Exploitation is universally bemoaned in our society. When someone is accused of it, we all sigh and condemn the exploiter. And yet we all still participate, because consumer capitalism has made it impossible not to. We buy fast fashion. We have accounts at big banks. We shop at big box stores. We continue to gentrify the world. So with so much potential virtue signaling and morality policing, where do we draw the line with our entertainment, and how does the true crime genre play into our ever exploitative world?
Hollywood loves a true story. Biopics and film based in real life are typically Oscar bait (see Renee Zellweger as Judy, Rami Malek as Freddie Mercury, Marion Cotillard as Edith Piaf, Reese Witherspoon as June Carter Cash, Jamie Foxx as Ray Charles...the list goes on), and because we are voyeurs by nature, they smash at box offices as well. But now that true crime is one of the most popular genres of media, it has had a fascinating evolution. From podcast phenoms like Serial and My Favorite Murder, to investigative television series like The Vow and Wild, Wild Country, it has now jumped to the silver screen and the genre has officially entered the world of nonfiction cinema. With that shift in medium, now films like Lady Gaga and Adam Driver's House of Gucci, and Matt Damon's Stillwater, are bringing the characters they're based on out of the woodwork to defend themselves, and making us all question how portrayals of real life stories should be made.
