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“Don’t Let Netflix Tell You What to Think!”: Debates on Getting to Know the Accused/Convicted in Making a Murderer and Other Injustice Narratives

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Critiquing Violent Crime in the Media

Abstract

Injustice narratives are a trend of true crime documentaries that focus on the accused, or convicted perpetrators of crime. This chapter examines the trend and specifically how Making a Murderer (2015, Demos & Ricciardi) encourages audiences to “get to know” convicted felons Stephen Avery and Brendan Dassey. It also explores how the series attempts to validate their appeals, understand their convictions and critique the institutions involved, thus providing opportunities for the men to be acknowledged as more than just the crime to which they are connected. Making a Murderer challenges prevailing opinions in the justice system that argue ‘getting to know’ the accused/convicted hinders the objective processing of facts. However, such tactics do raise questions; does encouraging audiences to consider the emotional aspects of enacting justice simply reinforce true crime media as entertainment or can it promote more active critical debates about justice and fair practice in the institutions involved?

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The nine episodes in this limited series were directed by Roger Ross Williams, Jed Rothstein, Sarah Dowland, Alex Gibney, Liz Garbus and Andy Grieve.

  2. 2.

    Murder on a Sunday Morning won an Academy award for “Best Documentary Feature” in 2002. It also won a Prix Italia award for “Best Television Documentary” 2002.

  3. 3.

    This is presented in the film by the inclusion of a statement from Evelyn Jefferson (mother of Deborah Sykes, the murder victim), who maintains her belief in Hunt’s guilt, despite the court’s decision. Arguably, the film includes this statement, not only to show the continued prejudice against Hunt, but also to show how miscarriages of justice create mistrust and hurt for all involved to the extent that any decision fails to provide complete and satisfactory closure.

  4. 4.

    Scott Tadych, Brendan’s step father appears more often than Peter Dassey, but an interview with Peter in season 1, episode 1 is one of the most significant examples of characterizing Brandon through a blood relative.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Sunderland, Sunderland, UK

    George S. Larke-Walsh

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  1. George S. Larke-Walsh
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Correspondence to George S. Larke-Walsh .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. St Mary’s University, Twickenham, UK

    Maria Mellins

  2. University of Bath, Bath, UK

    Sarah Moore

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Larke-Walsh, G.S. (2021). “Don’t Let Netflix Tell You What to Think!”: Debates on Getting to Know the Accused/Convicted in Making a Murderer and Other Injustice Narratives. In: Mellins, M., Moore, S. (eds) Critiquing Violent Crime in the Media. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-83758-7_3

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