Erich Matthes presented new work that draws inspiration from his previous projects as well as from his students. Matthes’ previous work examines the ethics of cultural preservation, on the one hand, and the ethics of engaging with the work of immoral artists, on the other. At Wellesley, Matthes teaches a course entitled “Terrible Beauties” that investigates the ethics of morally problematic artwork. One such example that Matthes’ students find particularly interesting is found in the genre of true crime. Yet when Matthes went in search of philosophical literature exploring the ethical dimensions of true crime, he found there was relatively little, in spite of there being much to be said. Podcasts such as the extraordinarily irreverent “My Favorite Murder” or television series such as the Netflix series Dahmer are incredibly popular, but there’s something of a morally questionable air about them, and one might feel a bit uneasy about indulging an interest.  And yet, other instances of works in the true crime genre, such as the New Hampshire Public Radio podcast “Bear Brook” or the Danish television series The Investigation, seem less morally problematic, or even not at all.

In his talk, Matthes explored four ways in which works of true crime can be morally objectionable. First, as represented in the recent immensely popular Dahmer series, true crime may objectionably glorify evil-doers or present them in a sympathetic light. Second, when works of true crime portray relatively recent events, they may violate the privacy or reignite the trauma of those close to the crime, as relayed by a recent op-ed in the New York Times by Annie Nichol, the sister of a victim of a horrible crime which became a source of true crime fascination. Third, Matthes points out that works of true crime can misrepresent or distort the truth of events, perhaps to make the story even more interesting, or to hold the audience’s attention. Finally, and perhaps most obviously, works of true crime inspire delighting in violence. These four types of moral failures, interestingly, do not seem to be common to all works in the true crime genre, nor essential to it as such, and Matthes pointed to exceptions to each; nor are these moral shortcomings unique to true crime, since other genres, such as documentaries, memoirs, or horror films, may share them.