Written by Joseph Carrick
The Ted Bundy Tapes is a documentary-style television series debuted exclusively on Netflix detailing the murders, interviews and trials of one of America’s most infamous serial killers. The documentary released with much fanfare – apparently literal fanfare as entire fandoms revolving around serial killers flooded the internet in their support for the film. This attraction, however, is quite shallow. Bundy’s charm and looks seem to outweigh his murderous history as the internet glorified his past, and this film is only breathing new life to this dead killer.
The newfound sensationalism surrounding the man’s life is not unique to Bundy, as other brutal killers from America’s past have now found the spotlight in the internet age. On a surface level these films bring awareness to a dark past, but there is less of a focus on detailing the timeline of events and more so on nearly romanticizing his past. True, Ted Bundy is attractive (or, was, rather) and this coupled with his charm became a dangerous recipe for his many victims.
This charm and attraction, however, seems to overshadow his crimes as America is lured by the mystery behind his evil, forbidden deeds. By the documentary’s design there is less of a focus on the victims as there is on the man himself, but by taking so many lives it is hard to argue that the victims aren’t apart of him as well. Ironically, what is being used to separate the man from his crimes is a near consequence of his crimes, something that should not have been so quickly overlooked by Netflix.
