It seems the whole world has fallen under Ted Bundy’s spell following the release of “Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes” — an adaptation of a 1989 book by the same name. What Bundy has done post-murdrum — and what all great psychopaths do — is turn the focus back on himself and away from his crimes.
The docuseries comes on the heels of the Sundance feature film “Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile” that portrays him as a sexy, cunning Zach Efron. It focuses on the devious masterminding of his crimes, but the show forgets the 30-plus young women he brutally murdered. His self-aggrandizing is pumped up by every book or movie about him, and he would be smiling if he knew.
As a massive true crime fan, I was excited to see the series, but the show exemplifies many of the issues within the true crime genre. I don’t care about the fact Bundy found out he was illegitimate; I care about Karen Sparks, an 18-year-old girl he attacked. Sparks, a dancer, was left in a coma for 10 days after a vicious attack, according to All That Is Interesting.
I don’t care that he was smart enough to make it into law school; I care about the two women he bludgeoned to death in a Chi Omega sorority house. The importance of his potential to be a great lawyer is lost to the potential of 12-year-old Kimberly Diane Leach, whom he murdered before she had the chance to become a lawyer.
With an entire episode featuring his dramatic displays of narcissism throughout his trial, they didn’t seem to have enough time to focus on his crimes. It’s easy to picture Bundy as an evil genius, yet the fact that he had sex with the dead bodies of his victims is only briefly mentioned.
The beginning of his killing spree is often attributed to his break up with his girlfriend. With all the talk of Bundy’s attractiveness, it is important to remember that he killed women because he hated them and wanted the control he felt he did not have in his life. Like many other men with inflated egos, Bundy felt like he deserved affection from women simply for existing.
Rather than feature Bundy, I would rather see a documentary about the survivors of Bundy. I would rather hear from the families of the victims or the detectives who worked tirelessly developing profiles and searching databases. It’s cognitively more comfortable to focus on the man rather than the path of destruction he left in his wake.
When consuming all of this media about Bundy, one cannot forget that in the end, he was a coward who gave in to his dark impulses. He’s not a cute guy who could have become a great lawyer. He’s a monster.
Maggy McDonel 