The Underworld…

I have this fascination with Outlaws. Bank Robbers like John Dillinger and Baby Face Nelson. Mob Bosses like Lucky Luciano and Vincent (the Chin) Gigante. Big Time grifters like Bernie Madoff. I even find myself cheering their exploits. And yet In spite of my amoral instincts, I’m more or less law abiding. I would not rob a bank at my age. Or at any age, for that matter. I would not assault anybody, either. I did some bad things in my youth. Yet I grew into a (more or less) law abiding citizen without spending any time at San Quentin. I wised up early. Nowadays I deplore violent criminal behavior. So why do I find these “celebrity” criminals so engaging? Maybe it’s because I view these demented people as underdogs. I’ve always rooted for the underdog…

These people were criminals who’s exploits are well documented. My favorites are the Bank Robbers because, well, because they were playing against impossible odds. They all went down hard. The others were organized and lingered for decades–even flourished–until eventually the FEDS put them out of business. Bernie Madoff conned everybody including the FEDS. He was only brought to “Justice” at fate’s hand thanks to the crash of 2008. Well, too bad for Bernie. The big house cons treated him like a King. I kind of see the logic in that. As the Underworld saw it, he was a King. Bernie conned more people out of more money than anybody in the history of the world.

Under The Underworld

There’s the Underworld. And then there’s the bleakest depths of the Underworld. A space for the kind of behavior that even respectable criminals like Dillinger and Charley Lucky must have deplored. Regions they might shudder from in moments of self-reflection. The kind that flourish in these hellish depths are the worst of the worst. I’m talking Child Molesters. The kind that rape and murder children. The kind that are not safe in prison. These types are usually eliminated by other prisoners.

Catholic Priests are included in this category. I’m talking Rogue Priests. The ones that are given up reluctantly by the church fathers themselves…

You’d think there’d be limits to human depravity. And yet there are even worse forms of behavior than that of convicted Priests.

Jeffrey Dahmer ate his victims. Some he drugged and drilled holes in their skulls in an attempt to create Zombies that might do his bidding. Of course none of them survived the head wounds. Others he butchered, deboned, consumed their organs with condiments, saved a skull or two, used other bones to build an alter where he might sit and meditate.

Meditate on his victims and feel his power over them.

Jeffrey Dahmer gets another film

The man who willingly confessed to seventeen grisly murders during sixty hours of interviews admitted to police that his actions were extreme.  “I carried it too far, that’s for sure.”

Why does a scab of humanity such as this entertain my interest?

I have yet to come up with a reasonable answer to this question. A lurid fascination with Jeffrey Dahmer only describes my character flaw. It doesn’t explain it. Is it even a flaw? If it is, I share it with a considerable population.

Monster: the Jeffrey Dahmer story is out and lots of people are watching.

The show was watched for 196.2 million hours in its first full week, and is currently the number one TV show on Netflix in more than 60 countries. I’d venture to say the show might rescue NETFLIX from it’s current ratings downturn.

How it possible that my character flaw is shared by so many people all over the world?

The series is quite compelling, thanks to the top notch cast. Evan Peters melts into the form of Dahmer to a degree that’s scary if I was inclined to be scared (which I was at times). Niecy Nash, the “concerned” neighbor, manages to elevate the creepiness of her proximity to Dahmer to levels beyond camp, while a lesser Actor might have reverted to stereotype. Jeffrey’s mother, played by the always fine Penelope Ann Miller, came across with a degree of weirdness than could fill a story on its own merits. Countering her stridence with a quiet pool of oddness, is the Monster’s stepmother, played almost invisibly, (to me a least) by Molly Ringwald. The same Molly Ringwald of Pretty In Pink. America’s Sweetheart before Julia Roberts came along. But I’d say the rug chewer’s prize goes to Richard Jenkins in his role as Jeffrey Dahmer’s dad. He is so good, I almost feel as though he’s given me a papal dispensation for being allowed to enjoy the series as much as I did.

Richard Jenkins is one of the all time great actors. But is his inclusion in the series enough to justify its existence or alleviate any guilt I should feel for enjoying myself?

I think not.

Savages

The easy way, I imagine, to view the Celebrity Serial Killer phenomenon, and our collective love of Bad Asses, is to see ourselves as bloodthirsty wolves beneath a coating of domesticity. This answer suggests what may be our core “savage” instincts. It could just as well be that our invention of Society itself turbo-charged a placid native instinct. I guess it works both ways…

I’ve got other concerns at the moment, like finding a job….

Meanwhile, the glasses Jeffrey Dahmer wore in prison are now up for sale. The asking price: $150,000.00.

You could buy a lot of hot dogs with that kind of money.