17 December 2008

i am not a serial killer but...



.... sometimes I do have some borderline crazed thoughts. But then again, what female with sometimes high estrogen levels wouldn't after being hurt by a man in a violent manner?

I saw this movie called Monster [I'm sure many people have seen this by now] with Charlize Theron when I was a junior at John Jay in my Criminology class. In the movie, Charlize Theron played Aileen Wuornos [very well, might I add], who people proclaimed to be the first female serial killer. She killed 7 men between 1989 and 1990 and was convicted and sentenced to death for six of the murders, and executed via lethal injection on October 9, 2002.


Now this might be the Forensic Psych major in me coming out, but I like to analyze why people, no -- not people. That would mean anyone. I like to analyze why criminals do some of the demented shit they do. I am not condoning Aileen Wuornos' actions, but if anyone saw the documentary as well as the movie, they'd see that she lived an atypical life from childhood which led to a lot of her wrongdoings, particularly her malice towards men.

  • her father was a child molester
  • she slept with several men at a very young age, including her brother
  • she had a baby at 13, and gave him up for adoption
  • her mom passed away, and she became a prostitute
  • she was violently raped which led to her sprees
  • her lawyer was incompetent, she was denied a re-trial and didn't even know she had the right to appeal due to the incapacity of her lawyer.
  • eventually she was executed despite her unsound mind.
I absolutely loved this movie. It was so intricate, a little gruesome and deranged that my eyes were glued to the fucking screen...I like shit like that... The documentary, Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer, is much more realistic than the movie though. While the movie largely portrayed her as a victim, the documentary did not cover up her wretched past.

Taking into account all that happened to her in life [there is so much more than what I have bulleted above], were her actions justified at least a little via self defense? I don't think anyone should go around killing people but...

Think about it...

5 comments:

Kofi Bofah said...

I have not seen monster.

DOAYM said...

I guess she has every reason/right to be crazy then.

Beautifully.Conjured.Up said...

another fellow psychology major...

...I have seen the movie Monster, and it's one of my favorite ones. When it comes to various female killers, I often want to take a look at her past before I'm quick to judge...call that the feminist/womanist in me, but I don't do that for men...I think it's imperative for the legal system to look at the psychology and the dichotomies that complete a "psychotic" woman before they are quick to make a judgement. I also think the legal system needs to stop being so sexist, for I think they only saw an inhibited lesbian "whore" who killed men.

The FEATURE™ said...

I did see the movie, but I wasn't aware of the history behind her murders. However, I don't think anything justifies murder unless it is direct self defense; meaning your life is at that moment in clear and present danger. She was labeled as a serial killer, because she plotted, stalked and killed her victims in a calculated and cold manner. Whether it was warranted for her to act out in this manner due to her past experiences with men is nil. She was not in any danger, she just simply had a disgust for men which manifested into a murderous rage.

To BCU, there is nothing wrong with being a feminist/womanist as you call it, but wrong is wrong and right is right. As a psychology major, you should be able to look at both men and women in an objective manner and look at what makes both genders differ from the other in mannerisms. To suggest that the depraved actions of a female is somewhat excusable because of what the men in her life did to her, would be irresponsible on society's part. I believe, we need to not only look at her actions and acknowledge what she did was wrong, but also look at the actions of the men who wronged her and try to find away to stop something like this from happening in the future. However, just because she was abused, raped or grew up in a disfunctional household does not excuse her actions.

Before we create a martyr of this Aileen Wuornos, we need to ask ourselves would we empathize with the killer if "she" was a "he"? And then ask ourselves, what if that "he" was someone we know? And what if the victim was someone that was close to us?

Anonymous said...

I am aсtuallу dеlіghted tο glance at this ωeblog poѕts whiсh includеѕ tons оf valuable information, thаnks fог рrοvіԁing thesе data.



mу blog :: www.bucket--truck.com
my website: altec