OTwo Editor Alice Keegan discusses super-producer Ryan Murphy’s newest controversial output, Love Story.
The Ryan Murphy-executive produced “Love Story: John F. Kennedy & Carolyn Bessette” on Disney+ recounts the highs and lows of the iconic couple, from their surreptitious meeting, to when their lives were cruelly cut short. Inspired by Elizabeth Beller’s 2024 book Once Upon a Time: The Captivating Life of Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy, the series is 90s minimalism at its peak. But does style make up for insensitivity?
The ultimate it couple of the 1990s, “America’s prince” John F. Kennedy Jr married the enigmatic, beautiful Calvin Klein exec Carolyn Bessette in 1996. Just less than three years later, they, along with Bessette’s sister Lauren, would die in a plane crash piloted by Kennedy, off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard. The limited series details how towards the end of her life, Bessette became hyperaware of her own image, subjected to scrutiny of her every move. By all accounts, Kennedy enjoyed the media spotlight and planned to advance his career into the arena of politics. Meanwhile, Bessette apparently became more and more isolated and anxious. With this series, the media frenzy that followed their every move in life, is following them in death.
Other than Bessette's choice in headband however, there is minimal commitment to accuracy in this series. It is true that there must always be scope for artistic license, and the series starts with the disclaimer that the story is "inspired by actual events [that have been] dramatized or fictionalized for storytelling purposes." Telling the tale of romance and tragedy, like something straight out of Shakespeare, the visuals are gorgeous, the styling impeccable, the story gripping. Until you remember the inconvenient detail that these are real people depicted onscreen, and some are very much still alive and here to be re-traumatised by the deaths of the couple who currently have such a hold over the cultural sphere.
Until you remember the inconvenient detail that these are real people depicted onscreen.
Caroline Kennedy, the daughter of JFK and sister of JFK Jr is depicted in the show. Her son, Jack Schlossberg has spoken out against Love Story, criticising the show before it even came out, stating that Ryan Murphy is "making a ton of money on a grotesque display of someone else's life." Murphy was abrasive in his response, saying; “it’s an odd choice to be mad about your relative that you don’t really remember.” Producer Brad Simpson clarified his thoughts on his involvement in the work, stating “I’m not going to pretend like…we’re not making an entertainment product out of it, but we’ve tried to be ethical.”
But just how ethical can you be when depicting the most tragic moments in living people’s lives? Darryl Hannah, who is portrayed in the limited series in a less than flattering light has also shared her criticisms, writing in an essay for the New York Times, “The actions and behaviours attributed to me are untrue.”
Murphy, of Glee and American Horror Story fame, is no stranger to controversy. In particular, he has faced backlash for his dramatized retellings of real people’s lives. He has exhumed many past traumas for entertainment with series covering Jeffrey Dahmer, OJ Simpson, and Ed Gein. Each project has faced criticism from the families of the people portrayed on-screen. With his Monster anthology series on Netflix, in his explorations of infamous murderers, his work has been denounced as gratuitous, sensationalist and romanticising the horrific real-life events. After Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story was released, Erik Menendez and 24 of his family members called the series “a phobic, gross, anachronistic, serial episodic nightmare.” Murphy was combative in his response, describing his series as “the best thing that has happened to the Menendez brothers in 30 years.” He concluded, "I write about provocative things and controversial things, and my motto is ‘Never complain and never explain.’”
It is undeniable that Murphy has repeatedly profited off the pain of others. Such evocative reactions call into question the ethics of this business model that is so clearly not victim centred. Should it be so willingly accepted that a producer with as much power and experience in the industry as Murphy can repeatedly mine the tragedy and trauma of others for content, without consideration for the real-life victims? Yes, a morbid curiosity is inevitable, and such a fascination is likely nowhere as apparent as with the Kennedy dynasty, a family whose history (both the good and the bad) is tied so intrinsically with modern American folklore. Nonetheless, maybe Murphy should put his time, energy and resources into creating something new and exciting instead of opening up some not-so-old wounds.
Such evocative reactions call into questions the ethics of this business model that is so clearly not victim centred.