrella dismisses the notion that marginalized voices have a unique place in the mainstream. Crediting one creator and forming a designated grouping for queer television flattens the nuance of queer stories. Furthermore, the attribution of Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story as a queer story further alienates Black and brown members of the queer community. Murphy takes true-crime stories and morphs them into sexual thrillers, ultimately altering the themes and compromising the integrity of the storytelling as a result. This is evident in the Dahmer series and the next installation of the Murphy true-crime saga: Monsters – The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story (2024). Although the show does not focus on queer storytelling, it suffers from the same Murphy-erotiscm veil that proves unnecessary and distasteful. The Dahmer series does not exist as a queer story in the same way as Pose, another Murphy creation. Pose highlights resilience that propels the queer community forward while the Dahmer series neglects the humanity of victims and disregards the values of the queer community it aims to represent. As a creative, Murphy is not fit to oversee true-crime anthology television. His cachet and affiliation with shows across the true-crime and queer fiction genres–as well as his attempted overlap with the Dahmer and later Menendez Brothers series–is dangerous for the future standard of queer representation through a dramatized historical lens. 

Classified as a true-crime biographical thriller, Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story utilizes established stars to portray a retelling of Dahmer's horrific crimes. The marketing of the show emphasizes Evan Peters as the titular role and praises the dark place he entered as a performer, wielding abhorrent acts of a serial killer to entice viewer interest. Murphy draws on Dahmer's patterns of targeting queer men of color as a narrative promotional tool rather than addressing the historical context of prejudice and violence towards LGBTQ+ communities of color in the Midwest. Additionally, the Dahmer series failed to consult victims' families, including those portrayed by actors, or even notify them of the Netflix adaptation's existence, further separating the content in the show with the lived experience of community members (Vlamis). In fact, in 2024, Murphy stated that he had “no interest in talking to [the Menendez Brothers]” since he felt he already knew their perspective on prison reform and the public’s perception of their 1996 conviction (Vlamis). Murphy also declared his show to be “the best thing that has happened to the Menendez brothers in 30 years” (Malkin). Murphy has demonstrated a clear pattern of oblivious behavior in his creative projects and repeatedly treats his subjects as character studies to be observed rather than interacted with and understood. In contrast, his fiction work, Pose, draws talent and perspective from the active community whose history Murphy aims to represent on screen. Lynne Joyrich, a renowned professor at Brown University focused on gender and sexuality studies points out the "diversely racialized group of trans women" Murphy centers in the narrative as well as places in front of and behind the camera in Ryan Murphy's Queer America (33). Pose is emotionally immersive queer television as it is grounded in history and a "lived recognition of the particular experiences, embodiments, and emotions" of trans women of color (Joyrich 33). Purposeful and conscious involvement from community members adds a layer of sincerity to historical storytelling. Without this involvement, we get something like the Monster true-crime anthology series: vapid television that fails to honestly characterize and contextualize queer accounts. 

Pose and Ryan Murphy’s stabs at true-crime storytelling, although both spearheaded by Murphy, have vastly different approaches to depicting queer history in tone and the positioning of queer subjects. The personal and political storylines of Pose portray turmoil and tension within queer communities of color while ultimately celebrating triumphs in a time of racism and homo- and transphobia, in addition to contextualizing the struggles of the HIV-AIDS crisis. The show works to "[refigure] dominant culture" to live "through and with history" and argues that present levels of queer liberation could not have been achieved without the acknowledgement and uplifting of these marginalized stories (Joyrich 39). Stories of past tragedy and joy in the queer community resonate with contemporary audiences as a form of identification. Contrarily, the Dahmer series does not draw from a lifetime of experiences; rather, it focuses on a singular perspective, skewing it in an attempt to capitalize on queer trauma. Although later removed, Netflix's initial choice to add Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story to their LGBTQ+ collection contributes to an erasure of dignity and further adds to Murphy's incomplete cultural phenomenon. The series is a painful reminder of a long history of abuse for queer, Black and brown communities, especially in Milwaukee. The lack of focus on societal issues that positioned queer communities of color as easy targets for violence directly contrasts the emphasis of the community’s perseverance against discrimination in Pose. Standing on almost the opposite end of Murphy’s work, Monsters – The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story does not deal with queer subjects, but it handles topics of male sexual abuse. During the trial, the show depicts the prosecution alluding to Erik’s homosexuality as a tactic to discredit his account of violent sexual abuse at the hand of his father. Murphy had many chances to empathetically investigate the cycle of abuse and trauma with a post #MeToo lens, but instead, moments of critical analysis are overshadowed by Murphy’s favor for shock value and his tendency to oversaturate the taboo. 

The work Ryan Murphy produces serves as a representation of societal issues in underserved and marginalized communities. His filmography also demonstrates the arc of a respected creative who misuses the power at his disposal. Murphy’s true-crime anthology series combines his established aesthetic of good-looking stars with the Netflix exposure that carries weight on social media and translates into TikTok and X (formerly known as Twitter) discourse. Historically, true-crime projects on Netflix have sparked new discussions about an era of problematic thirst traps. In 2019, Netflix’s documentary release of Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes (2019) and biopic Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile (2019) starring Zac Efron emphasized the serial killer’s reputation as a handsome manipulator. Around the same time, the stalker-thriller You (2018–) starring Penn Badgley had social media users excusing and condoning the brutality taken by the show’s protagonist. Young attractive actors are a parcel of the Ryan Murphy brand: they are part of why multiple generations of young people propelled his television shows forward for years. As a white male creator, Murphy’s casting allows his own identity to shine through in the underbelly of his work. These choices allow similar audiences to accept his work at face value without considering the degree to which Murphy is attached to these stories. The Dahmer and Menendez brothers series have ushered in a new era of TikTok thirst traps and fan edits that are unsavory and offensive on multiple levels: to the memory of the victims of these crimes, their families who are still exposed to their depiction on television, and in the case of the Menendez brothers, the subjects themselves. Murphy’s mobilization of young actors to play these offensive roles and take part in depicting these gruesome stories is an act of wielding his power and name recognition to add supposed credibility to the irresponsible storytelling. 

Despite Murphy's flaws, his incorporation of queer stories in television is career defining. On television, he has "[redefined] cultural formations (such as family and home), yielding knowledges and ignorances […] that cannot be characterized as either simply negative or positive" through his presentation of queer characters as multifaceted (Joyrich 35). By incorporating queerness into the mainstream, Murphy structured his work around challenging televisual norms. But while he may have paved the way for uplifting queer representation on television, Murphy’s portfolio is flawed. The understanding of Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story as a queer story told by Murphy that gains viewers from shock value of that association. The series attempts to hide behind this trait with Murphy's position as a creator, striving to add credibility to this supposed queer story with his association with queer television. Murphy takes risks with his true-crime shows despite the genre not leaving room for creative interpretation. The Menendez Brothers series includes a scene of the brothers kissing after killing their parents to add a layer of shock to the show and ambiguity around the degree of sexual abuse Lyle and Erik endured. The implication that the characters–who are representative of real people and public figures–are in an incestuous relationship despite an extreme lack of evidence suggests irresponsible, exploitative, and lazy storytelling. Overall, Murphy's multiple attempts at historical retellings fall short of being captivating or nuanced and remain incomplete without historical and cultural references. 

Extensive work has been done in the past several decades to incorporate queer stories into the mainstream. It would be thoughtless to omit Ryan Murphy’s catalog of work from these accomplishments and milestones. Although Ryan Murphy can be credited with paving a way for the volume representation on television, audiences should be wary of appraising his depictions of queer history–especially when regarding gruesome true-crime cases. There must be a future standard of consultation and consideration for historical retellings. Instead of shying away and allowing acclaimed executives to run free with creative interpretation, it is essential to confront the reality that creating complex queer high schoolers and their intricacies through gossip and song does not license the presentation of layered queer history without consulting lived perspective. 

Works Cited 

Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story. Created by Ryan Murphy, Netflix, 2022. Glee. Created by Ryan Murphy, Fox, 2009–2015. 

Joyrich, Lynne. "Posing as Normal?" Ryan Murphy's Queer America, 2022, pp. 27–40. Pose. Created by Ryan Murphy, FX, 2018–2021. 

Malkin, Marc. “Ryan Murphy Has ‘no Interest’ in Meeting the Menendez Bros. and Believes New Trial Is Possible: ‘Monsters’ Is the ‘Best Thing That’s Happened to Them in 30 Years.’” Variety, Variety, 26 Sept. 2024, 

variety.com/2024/tv/news/ryan-murphy-menendez-brothers-retrial-monsters-backlash-net flix-1236157104/. 

Monsters – The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story. Created by Ryan Murphy, Netflix, 2024. Vlamis, Kelsey. “My Brother Was Murdered by Jeffrey Dahmer. Here’s What It Was like Watching the Netflix Show That Recreated the Emotional Statement I Gave in Court.” Insider, Insider, 26 Sep. 2022, 

www.insider.com/rita-isbell-sister-jeffrey-dahmer-victim-talks-about-netflix-show-2022- 9.

White, Peter. “‘Dahmer: Monster – the Jeffrey Dahmer Story’ Locks up Netflix’s Biggest Audience since ‘Stranger Things’ Return.” Deadline, Deadline, 28 Sept. 2022, deadline.com/2022/09/dahmer-monster-the-jeffrey-dahmer-story-netflix-biggest-audience-since-stranger-things-1235128248/.