rant · moment 16 of 37
Dahmer as Hollywood Anti-Hero: Walter White, Tony Soprano Comparison
from Dahmer | The Tim Dillon Show #320 (ft. Yannis Pappas) · #320
3 min
Tim argues Netflix's Dahmer portrayal makes him a sympathetic, hot anti-hero like Walter White or Tony Soprano, someone viewers don't want to see get caught, framing it as a coming-of-age story.
- Tim on the Netflix Dahmer series: it's crafted to make hating the protagonist genuinely difficult, which distinguishes it from other prestige shows.
- The show portrays Dahmer as a lonely loner with a mean mother, framing his story as a coming-of-age narrative—albeit one where he occasionally eats someone's kidney.
- Netflix made something hot and fun out of a serial killer story, an approach that contrasts with Hollywood's usual caution about exploitative material.
- Tim notes the industry typically waits longer after tragedies before dramatizing them—like the five or six weeks before the first 9/11 movie.
- Dahmer functions as an anti-hero in the same vein as Batman, Tony Soprano, and Walter White: the viewer roots for him to continue and avoid capture.
- Hollywood essentially made the psychopath's own lie about himself—the version Dahmer constructed after arrest—rather than depicting his actual jail behavior taunting other inmates.
- In reality, Dahmer would mock people in prison by making his food look like organs and making disturbing noises, behavior the show sanitizes.
- Tim's read on Netflix's intent: portraying a young man figuring out who he is in the world, which he interprets as a genuine coming-of-age story.
- Callback: the framing as a traditional coming-of-age narrative resonates as the show's central achievement.