TW: murder, physical, and sexual abuse slightly mentioned

Many of the movies you and I watch are inspired or based on true stories. Some are completely fictional. However, the majority of them are reflections of our realities, whether it’s from the past or now

In the new season of “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Story”, there has been a lot of clashing opinions on the viewpoint the audience is given and how accurate it is. Whether it was a good show or not is practically irrelevant for the argument I am about to make.

Many people are unhappy with the show because it paints both Lyle and Erik Menendez, survivors of physical and sexual abuse, in a negative light for murdering their parents to escape the abuse. The same sort of argument was made towards the first season of “Monsters: Dahmer” when people believed that Ryan Murphy, the writer, wrote the story to glorify Jeffrey Dahmer.

Now those were plainly just difFerent interpretations of the show What I believe was occurring was that Ryan Murphy gave a more exaggerated and I’V-fitting version of the show

In fact, Murphy has actually responded to the criticism. According to Today, Murphy said “he’s everywhere (the Menendez case] . A lot of people think that they were dealt a bad hand in that second trial, a lot of people think they should get a new trial, and I think having those conversations are good. So, if we’re doing anything that can further a conversation about abuse and also ask the question, was that second trial fair then I did my job.” This shows that Murphy didn’t have ill-intentions

‘The Menendez brothers were happy with the show, with Erik Menendez saying it has “blatant lies rampant in the show,” according to NPR

I do agree with the people that think that Murphy needs to start asking for permission in the way he is going to be representing those people. IF the people related to these murder cases are alive, then they should be asked for their opinion and point of views regarding the cases.

Despite that, I think it should be understood that not every single little detail will be exact to what actually happened. It’s a show made for entertainment purposes, more than educational. If it was educational, then it would be called a documentary. I think that the distinction between the two needs to be spread more.

In the movie “Hidden Figures”, there are a few things that are also exaggerated to fit the plot of the story better. In fact, the relationship between the three women, Katherine Goble Joinson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson, was largely exaggerated as they weren’t that close in terms of friendship, like the movie makes them out to be. However, it helps the movie’s plot line to have that strong friendship and endurance as the three of them fight for their justice.