Celebritarian Continuum

In finishing watching the Netflix biopic series on Jeffrey Dahmer, I've come to fully realise what the concept of Celebritarianism is, or seemingly was now. As much as past killers are far more memorialised via American sensationalism than their victims, with little exception they are the prominent focus; though, even with the era's shifting in the direction of the victim's memory, the older cases remain stagnant as if stone monuments. Sure, Dahmer as presented gives some due to those killed and in some cases cannibalised, but even in that they are overshadowed by his animal magnetism, as evident in even that of 'the 14 year old boy', as he is by and large known as, Konerak Sinthasom, who nearly escaped him but was returned to Dahmer by police after being convinced it was merely a lovers quarrel; and while the series shows a few rows of pictures at its end with the names under the deceased, is really only about the reason why they became so at such early ages. 

The grandiosity imbued onto these sorts of murderers is why, poignantly in his essay regarding the West Memphis Three (who as an aside, are by all accounts innocent in comparison) and the 1999 Columbine school shooting, Peter H Gilmore referred to the perpetrators of the latter as the victors of the event. In spite of the 13 other massacred student body and faculty, with the minor exception of the nonsense regarding Rachel Scott's faith, it is Sue Klebold going around on book tours and hosting TedTalks on her son; thus proving Marilyn Manson's point when on Bill O'Reilly, explaining:

"...the media sends a message that if you do something loud enough and it gets our attention, then you will be famous for it. Those kids ended up on the cover of Time Magazine. The media gave them exactly what they wanted."

Depicted in the Dahmer series is the realisation the Milwaukee murderer had of his celebrity status, even in incarceration for life; which is likenable to what Nikolas Schreck has similarly detailed of Richard Ramirez when he befriended the serial killer (at the time) under trial; as well as much of the same with his close relationship to Charles Manson (who while not a mass murderer, still has the lip service given in such a light), and how he very much played up and into his prescribed character, even to his own detriment.

Hence in this part of the dichotomy presented in the name Marilyn Manson, which serves as both a criticism of this culture in its own right as much as it does play its own part in the phenomenon— as if I myself can say much more in that regard given I stole the name Berdella from the Kansas City Butcher in my own adolescent inspiration/imitation. 

Nonetheless the point still stand [in a way], though as mentioned earlier to a seemingly lesser degree; even in spite of the widespread popularity of True Crime now widespread than in the heyday of these murderous montages. Sure, Adam Lanza overshadows the children he murdered; but as much Charlie Kirk does the same with his alleged assassin Tyler Robinson as well as Donald Trump in his own assassination attempt— in spite of the likelihood both those cases were staged in the matter regarding the POTUS and a sacrificial lamb in the case of Kirk. Overshadowing their perpetrators as much as Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold override their newer imitators, like Natalie Rupnow's copycat shooting in Madison, Wisconsin at the Abundant Life Christian School mid-December 2024. 

Where it would seem the spirit of this has survived, or transferred is almost that of a regression, but as much been there the entire time. Seen prominently with the Wild-West-outlaw-vigilante-justice acquired by Luigi Mangione's shooting of a man merely referred to now as the UnitedHealtchare CEO— overshadowing the now deceased Brian Thompson entirely; imbuing him with a similar 'aura' (as it is now phrased) as figures like Bonnie & Clyde or Doc Holliday and Billy The Kid. What it really is, I'm not sure entirely but it's a unique aspect of an almost ancient impulse— et tu, Brutus?