Netflix v. The Menendez Brothers
By: Sophia Oppenheim
The Menendez brothers. Two brothers convicted of killing their parents in 1990 have somehow made a comeback in the news and media 30 plus years after their arrest. After the release of the Netflix show, “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story” and the documentary “The Menendez Brothers,” the brothers have taken the media by storm.
It seems like my entire social media page is filled with videos and articles about the brothers and the show. This popularity has led to the two brothers getting a possible resentence, allowing them the possibility of parole and eventually out of prison. In this article I will be breaking down the two Netflix pieces and trying to get to the bottom of the phenomenon of the Menedez brothers, and how Netflix portrays them.
For those that do not know their story, the Menendez brothers, Lyle and Erik, fatally shot their parents Jose and Kitty Menedez in their Beverly Hills home in 1989. The brothers originally were not suspected, and it took multiple months before they were arrested. The boys eventually were put on trial, where they could either be found guilty with murder or manslaughter. However, the trial ended in a mistrial, with half the jury saying they should be convicted of manslaughter, and the other half, murder. This hung jury resulted because the two boys testified claiming their father was sexually abusing them, so they had killed their parents in self defense. However, the two boys were re-tried and were found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without the chance of parole.
Both the Netflix documentary and show take on two different perspectives of what happened to the Menendez brothers leading up to the death of their parents. Personally, I watched the documentary first, and here is what I thought. In the documentary they go through the story of the brothers’ lives before the killing of their parents, but mainly focus on the two trials. The documentary also included audio interviews from the boys from just a couple of years ago, after being in jail for over 30 years. There was no live video footage of them, but a lot of it is narrated by Lyle and Erik.
The Netflix series took on a different point of view. The series gave a deep dive into the perspectives of various people, mainly focusing on the two brothers. The show focused more on the family dynamic of the Menedezes as well as the circumstances leading up to the murders, honing in on the time in between the murders and the boys being arrested. The show was very dramatic and dove into various characters, including the therapist who Erik confessed to, Dr. Jerome Oziel, and Eriks defense attorney, Leslie Abramson.
Since I watched the documentary first, I knew most of the facts. I did this intentionally because while the series was based on a true story, it had a script and was performed by actors meaning not everything was accurate to what happened in real life. Here are some differences I found between the two.
First of all, the series really highlighted the boy’s relationship with Dr. Oziel. It was not specified in the documentary, but in the show you find out that Oziel called his mistress, Judalon Smyth after Erik confessed to him telling Smyth what happened. A couple months later Oziel told Smyth he was going to stay with his wife rather than divorce her to marry Smyth. In a rage she went to the police and told them what she knew. Her plan was to get Dr. Oziel in trouble since he had broken doctor-patient confidentiality, but directly led to the boys’ arrest since Oziel had taped his interview with the boys. In the documentary this was barely touched upon whereas in the show this situation spanned over the course of 3 episodes. I thought this contrast was interesting.
The show also highlighted how the two brothers spent an incredible amount of money in the months following their parents’ deaths. They had bought cars and ridiculous amounts of clothing on top of expensive dinners and tennis lessons. The way they spent their money was displayed in a very extravagant way in the show, however, slightly glazed over in the documentary.
While the documentary might have lacked substance in some places, it was a lot more descriptive in others. The trial was the most prominent part of the documentary and a lot of key parts of it were left out of the show. One of the most notable that was brought up in the documentary was part of the prosecution’s trial. The prosecution tried to find people to go on the stand and say something positive about Jose Menedez, But the prosecution could not find a single person that could say anything nice about him. This was jarring to me as I thought that showed a lot about the person he was, and this was never brought up in the show.
As for the defense side, they had a lot more people come forward and stand for the boys, including lots of family who said that Kitty and Jose were abusive and that the boys had come to them when they were younger and told them about the abuse. This was also brought up in the show, however, seeing it in real life with their family members, including Kitty Menedezs sister coming forward in real time, was moving in a way the show wasn’t.
The documentary also really explained in depth why the second trial went so poorly for Lyle and Erik, eventually leading to their arrest. The documentary explained how the judge changed their possible sentencing to either first degree murder or innocence, making it almost obvious from the beginning the boys were going to go to jail.
I think the two different Netflix pieces really highlighted different things about the brothers. A lot of the Netflix show series seemed to be extravagant and a little unbelievable. While the documentary skipped over really interesting parts of the story that the show really highlighted, I think that both Netflix pieces could be developed in a way to really show all of the truth so America could see the full story.
I think this would be important because since the release of these two pieces of media, the Menedez brothers can be seen all over social media. It is important that the information that is getting out is accurate, and it seems like Netflix has taken away from the real facts. I personally think that the Menedez brothers should get the chance of parole, so I am glad that the two Netflix pieces have brought a new light to the situation, even though there are ways both pieces could improve on their factuality. .