The true crime industry is in excellent health. This is corroborated by the success in hearings of Carles Porta’s Crims, the Asunta series or the crime of the Urban Police, the documentary of the King of Cachopo or the careful investigative work on the murder of Marta del Castillo. Why are these productions so attractive? The professor of Criminology Vicente Garrido, from the University of Valencia, responds. “Human beings are attracted to mystery and enigma; The fact that Agatha Christie is the most read author – man or woman – in all of history confirms this.”
And it has been shown that women listen to, read or watch more true crime than men. “When asked why, they respond that these contents help them learn prevention keys in case they are in similar situations, which would also be applicable to men,” adds Garrido. He also considers that “true crime done well is a window to reflection on the human condition and society, which attracts many people who feel concerned by these issues.”
But there are more reasons that explain the growing success of these productions. “They are very entertaining, in the sense that the dramatic resources used in their preparation provoke emotions that we like to feel. I call it the roller coaster effect: why do people spend money on an attraction where they feel like they’re going to die? Because they like to feel fear… but from a safe distance; The same thing happens in a good true crime,” adds this criminologist.
Is it a fad? No, answers Garrido. “It is a genre that goes back to traditional oral stories about crimes in villages and towns or about fierce fights with beasts. It has always been in our culture. Another thing is the fluctuations of the market; As with any other genre, it has brighter times and duller ones.”
Vicente Garrido, apart from marking the red lines that should never be crossed in these productions, believes that when a case like that of the boy Gabriel and other similar ones become so popular “they end up in a certain sense belonging to the society of their time.” Hence the difficulty in putting a stop to these productions.
As Ferran Lalueza, from the UOC, says, “ethical restrictions are one thing and legal obstacles, practically non-existent, are another, very different, given that fundamental rights such as freedom of expression, the right to artistic production and creation, or the Right to information”. This legal lack of definition, he adds, “can cause helplessness if the professionals who create this content act more guided by the desire for profit than by deontological principles,” he adds.
What is happening now with these series and documentaries “is what already happened with Pérez Galdós writing The Crime on Fuencarral Street; Truman Capote writing In Cold Blood; Emmanuel Carrière writing The Adversary… They are classic works that have also had their impact on the audiovisual world of their time, at least the last two,” Garrido emphasizes. And there are many other series and movies that have left their mark. “Did the wonderful docudrama about O.J. Simpson in the series American crime history did not serve to prove how the entire system failed in the face of a brutal case of gender violence?” asks this criminologist.
Crime is an inseparable part of culture. “Cutting the artist’s freedom to deal with crime, when things are done well, is not admissible. Another thing is that a vulgar and low-quality use of artistic media is made. It is the latter, the job poorly done, that should be rejected by the general public,” concludes Vicente Garrido.
