M. Night Shyamalan’s Trap, now on Max, taps into what women want from true crime stories
True crime takes place in the middle of an ongoing cultural moment. The simmer started in 2014, then Serial came on the scene – the first podcast to reach 5 million downloads. Things came to a new boil in 2020 and 2021, when viewers stuck at home in COVID quarantine found a way out by trying to solve real and fictional crime, unable to solve the pandemic. It is still one of the most popular genres in the United States, especially among women, who are making up for it the majority of true crime book readersand who are twice as likely as men to regularly tune in to true crime podcasts. In a recent YouGov survey61% of American women (compared to 52% of American men) said they watch true crime content. All of this may help explain the ending of M. Night Shyamalan’s serial killer thriller Fallnow streaming on Max.
(Ed. remark: This analysis contains major spoilers for M. Night Shyamalan Fall.)
Research shows that many girls and women drawn to true crime books, podcasts, documentaries, and late-night Googling find productive catharsis in exploring how past predators operated, and in the aesthetics of educating themselves about violence in the real world. In other words, true crime enthusiasts, consciously or unconsciously, feel that studying real-life stories can help them avoid becoming victims themselves.
There is a sense of reclaiming power – real, imagined and social – in consumer media that is giving some voice back to women who have been permanently silenced by brutal acts. Enter Fall: Writer-director M. Night Shyamalan not only seems to understand this motivation of women who love true crime, he actively plays on it.
Apparently, Fall revolves around Cooper (Josh Hartnett), a serial killer father called The Butcher because he dismembers his victims. When Cooper takes his teenage daughter Riley (Ariel Donoghue) to a pop concert, he discovers that it is an elaborate trap set by the police to catch him. In its third act, however Fall zigzags, shifting the point of view from Cooper to Lady Raven, a pop star played by Shyamalan’s real-life daughter (and real pop artist) Saleka Shyamalan, and then again to Cooper’s wife, Rachel (Alison Pill). A female profiler, Dr. Grant (Hayley Mills), sets the trap for Cooper, and Lady Raven and Rachel eventually catch him.
But first, a lot of men give him permission and let him escape, and that’s worth discussing in light of who consumes true-crime stories the most. When Cooper is stuck in the concert hall, looking for holes in security, his efforts are often aided by men who read his personality as a broad-shouldered, girl-daddy firefighter, and assume the best of America.
In an early, comedic scene, a good-natured merchandise salesman (Jonathan Langdon) tells Cooper all about the law enforcement trap, even revealing the security code stadium employees were given to prove their bona fides to the police. In another scene, Cooper casually interacts with a group of agents during a mission briefing, even helping an agent armed to the teeth find sugar for his coffee, all because they don’t see him as a threat.
Part of the appeal of true crime isn’t just exploring why people (mostly men) commit murders and other violent crimes, but are learning more about how they can get away with it so often. The genre thrives (usually unintentionally) on the inequality of social privileges granted to some groups of people and not others, and by revealing how assumptions arising from these inequalities can support patterns of violence. Shyamalan focuses on this dynamic Falland makes a point of showing the protectiveness Cooper has just because he’s a handsome, sociable white guy who knows how to use a dad joke.
While Fall has some elements of a true crime story and plays on them cleverly. The film is purely fictional entertainment, and Shyamalan uses that dynamic to play to a female audience. Many true crime stories feature a female victim whose only chance for justice is posthumous, but within Fallthe female characters are active participants in the killer’s eventual downfall.
Cooper tries to use Lady Raven to evade the law, but she isn’t a traditional damsel in distress; she’s a professional superstar and an amateur justice bringer, and she’s ready to catch a killer. Later, after Cooper evades the police again, his own wife, Rachel, takes him down. When he returns to their suburban home to kill her, Rachel waits for him – scared, but determined to get answers, putting her in the same category as the true-crime fans looking for an explanation for the violence. The film plays it slowly, relying on our cultural assumptions that this demure white lady is solely a victim (as so many other white ladies in true crime), instead of a courageous amateur detective who risks her life so she can look her husband in the eye and ask questions.
In a climactic, subtle sequence, Lady Raven and Rachel use their respective powers to take down a predator. And they do it without the kind of masculine-coded traits — physical strength or stoic reasoning, for example — that female characters typically need to win in Hollywood. Instead, inside FallCooper’s feminine-coded wiles – pop star fannism and baking – are much more true crime fandom.
The subtle distinction is where this film’s true strength lies. Cooper gets a “villain lives to fight another day” ending at the film’s finale, but the women in this world get to play out a kind of listener’s fantasy about true crimes. The killer’s cover is blown. He has lost his temper and his control over how people see him. He may take advantage of his privilege and resume his murderous career, but it will be much harder for him to fool people and go unnoticed. In Fallwomen don’t have to rely on a podcaster to tell their story posthumously, or look for clues about crime when it’s all too late. They not only find and rescue the victim; they learn more about what kind of man does this kind of thing, and they show that they won’t fall for it.
Fall is now streaming on Max and available for rental or purchase on digital platforms.