Ryan Murphy defended the portrayal of Lyle and Erik Menendez having an incestuous relationship in his reimagining of the siblings’ life story in “Monsters,” saying the show had an obligation to present all possible theories surrounding the pair’s murder case and personal lives.
“We had an obligation as storytellers to also try and put in their perspective based on our research, which we did,” Murphy told Entertainment Tonight in a Monday interview, noting that several experts have shared their own opinions about the brothers’ relationship. “If you watch the show, what the show is doing is presenting the points of view and theories from so many people who were involved in the case.
“[Journalist] Dominick Dunne wrote several articles talking about that theory. We are presenting his point of view, just as we present [the Menendez brothers’ therapist] Leslie Abramson’s point of view,” he explained. “We had an obligation to show all of that, and we did.”
Since the release of the second season of “Monsters,” Murphy has received an onslaught of criticism — including from the subjects, themselves. On Sept. 19, Erik issued a statement slamming the Netflix anthology, calling it a “dishonest portrayal” that has taken “the painful truths several steps backward” to an “era when the prosecution built a narrative on a belief system that males were not sexually abused and that males experienced rape trauma differently than women.”
As far as Murphy’s response to Erik’s remarks, he said it’s intriguing that Erik has opinion without having seen the show (this is the first time the co-showrunner has since addressed the outcry).
“I think it’s interesting that he’s issued a statement without having seen the show. It’s really, really hard if it’s your life, to see your life up on screen,” Murphy said. “The thing that I find interesting that he doesn’t mention in his quote, if you watch the show, I would say 60 to 65% of our show in the scripts and in the film form center around the abuse and what they claim happened to them. And we do it very carefully and we give them their day in court and they talk openly about it. In this age where people can really talk about sexual abuse, talking about it and writing about it and writing about all points of view can be controversial.”
He then continued, doubling down on his creative decisions with the series and its portrayals: “It’s a ‘Rashomon’ kind of approach, where there were four people involved in that; two of them are dead. What about the parents? We had an obligation as storytellers to also try and put in their perspective based on our research, which we did.”
“Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story” is currently streaming on Netflix.
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