Ryan Murphy's Monsters vs. the Actual Monsters

The show Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story is based on the famous Beverly Hills in-house murder where Lyle and Erik Menendez killed their parents by opening fire at them in their house. The medium I am focusing on is the Netflix adaptation of this story, where they are showing the brothers having no remorse for their actions and effectively portraying them as monsters (the title of the show). From the start of the series till the end, the older brother Lyle Menendez seemed to be very dominating and aggressive, and it sets the whole tone of the show where they're trying to portray the actual victims as monsters. One of the media narratives during that time was that it was a pre-mediated plan to out their parents and gain inheritance as Jose Menendez, their father, was the CEO of an entertainment company and had built quite a luxurious life for himself and his family. This false portrayal demeans the long life of abuse of both the brothers at the hands of their father while their mother stood silent to all the atrocities happening in the family to protect their honor.

Throughout the whole show and the story in real life, a dark secret is kept from the courts till it is revealed that both brothers were sexually molested and raped by their father at an extremely young age. There are many false narratives shown in the show including the turbulent characters of the brothers and his false intentions of getting revenge on their parents. Specifically, how Lyle masterminded the entire scheme and dragged his younger brother into it as well. Their rude behavior towards their parents when they could actually not do much about it, and to them, they wanted whatever form of love they could get from their parents, due to which they withstood the abuse and did not reveal their darkest secrets just to protect their family honor. Them being greedy about the inheritance money and the narrative of them living their lives out with all the money however, they were the most miserable under that act. The way that this show portrays this case in this dramatized view reflects how the media dealt with this case when it was happening in real life. Television and tabloids helped turn this case from a trial into an entertainment spectacle.

Another major narrative of the show is that Lyle and Erik were involved in an incestuous relationship by portraying them as sexually attracted to each other, and to the point of trying to determine Erik’s sexuality that he’s either bisexual or gay by showing him with men outside and inside the prison. This is where the ethical responsibility of the media comes in when portraying real-life people and tragic stories. The media orchestrated the image of Erik in a specific villainous light so the people who were watching would start to look at Erik from the angle they wanted. The media has a responsibility to both the people they cover and the public and it failed in this story.

Ryan Murphy, the director, built a portrayal of dishonesty, especially for a case where male sexual abuse was not as common and not dealt with fairly in the 1980s. But he keeps on defending the portrayal as his responsibility to show all sides of the story and the perspectives of various stakeholders in this story. What the show does is present a very dramatic and sensationalized point of view of the abuse faced by the brothers at the hands of their father, so at times, it only uses this as a plot device and does not attempt to show the complexities attached to trauma and abuse.

What is seen now is that the portrayal of the Menendez brothers’ story in this drama has led to the public forming a different opinion of them than in the 1990s. whether we can say that people are more informed now or that they are more woke, the consensus seen on Instagram or TikTok is that the way these brothers were dealt with was very poor and that they deserve justice. When this case happened, abuse and sexual molestation of these brothers weren’t considered serious because they were men. There was a discriminating taboo against male sexual assault. The judge was very biased against them because of their gender and the frenzy of the media around the case. Now for that same media, their target audience and interpretation are surprisingly different. The focus was on the sole act of parricide, but today’s society is more well-informed. Conversations of men facing abuse and harassment have a somewhat open space. Their sympathy and support is overwhelming for the victim and their family. They see Erik and Lyle’s reform efforts in prison to make sure people with similar stories are not blindsided by healing. The impact is that the case has been repealed now and there is hope for parole after thirty-five years of imprisonment.