Is a TV series about a living real life serial killer distasteful?

[chas49]

And googling MASH finds it first existed as a film in 1970.

And it was set in the Korean War (1950-53) - though I suppose that was only 20 years in the past at that point....

[EDIT: already noted at viewtopic.php?f=29&t=27105#p372311]

[88V8]

The Third Man 1949.

As said, it's not the film's subject that matters, more so the treatment.

V8

[UncleEbenezer]

And googling MASH finds it first existed as a film in 1970.

And it was set in the Korean War (1950-53) - though I suppose that was only 20 years in the past at that point....

[EDIT: already noted at viewtopic.php?f=29&t=27105#p372311]

For a bit of perspective, that was more recent in 1970 than "9/11" is today.

Let alone the events mentioned by the OP.

[Gerry557]

A new BBC 8 part series tonight dramatises the life of living serial killer, Charles Sobhraj, a man who revelled in his infamy from his killings in the 1970s.

Am I alone in finding it distasteful to portray real life events like this as "entertainment"? I feel uncomfortable with it but I also felt uncomfortable about people making money out of the film Titanic in which 1000s lost their lives.

Serious question.
C

Generally no in my opinion. I've not seen the said program but I would be unhappy if the production company paid said killer or glorified the acts.

Hopefully they pay respects to the victims and any finance can be added to funds for victims etc. I did see the Ripper Series, it was closer to home. I was working in Yorkshire around the time, knew some of the police personnel, connections with forensics etc. I dont know if this was aired because of his passing or held until his passing but seemed a more factual series highlighting good and bad. Some poor police decisions but it didnt glorify the acts.

I can understand if those closer to the families felt more "hurt" as one earlier poster comments on war. He avoids things like that. Why just killings though, why not crime, bank robbers or even shoplifting. It still affects the victims. Lots of burglary victims feel violated and some wont go back into their homes.

[SimonS]

Eh? Did anyone raise anything about Nick Leeson. I have no interest in him. Has he been in the news or on TV recently?

Er, yes. He's in the latest (christmas) Private Eye. As I recollect it, charging (and making) good money for his tips on ultra-high-risk investing, but unaccountably coy on the track record of his bets.

The question still stands. What distinction do you draw between your subject and a white-collar convicted criminal?

I haven't read the Christmas Private Eye so forgive me for not responding to something that I was completely unaware of. How remiss of me

To be honest, no I don't particularly like the idea of Nick Leeson making money out of his notoriety but I'm less bothered about that than I am about a murderer doing so. Taking someone-else's life in a non-war situation purely for personal greed or personal pleasure is pretty much as bad as it gets in my book.

But my original point wasn't so much about the person profiting from it, but about turning real-life murder into entertainment. I accept that it has always happened, but doesn't mean that I like it. I was just interested to see how other people felt about it.

C

For me the problem is one of excess. The other day I was sofa bound and on the 73 channels available to me was able to watch a variety of deaths all day.these ranged from the 116 bodies that I counted in a Schwarzenegger movie to the psychotic death in a shower as well as the killing of wildebeest by crocodile, gazelle by lion, rabbit by hawk, several horses by vets, cowboys and soldiers and animals in a slaughter house (documentary on food production). There was also a variety of real life docu-dramas involving police, ambulances, helicopters and boats.

So is the production of any or all of these programmes involving death or injury possibly leading to death more or less justifiable than your examples based on a 'real' killer. Yes, you could theorise that the Schwarzenegger movie could be based on the activities of special forces ( SAS at Mirbat 1972 for instance) with a layer of Hollywood incredibility on top. We are at the same time utterly desensitised to death situations from our daily TV and utterly protected from death in our daily lives. On the whole we no longer see and handle death in the home, bodies are no longer laid out on the kitchen table and so on.

Our society encourages killing, yet at the same time has educated most of us to react badly to any encounter with death. I have to wonder whether your reaction is the result of 'conditioning or simply distaste of the profit motive?

And to reprise an old movie, how long before the news pays for a murder to be committed on screen live, because it will boost the ratings, just as live sex and soft porn is now an every day occurrence on Channel 5 et al.

[AsleepInYorkshire]

A new BBC 8 part series tonight dramatises the life of living serial killer, Charles Sobhraj, a man who revelled in his infamy from his killings in the 1970s.

Am I alone in finding it distasteful to portray real life events like this as "entertainment"? I feel uncomfortable with it but I also felt uncomfortable about people making money out of the film Titanic in which 1000s lost their lives.

Serious question.
C

I'm no fan of Shakespeare. But his entertainment seemed to glorify death. I think this is a very personnel choice. If you enjoy it then watch it. If you don't then watch something you do enjoy? Vote with your remote?

If you have Netflix and haven't watched the Making of a Murderer then I'd strongly suggest you at least consider it. It's the flip side of "justice". Netflix are clearly trying to get a man off from a sentence "for a crime he didn't commit". Great entertainment, unless your the "innocent" guy banged up for life for something he hasn't done. But it is his only chance to walk free.

Entertainment is subjective in my opinion. I love a good documentary where an "underdog" person who has been "processed" by the system and locked up for something they haven't done, is given their freedom due to the investment made in the name of entertainment.

Happy New Year

AiY