Do you paint one with obsession with the dark side of crime into the dark personality corner? A true blue follower of true crime gives her take on this.
Confession: I have a liking for the dark side.
Lest this conjures up a dark personality image that is either Machiavellian, psychopathic, sadistic, narcissist or a combination of these aversive traits, I’m not.
It‘s just that the dark side of a dark personality has surfaced from the perspective of my obsession with true-crime documentaries.
Photo by Maxim Hopman on Unsplash
I’m so drawn to it. On days when I’m off work or during long weekends, I find myself binge watching not K-dramas but true-life documentaries, one after the other.
I consider this past-time mania, my happy time. No, It’s not the gore, the blood and guts, butchery or dark, twisted monstrous acts of murder that I’m drawn to. It’s the clues and tell-tale signs, the profiling, and other little details that come together like pieces of jigsaw to give a picture and insight of the perpetrators and what drives them to commit such heinous crime.
Usually, I find myself so caught up, alike being lost in an alternate universe in which I am the true-crime detective.
This interest in true crime has also extended to me pouring into posts aggregated on Reddit, reading views on true crime and serial killers. This became a bedtime routine that sometimes, stretched on for an hour or two. It is not only insightful but also captivating to know views of people from all around the world and also kept in the loop on crimes somewhere else in the world.
Photo by David von Diemar on Unsplash
This said, it’s normal to develop interest in true crimes. One with such interest should not be viewed with contempt as if it’s a crime or weird of liking the dark and twisted. I take comfort that ’m not alone in this. The viewership of such true crime documentaries and the feeds on topics of crime in Reddit do indicate large following from around the world.
To me, it is curiosity, the inquisitive mind and the penchant to get to the bottom of things. Anytime of the day or anywhere, crime is always lurking around the corner. Curiosity kills the cat, it is said, and I believe there can be a Sherlock Holmes or a profiler-in-the-making in us; just uncovered.
Can’t blame me or us for wanting to know more. We’re just kepoh. Admit it, we all have in us the inner makcik bawang (meaning: women who likes to gossip and spread lies; a label that derived from the atypical habitual tendency of women to usually gossip in the kitchen while chopping onions).
Photo by Bill Oxford on Unsplash
While crime dramas the likes of CSI and Criminal Minds do satiate the interest and are thrilling. it’s not like the real thing that true-crime documentaries bring us close to. It’s not entertainment that the dramatisation of crimes gratifies, but it’s the real life happening which triggers the analytical, probing and inquiring mind that makes it compelling.
Having piqued your interest for you to be reading this far, let me point you to Top Three Crime Documentaries that is a MUST watch:
Nightstalker
The Ted Bundy Tapes
The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel
Watch them and that’s you initiation to be a true blue True Crime aficionado. Welcome to club!