Pop Culture’s Problematic Portrayal of Psychopathy
In modern society, a person who blackmails, stalks, assaults, tortures, rapes, or murders their peers would not typically be someone you would want to associate with, much less sexualize and glorify. But for some reason, these reasonable social expectations have not managed to extend to movies or television, where characters distinguished by these psychopathic tendencies are seen as enviable, attractive and even erotic.
Psychopathy, sometimes referred to as antisocial personality disorder (ASPD), is a term used to describe a psychological condition characterized by a lack of empathy and conscience. People who have this disorder are typically callous, manipulative and drawn to criminality, yet often give the semblance of normality or charm, a major reason why psychopathic characters in the media draw so much intrigue—a strange fascination that has extended over centuries.
Some of the first representations of psychopathy in media were in the early 20th century, a term horridly misused to describe homosexuals, the unemployed and hypersexual women. As medical and social understanding improved in following decades, psychopathy took form in characters of the likes of Psycho’s Norman Bates, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest’s Nurse Ratched, and East of Eden’s Cathy Ames (although it should be noted these characters were only recently officially diagnosed due to a more concrete understanding of the condition). With the widespread infamy of serial killers Jeffrey Dahmer and Ted Bundy, public perception of an obsession with psychopaths further evolved, characterized as high-functioning, intelligent and attractive. While modern representations are presented as more complex and refined, evidenced by characters such as You’s Joe Goldberg, Euphoria’s Nate Jacobs and Gone Girl’s Amy Dunne, traditional issues with their depictions persist—specifically mischaracterization of ASPD and romanticization of violent behavior.
The romanticization of violent personas especially has endured as a historical oddity. This phenomenon was brought into the spotlight during the trials of serial killers Ted Bundy and Jeffrey Dahmer. Both men received thousands of love letters, proposals, and gifts from lovestruck female fans who seemed more than willing to dissociate horrific violent crimes from an attractive face. This behavior has been broadly translated into modern culture. Teenage girls continue to express their love for Bundy through social media, such as a TikTok trend where they pretend to be his victim. This obsession is also mirrored in infatuation for the equally attractive and inhuman fictional characters of Nate Jacobs and Joe Goldberg, a behavior that may not be as harmful as those relating to Bundy or Dahmer, but is still quite problematic and unsettling.
In current culture, people are letting traits like intelligence, attractiveness, or sad backgrounds act as a pass for murder and assault. (Goldberg stalks and murders his love interests, and Jacobs blackmails and assaults peers to satisfy his sexual depravity, yet both are seen as desirable.) According to senior Stella Haskins, this is likely because “in today’s culture, people are fascinated by shocking and disturbing things… It’s more interesting in media for someone to be violent than for someone to be a good person.” Senior Stella Hofferman seconds this understanding, adding, “writers [often] subtly encourage their audience to sympathize with these characters.”
This romanticization can be especially harmful to victims of abuse or assault, seeing characters who may resemble their abusers not only being glorified but also defended and forgiven. Additionally, it creates bizarre standards of desirability and skews perceptions of what is acceptable behavior. Haskins explains, “Media showing attention to these things makes people think maybe they will receive the same attention for doing similar actions.”
Cinematic portrayals of psychopaths are also harmful because they seriously mischaracterize those who truly have ASPD. Psychopaths are automatically presumed to be intelligent, cunning and sophisticated, an assumption that is not only inaccurate but paints a picture of only one possible fate for people suffering ASPD. Other misconceptions due to pop culture stereotypes are that psychopaths are always men, always criminals and completely lack emotions, none of which is medically accurate. Most importantly, a few psychopathic traits displayed in someone do not indicate psychopathy, probably one of the biggest issues with modern portrayals in which anyone who acts in a remotely unsettling way is automatically labeled as a psychopath.
However, it is important to portray psychopaths in the media, if nothing else, to bring attention to these types of behavior and make it clear that it is not an acceptable ideal. Additionally, it’s important for everyone to feel represented in pop culture, even people with ASPD. Especially as depictions get more complex and accurate, this representation will continue to be of great consequence in society.
Overall, the balance between representing psychopaths accurately and pushing harmful stereotypes is fragile. As always, we must be extremely cautious when it comes to telling stories that aren’t our own.
Luke Leiden is a senior at Boulder High School and a new recruit to the BHS Owl team. Although Luke enjoys a variety of subjects and disciplines of knowledge, there is a special place in his heart for journalism and the power that it holds in modern society. Luke hopes to grow a lot as a writer and team player during his time in the newspaper, while also refining additional leadership and professional skills. In his free time, Luke enjoys torturing his body through long runs and sprint workouts, reading novels about post-apocalyptic societies, and sleeping through Netflix Originals. He also loves spending time with friends and family in the rain, ideally while hiking or attempting to construct...
Norrie Boyd • Oct 6, 2021 at 1:59 pm
I loved the variety of evidence you used to prove this idolization has been a problem for many years, even since the 70’s and 80’s. My favorite point was the one you made about how problematic fetishizing psychopaths on tik tok is, especially when it’s minors who are being fetishized or doing the fetishizing.
Elle Deith • Dec 14, 2020 at 11:11 pm
I think you did a fantastic job touching on a subject that hasn’t really been spoken on much. It’s true that many women fantasize about famous killers or psychopaths, purely based on looks most times and other times based on their believed “intelligence.” I agree that it’s important to touch on people suffering with ASPD but not romanticizing the mental illness, which I think you did a great job explaining the difference. This was a brilliant read and I enjoyed finding something I questioned a lot, in a more detailed and informative way.
Leah Roberts • Dec 12, 2020 at 7:13 pm
I really like how you go into depth on a topic, such as this, that is often portrayed in the media but never actually questioned. I also like how you mentioned the in a way, obsession people have towards some of these characters that are not meant to be glorified, rather tell a story such as the one of Ted Bundy. It is really important that you point out some of the actors don’t do justice some mental health issues. This in turn could lead the audience to believe that everything the character does would be accurate. You made a lot of solid points, this was very interesting to read.
Olivia Wong • Dec 10, 2020 at 2:29 pm
I find this really interesting because it is so true in movies and tv and the media, but I’ve also never thought about it before reading this article. The Ted Bundy fact especially shocked me, that so many people would love him so much and it makes me wonder why or what was going on? The media definitely doesn’t portray these characters well sometimes and it’s hard because, like for me with Sherlock Holmes, it’s hard not to think that he is a cool character. I think this is a really well done article and thought it was fun to read.
Jonathan Wright • Dec 2, 2020 at 2:00 pm
Fantastic insight Luke. I really appreciate how you were able to look at this from so many facets: psychology, literature, pop-culture, social significance. A great read.