It is the year of our Lord 2019 and again, we’re talking about Ted Bundy. Maybe it’s because many of us have a morbid fascination with learning about serial killers to distract from our actual nightmare dystopian existence. “It could be worse than this,” we say comfortingly to ourselves.
Or maybe Bundy is just a special case, but no matter how many times we make documentaries about him or cast Zac Efron as a hot Bundy, we’re all still just as obsessed with this maniac as we were when the details of his crimes were released to the public.
Prior to the release of the trailer for Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile, Netflix released a documentary about the Bundy tapes, The Ted Bundy Tapes, that already had the internet abuzz about the murderer no one expected. Labeled as traditionally attractive, Bundy was socially charming, and it isn’t that hard to see how he lured in his victims.
The thing is: We know he did it, he admitted to his crimes. So why does this trailer seem like a fun take on Bundy and what he did?
What’s even scarier is that when you stop and look at Bundy, it makes sense. He was handsome, engaging, could make you laugh—so the idea that he could have a family and be happy doesn’t seem that far fetched. If you were his ex-wife, you’d probably have some questions as to what he was doing all the time, but even when it came out that he was accused of murder, countless women defended him.
For many, it is the idea that so many would let him get away with the thing because of his looks that is terrifying, and it is important to remember that, you know, he’s still a murderer.
Everyone talking about how Ted Bundy was hot needs to take a look at this photo of non murderer Bruce Lee pic.twitter.com/c06rDf3vLI
— Tamara Yajia (Babe Vigoda) (@DancesWithTamis) January 25, 2019
Please please please don’t write the “it’s ok to lust after Ted Bundy” piece I’m begging you
— Danielle Sepulvalentine (@ellesep) January 25, 2019
That part in the Ted Bundy doc where they where looking for clues as to who he could be and women start calling in b/c they thought it might be their boyfriend tells you everything you need to know about this *gestures broadly*
— Chani Nicholas (@chaninicholas) January 25, 2019
Now we have a new layer to this story: do we need a movie making Ted Bundy out to be a Zac Efron-type?
Not sure the story of Ted Bundy needed a trailer this peppy or drenched in the aesthetic of “cool.”https://t.co/jsLjMoVY6h
— Kayleigh Donaldson (@Ceilidhann) January 25, 2019
When I watched the trailer, I got a lot of the same vibes as I did when I watched I, Tonya and honestly, I hope the movie doesn’t attempt to sell me “innocent and/or sympathetic Ted Bundy.” That’s one storyline that can never pass our screens.
At the end of the day, Ted Bundy was a murderer and the police were incompetent to catch him for whatever reason.
ted bundy: -cuts his hair and grows a beard-
the entire police force: pic.twitter.com/qzVE1vDTns— muna💘🔫 (@baekftxing) January 25, 2019
the police arresting ted bundy on multiple occasions, not recognizing him because he had a beard / shaved pic.twitter.com/pNqOfPy5QX
— hayley (@HayleyAyless) January 25, 2019
But we know that Bundy is not someone to lust over. Not someone to look up to.
Ted Bundy would be right at home on a fair number of subreddits pic.twitter.com/BZ10ZCgwHs
— Lindsay Ellis 🐝🐝 (@thelindsayellis) January 25, 2019
So please, for the love of god, can we talk about monster Ted Bundy while remembering that he was … you know … a monster?
(image: screengrab)
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