I know the basics about Ted Bundy, especially as a native Utahn, I remember learning about him when I was very young. I’m familiar with the gory details of quite a few serial killers since I have a passion for true crime documentaries and shows but I haven’t been inclined to research out Ted Bundy in detail. This documentary was the first time I learned about the chronology of the murders. A key part of The Ted Bundy Tapes is the eerie recordings of Bundy talking about the murders, closing the distance between viewer and subject, this results in an appropriate response from the audience.
The Ted Bundy Tapes do a good job of summarizing the multiple killings but fails in going into the explicit details. I get the impression that the goal of this documentary series was to tear apart the conversation most people have about Bundy i.e. “but he was so good-looking and smart, he was one of us”. That conversation is related to the creepiest aspects about the Bundy case, people became caught up in his ability to speak articulately and joke around. He was an attractive flirt that could smooth talk people, quickly getting them under his thumb so that he could manipulate them.
I was partially disappointed in The Ted Bundy Tapes because I was expecting a different approach to the subject, such as a detailed history of Bundy’s life, motives, the crime scenes, and the evidence. Instead, it was more like a summary of Bundy’s whereabouts at the time of the crimes, an outline of the killings and emphasis on the overall attitude of the public. The documentary did a good job of discussing the media coverage of the Ted Bundy cases and how towards the end (before he was executed) Bundy became a strange social-cultural icon.
There were parallels that I noticed in the documentary, between Ted Bundy and the Manson murders, specifically the media coverage and the megalomaniac personalities of Bundy and Manson. Both men had a substantial female fandom while in prison, a frequent occurrence for many males serial killers that I will never understand.
The documentary also did a good job at discussing the changing times in America during the late sixties through the seventies, new types of criminals were emerging and there were limited technological resources available to help catch killers. I think these details are important for younger viewers, and I did not realize this until I was done watching the series. I was perplexed when they mentioned the technology available at the time of the murders because I already knew those facts but then it dawned on me that audiences around the age of 14-20 may not know the technological history of the past seventy years.
This was disturbing, the fact that the documentary interviewed people that said that there was no internet at this time or fax machines, that serial killers was an unheard of concept. The documentary was educating its intended audience about the times of Bundy. The details that were emphasized in this documentary suggested that the intended audience is presumed to be very young.
This got me thinking, if I am right about the intended audience based on the goals of the documentary: ‘debunking’ Bundy as a handsome ‘normal’ guy, and the historical details (women’s movement, civil rights, no internet, no fax machines etc) then can I hypothesize that this documentary’s actual goal was re-educating the youngest intended audiences about a new upgraded discussion on ‘Stranger-Danger’?
Not only could this documentary be an upgraded ‘Stranger-Danger’ warning to the youth, but it can also be considered an attempt at de-glorifying a convicted killer. There was an equal amount of emphasis in terms of the fact that Bundy did rape and kill over thirty women. He was a brutal killer that preyed on very specific groups of females, young white usually college-educated women mostly found on campuses.
Even though I consider my ideas about the intended audience and the goal of this documentary to be just speculation, I did like The Ted Bundy Tapes, it was informative and interesting. It was captivating and strange to hear the recordings of Bundy’s voice talking about the murders in the third person, he had to distance himself from the murders in some way.
I would recommend this documentary to anyone that likes true crimes stories or Netflix Original series centered around crime and action.
If you have already watched The Ted Bundy Tapes, I suggest watching Mindhunter, or Criminal Minds.
Alina’s Rating: 3.5 Electric Chairs/ 5 Electric Chairs
Thank you for reading!
