After You season one was released on Netflix last year, many fans commented on how much they had taken a liking to stalker Joe Goldberg (played by Penn Badgley). In fact, actor Badgley had to step in to remind fans he was the villain in the show. Similar reactions occurred following the release of Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile starring Zac Efron as serial killer Ted Bundy. But why are viewers interpreting these evil figures as romantic characters? Express.co.uk spoke exclusively to psychologist and co-founder at mental wellbeing and self-development platform Remente, Niels Eék to find out more.
Why do viewers romanticise dangerous men on TV?
You came onto our screens in 2018, where we followed the disturbing story of bookstore manager Joe Goldberg who became obsessed with Guinevere Beck (Elizabeth Lail).
Fans watched on as he followed her every move, becomes possessive, tries to stop her from seeing her friends and ends up murdering her ex-boyfriend Benji (Lou Taylor Pucci).
As the show progressed, more fans started tweeting their admirations for the character, calling Joe “sexy” and one jokingly tweeted Badgley saying: “kidnap me pls.”, to which he responded: “No thanks.”
The actor has responded to a number of fans’ tweets reminding them “he is a murderer”.
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But Eék says this is more common than you would initially think.
He said: “Fictional and true crime stories alike hold a unique appeal for women.
“Sony’s ‘True Crime’ channel, for example, boasts a predominantly female audience, and Investigation Discovery (a US channel which mostly airs violent true crime shows) is one of the most popular channels of choice for American women.
“These unique viewing patterns were studied in 2010 when it was found that higher numbers of women are fans of true crime shows than men.”
Eék continued: “If you’re among these women, chances are that you are not romantically attracted to serial killers but rather, you are fascinated by their stories.
“A subset of people, however, do find themselves sexually attracted to, for example, Ted Bundy himself, rather than Zac Efron’s depiction of him.
“This is known as hybristophilia: ‘a pattern of recurring sexually arousing mental imagery or behaviour that involves unusual and especially socially unacceptable sexual practices.’
“Nobody knows how common hybristophilia is but notable cases have occurred where serial killers have attracted a social following while in prison.
“Some have even been married to women who they became romantically involved with after their imprisonment.”
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In the real-life trial of serial killer Ted Bundy which was portrayed in Netflix’s Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile, women were seen flocking to the court just so they could be in the same room as him.
The show at the time of its release earlier this year was also accused of romanticising the killer with fans also commenting on how “charming” he was.
However, as Eék explains, only viewers who are aroused by the villains they are watching have hybristophilia.
If they are not, they are instead attracted to “dark triad” personality traits.
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- The chilling number of times Ted Bundy was reported to authorities
Eék said: “A 2014 study by Carter et. al suggested that attraction to “dark triad” personality traits could be part of sexual selection, where women are more likely to be drawn to a man’s short-term ability to sell himself and charm others.
“’Dark triad’ personality traits – such as obsessiveness, status-seeking, or recklessness – could be perceived as exciting or alluring; which is why we can find ‘bad’ people incredibly attractive, especially if it is more of a fantasy than a reality.”
You season 2 will air on Netflix on December 26.
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