People like mysteries. There is no dismissing that, especially when it is resolved at the end, yet many people are turning to the True Crime genre to get their fix of entertainment. No this isnt just your BBC or ITV drama, no no this is real life cases of murder and kidnapping etc that an audience is now lining up to hear and discuss and is they are part of the force working behind it.
With True Crime entertainment overloading entertainment platforms, you can deny that fans have latched themselves onto this genre hard. With a multitude of podcasts dedicated to telling real life cases of true crime every week have listeners hooked to every word, sometimes without a satisfying conclusion, because it's real life and some cases remain unsolved, leading the audience to start discussions about the case themselves. It isn't only the podcast world that has grown this massive amount of content due to this but also Youtube has tons of successful channels detailing mysterious and gruesome tales of real life crime. One channel in particular “Buzzfeed Unsolved has garnered 5.1 million subscribers.
One such True crime show you may have heard of due to its immense popularity, Netflix’s “Making a Murderer” can be seen as sparking a lot of people’s interest in this genre as being one of the most popular shows when it was released and has continued its success with Season 2 and a third season wanted by fans, all covering a 13 year period following the murder case of a young woman and the man wrongly imprisoned for it.
The genre has a hard core fanbase that has only grown throughout the years with more and more people discovering it. Many have debated whether or not the consumption of True crime is healthy for your mental health. The argument based on that unsolved cases can cause stress and anxiety leading to people feeling unsafe as not everything is resolved and good vs evil always win, however the opposition debate that it is harmless entertainment, just like how you would watch a thriller/horror film, they know to compartmentalise what they are watching/listening to.
At the end of the day you know whether or not it will be okay for you to watch if you want to. It is an intriguing and rich genre that is not short of content to be made for the masses, if you want to listen to a podcast, watch a YouTube video or watch a feature length documentary. If you’re curious, give it a go. It can be a little fearful but don't worry some of them do have satisfying conclusions.
Written By: Holly Proctor
Comments