For some reason, Ted Bundy has resurfaced in a new wave of popularity. This newfound fame was directly after the announcement and subsequent release on Netflix of the Ted Bundy Tapes (heed the warning and do not watch them alone, especially if you are easily scared, may be triggered or have anxiety; I am speaking from personal experience). Following the release of these tapes, a movie trailer featuring Zac Efron was released. The internet responded is some pretty weird ways.
First, let's just focus on who Ted Bundy was and what his M.O. actually was. Ted Bundy was a man who knew how attractive he was. He also saw women as objects, not people who deserved respect and equal treatment. He would use his appearance and his charm to gain his victim's trust. He would then sexually assault and murder his victims once he had easier access to them. He did this as a way of totally possessing his victims. He viewed his victims as objects that needed to be totally and completely controlled. He admitted to around 30 murders but experts have placed his numbers estimated as closer to one hundred.
Now here's how people have been reacting to Ted Bundy and his newfound fame:
The first response I have seen is just pure interest and excitement. For some reason, serial killers are all the rage right now. People are absolutely buying into the hype and feeding into the craze that is murder. I do get the interest. This man is incredibly interesting. His psyche and his demeanor, the fact that he was able to deceive so many people and get away from the police multiple times, it is truly fascinating. It's almost hard not to fall for the spell of a serial killer even almost thirty years later.
The second response I have seen is anger. This is the one that confuses me a bit. People are accusing media of romanticizing Ted Bundy. Let me tell you that he is absolutely not being romanticized by the media. The tapes are actually him, it's raw and it's real. The movie is based on his life. Yes, Zac Efron is a beautiful man but Ted Bundy was known for being attractive, charming, and hard to resist. The portrayal of this serial killer this way is not an attempt to glorify or romanticize him. It is literally showing him as he was, twisted, beautiful, spell-bounding.
The third and possibly most puzzling response is that of pure obsession. There have been specifically tweets (twitter, of course, would take this too far) about how people wish they could be tied up and killed by Ted Bundy. I get it, the man is hot. But, the man is also a convicted (and confessed) serial killer who utilized his good looks and charm to literally murder people. The romanticizing of Ted Bundy is actually coming from people like this NOT from the media companies themselves.
Ted Bundy: A notorious killer, a charming man, a mystery. Misunderstood? Maybe. But romanticized? Not by movies and not by Netflix, but instead by the good people of Twitter.
