"You really shouldn't be watching this..."

I promised that I was going to blog a bit more frequently.

I also promised that I was going to make my next post more writing-centric, and I am.

Sort of.

Like many of you probably are, I’m currently making my way through Ryan Murphy’s latest foray into the world of true crime. After their relatively faithful rendition of the Jeffrey Dahmer story, followed by an interpretation of that of the Menendez brothers (I haven’t seen that one, so I can’t comment on allegations of liberty-taking), it has come to be the turn of the man usually regarded as America’s first celebrity serial killer. So I’m going to try and share my thoughts on Monster: The Ed Gein Story.

You will notice that I placed emphasis on the word celebrity in that last paragraph. Gein has long been immortalised previously, in movies, television, even in music, so one more retelling might seem, I don’t know, superfluous. Still, the current serialisation has been both highly publicised and anticipated. That American Horror Story guy is focusing on The Butcher of Plainfield? Where is he gonna take it? Well, from what I’ve seen, read, and heard, he’s taken it to a place that a lot of people didn’t expect; a place that a great deal of people didn’t like. It’s certainly polarised its audience, many of whom have taken to social media – as is the norm nowadays – to vent their frustrations. So, taking that wise old saying, if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em to heart, I thought I’d weigh in with my two cents worth. It’s worth bearing in mind that I’ve seen a lot of movies and TV shows over the years, many of them on the darker end of the spectrum, but I’m no critic by any means, so this is probably going to come across as a meandering collection of notes, rather than some snotty diatribe. But I’m up for the challenge, so let’s go...

Like many people, when it was first announced that the role of Ed Gein was going to be played by Charlie Hunnam (the Brits are taking over!), I was divided. He’s too pretty to play a monster! Was a common complaint. What’s that particular argument about? Have none of these people seen a photo of Ted Bundy before? Do they honestly believe that personality is dictated by physical appearance? True, the usual image of Hunnam doesn’t really jibe with old photos of Gein, but I personally think that he pulls it off quite well; he captures an introverted sense of awkwardness, along with successfully projecting a sense of the towering yet slightly effeminate, coddled mummy’s boy. In that sense, any casting reservations seem to be ill-founded.

Instead of going down the traditional biopic route, the writers have attempted something a little different, which seems to have confounded a large proportion of viewers. The story is non-linear, admittedly frustratingly so at times, as events are spliced with subplots if you like, a combination of the stories of those who potentially influenced Gein, along with those who he went on to influence. Ilse Koch, Alfred Hitchcock and Anthony Perkins (the story spends too long dwelling on Perkins’ own struggles with his sexuality and forays into conversion therapy for my liking, but...), Tobe Hooper. Just a few of the notables who have name-checked Gein at some point in their own careers, or who were there before him, blazing the sort of trail that no one should follow. While watching, I was half-expecting Slayer’s Dead Skin Mask to crop up in the soundtrack. Never mind, better luck next time. The obligatory references to Psycho and Texas Chain Saw Massacre in particular are sprinkled liberally throughout, with some of the dramatised Gein’s actions mirroring those of Norman Bates/Mother and Leatherface. This is one of the more subtle indications that – to the annoyance of many viewers who treasure historical accuracy – the series falls far short of realism. Depictions of scenes in both Psycho and Chain Saw are ramped up, both in terms of sexualisation and gore, with the recreations showing far more flesh and blood than was ever seen in the original movies. Gein’s crimes themselves are similarly exaggerated, with additional atrocities that probably never existed in reality. This is to such an extent that I’ve heard of people rage-quitting, refusing to watch on account of the series’ writers making shit up. Because of course, that’s not what genre writers do, damnit!

I believe there’s a point to this though, so bear with me a little longer.

Over the years, so much has been made of Gein’s crimes, despite the fact that he was actually convicted of two murders – a small number when compared to many other killers of his ilk. It wasn’t just the murders of course, it was the nature of everything else that went along with it: A beaten-down, introverted mummy’s boy, living in isolation, who had resorted to not only killing, but grave robbing as a means of procuring items for his own unique style of decor. It was then exactly what it is now: Tabloid fodder, a story raring to be sensationalised. And sensationalised it has indeed been in the many years since. Let’s be honest with ourselves here; what Ryan Murphy has done with Monster is nothing that hasn’t been done over and over again many times by any gossip rag or lowbrow news outlet.

The narrative of the series is fractured almost to breaking point, a mish-mash of reality, half-truths and pure out-and-out fiction, and it goes on until the viewer can no longer tell the difference, probably pretty much in the same way that Gein lost his own grip on reality. Rather than the crimes themselves, the chosen focus is on the mythology of those crimes, on how Ed Gein has been elevated almost to the status of some iconic folk hero, a poster boy for depravity, immortalised in ever more lurid media. The creators are asking the same age-old question: You want to be scared? You enjoy being scared? How far will you go for that thrill? Here’s what happened that we know of. If he was capable of that, what else could he have done? Do you want to try and imagine it? If so, we can help. I love horror, as do a lot of you (I’m guessing at least!). As I’ve always said, it’s much more than a genre, it’s an emotional state. But when the horror has a basis in fact, how much can you take before it becomes too discomforting, too close to home? You think it’s okay to fictionalise real life atrocity? You think it’s acceptable to place a murderer on some blood-soaked pedestal? Here – take this! In a move that might seem cynical, the creators of Monster: The Ed Gein Story, are flipping a big, gore-smeared finger to the very audience who anticipated it. They take the audiences desire to be shocked and offended (and yes, I maintain that some people in this modern social media age look to be offended with a perverse sense of joy. Jesus, I swear that some people get off on doom scrolling to their little heart’s content until they find something to be pissed off about), and they use that as a narrative device. You asked for it, well we’re going to give it; madness, confusion, violence, bending of reality. We’re going to give it to you. Every. Last. Drop.

Two scenes stuck with me from the series, both of them in the fourth episode. The first is a conversation between Tobe Hooper and Bill Parsely, in which a seemingly perma-stoned Hooper sneeringly announces, “We’re not giving America the film it wants, we’re giving it the film it deserves.” The choice of this line is telling; whether we care to admit it or not, we’re all more than a little keen in vicariously indulging in the misery of others, of the glorification of violence. If it’s what we seek out, then it’s surely what we deserve, in all its fractured narrative, blown out of proportion, titillating glory. The second line comes from Ed Gein himself, when, near the start of the episode and just prior to a bout of fictionalised violence, Hunnam turns to the camera and breaks the fourth wall. Well, almost turns to the camera – Ed’s a shy fella, remember? He utters the line to the viewer as much as to his victim: “You really shouldn’t be watching this.” Perhaps he’s right, we shouldn’t.

But we do.

Thanks for making it this far, and for indulging me by putting up with some of my opinions. I’m grateful as always.

On another note…

What I’m watching: Monster – The Ed Gein Story. Accused (I wish I knew where Jimmy McGovern gets his ideas from!

What I’m reading: Fluids (May Leitz), and next up, Deviant (Harold Schecter) – time to get the real story.

​Thanks again. Love and gratitude,

- L