Zac Efron recently appeared on Ellen DeGeneres to promote his new film Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile about serial killer Ted Bundy.
While there, he took time to address concerns that the film glamorizes the famed murderer. Many fans were outraged when the trailer dropped because it appeared to make Ted Bundy look like a sexy badass rather than a disturbed psychopath. But Zac insists that this wasn’t the case:
“I am not into portraying a serial killer or anybody of this nature or glamorizing them in any way.”
That’s all well and good, but it was his next comment that really gave me pause. He continued:
“Ted Bundy was a clean-cut white dude, white person — so talk about white privilege. What he got away with back then, nobody would be able to do today. It’s a moment in time that came and passed and is truly scary.”
Zac’s remark makes me think that he doesn’t see white privilege as a significant issue in 2019.
Of course, this was just one, off-handed remark, but it’s consistent with a growing consensus among white men that they no longer benefit from privilege.
If the comments on Femestella’s own Instagram are any indication, then there are many men who not only think they don’t benefit from white privilege but also believe that people of color are somehow benefiting from their own “privilege.”
Of course, we all know this is far from the truth — and that extends to serial killers. Unfortunately, there are still numerous serial killers these days, most of whom are white males.
And if these men are caught quicker than Ted it’s not because they don’t benefit from white privilege; it’s because (1) they’re not as intelligent as Ted and (2) forensic science has come a very long way.
As for the issue of glamorizing Ted Bundy, that remains to be seen. Reviews of the film are mixed on that front so far. And fans won’t get a glimpse of the movie until Friday, May 3.
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