BAFFLED BY BUNDY FAME

Zac Efron stars in the movie “Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil, and Vile,” which unsurprisingly, and unfortunately for most of us, is NOT the fourth sequel to the “High School Musical” movies.  

This motion picture illustrates the infamous life of Ted Bundy, and though this story has been displayed in many ways, this may be the most disturbing one yet, due to its casual nature.  

The film was released in January, exactly 30 years and two days after Bundy was executed in a Florida state prison. The work gathered an eager audience because of the notoriety of the individual, one of the more prolific serial killers our world has seen.  

It portrays the deception, entrapment, rape/abuse, and murder of at least 30 women, some as young as age 12.  This occurred all throughout America, beginning in areas close to home – in Washington and Oregon. In particular, Bundy abducted women from college campuses, including at Oregon State University and the Evergreen State College (in Olympia, Washington).

Though I am not a petite female attending college, it isn’t difficult for me to predict the feelings one might have toward an individual such as Ted Bundy, as seen in this film: Fear. Disgust. Rage.

During the ’80s,  women all over the country could easily sympathize with those women whose lives were so quickly taken. And yet, because of Bundy’s charming appearance (a key reason for his success in entrapping victims) other women in courtrooms and surrounding areas were in disbelief someone like him could be the hand behind all this evil.

Even further, women would find him exceptionally attractive as there are accounts of them discussing their fascination with him, at the time. It is unsettling to say many women today (whether serious or not) have made similar social media comments on Bundy’s character, as portrayed by ‘Zefron,’ such as “Bundy (heart eyes).”

I believe we should find gestures like these sickening, with even a bit of understanding of just who Ted Bundy was. To glorify, in a sense, an individual like this is simply inappropriate to me.  

Unfortunately, it’s not difficult to find anyone objectively attractive; it’s only unfortunate that the subject here is such a despicable human. I wonder if the producers of the movie are helping women’s unhealthy fascination in any way by casting such a fawned-after actor such as Zefron. According to early reviews, Zac plays Bundy very well in his charming nature and characteristics. He certainly bears a resemblance to Bundy and is an overall great fit for his character.

There have been a few dramatizations of Bundy’s life and certainly many documentaries, but seeing a movie so playfully put together causes me to question the authority of the film. It certainly makes me question the point of creating a dramatization of this story simply for entertainment. The story is not a casual one and though many movies are made like this today, this was indeed a very important time in our country’s history. My hope is as always, in a time where school shooting and mass murders are common, that no imitators would emerge from movies like these.  

Though this opinion may be deemed intense, I believe it’s important to seriously question the way in which we portray real history, especially that which has sinisterly affected many real families.

If you are a woman on campus reading this newspaper, how do you feel about a man like Ted Bundy?