Ted Bundy as seen by Elizabeth Kloepfer

Premiered in January 2019 at the Sundance Film Festival, Joe Berlinger’s docudrama ‘Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile’ was his second work on the serial killer Theodore (Ted) Robert Bundy. Bundy sexually assaulted and murdered young women between 1974 and 1978, confessed to 28 murders (even though there are estimations of many more)

and was eventually sentenced to death in 1979 – he was executed ten years later by means of an electric chair. (Jenkins, 2019) He has been one of the most infamous serial killers in America (Schmid, 2005) and ‘…there is no doubt that Bundy remains the exemplary American serial killer,’ (Schmid, 2005, p. 211) for many, many years. The story of Bundy’s crimes has been made into a movie or documentary several times, such as Berlinger’s other 2019 work ‘Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes,’ which is a four-episode documentary series on Bundy’s crimes.

A Life with Ted Bundy

Both of Berlinger’s movie and documentary series are both published on Netflix, and by now one might think that the genre of these works seems to be the only thing that makes them different. However, this is not the case. Where Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes consists of actual footage of e.g. Bundy’s conviction, interviews, and so on, the docudrama Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile is a fictional movie based on the factual material.

This material is not completely the same as in the docuseries, as the docudrama is based on the biographical story of Bundy’s former girlfriend Elizabeth Kloepfer (Liz) as told in her book ‘The Phantom Prince: My Life with Ted Bundy.’ (1981) Thus, not just Bundy is the main character in the stories about his crimes, there is also Kloepfer, and we now meet Bundy through her eyes.

This paper explores Berlinger’s ‘Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile’ (2019) from the focus on characterization. The research question on this case study to be answered is: what choices are made in the characterization of Ted and Liz? Firstly, there will be a short look into the genre and narrative to which the movie belongs, then, the exploration into the characters will be discussed and finally, a conclusion will be made.

Defining the genre and narrative

As mentioned in the introduction, Berlinger’s latest work on Bundy is a fictionalized movie, based on factual, biographical material. One could place this movie within the genre of docudramas, which is described by Springer & Rhodes as:

‘The docudrama represents an attempt to present factual material through the organizing aesthetics of fiction and narrative, and inevitably it utilizes certain forms of narrative patterning and visual composition that facilitate audience identification with the “characters”— even when these characters are well-known historical figures. Docudramas thus move away from the presumed objectivity of documentary and closer towards the techniques of narrative fiction.’ (2006, p. 6)

Bundy is played by the actor Zac Efron and Kloepfer is played by Lily Collins, both looking very much like the actual Ted and Elizabeth, showing an example of how a docudrama is about re-creating actual people and events. (Lipkin, 2011) However, we can also place the movie within the genre of a biopic as it tells the story of Kloepfer from her biographical book about her life with Ted Bundy. From this, it also shows the fact that the movie follows a relational narrative (Poletti, 2012), as the narrative is told from the perspective of the relationship between Bundy and Kloepfer. This makes for a special turn on the story of Bundy, as usually, his crimes are in the spotlight.

undy was, until the very end, seen as an extremely attractive man by many women, as some of them even showed up to his trials in court to support him

Within the movie, no killing is shown except for one scene at the end and the only other moments we are confronted with Bundy’s crimes is through scenes in the courtroom or when we see him approaching new victims at e.g. a party. This is very fitting to the perspective that Berlinger has chosen to take on Bundy’s story, as in the movie, Kloepfer herself also never actually witnesses his crimes, only getting knowledge of the happenings through events such as the statements of the police and the television airing of his trial. Thus, the story of Bundy is experienced through a relational narrative, making for the audience to never really see anything of his crimes, just as Kloepfer herself also never did. Besides this, the movie can be seen as a docudrama as it re-enacts the biographical book of Kloepfer on her life with Bundy.

The characterization of Liz and Ted

In movies, documentaries and series, characters are of extreme importance to their success and to the audience as it is through these characters that we, as an audience, understand and experience media and guide us through the narrative – characters are fundamental to any media work. (Batty, 2014) Besides this, the connection between the audience and the characters also develops and makes for the notion of ‘narrative pleasure’, as described by Batty:

‘We take pleasure in the narrative because we understand what it is trying to achieve; and, because we need someone or something to guide us through the narrative—a central identification figure—we psychologically connect to the character as a way of rendering meaning possible.’ (2014, p. 39)

He adds to this that understanding the structure of the narrative is also depending on the character, as the character is the structure of the narrative. (Batty, 2014, p. 39) Within Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile, we can also find this in the characters of Liz (Elizabeth Kloepfer) and Ted (Bundy). Within his chapter, Batty (2014), talks about several aspects of character development within reality television that are also present in this movie, within Liz and Ted.

First of all, there is the aspect of (emotional) transformation which can most clearly be seen in Liz. As the crimes surrounding her boyfriend Ted accumulate and make for his arrest, she is first in denial. This is then also supported by Ted himself, as he keeps convincing her that he is being framed and has nothing to do with any of the accusations. However, Liz has an emotional transformation after some time as she has come to realize that everything does match up with her boyfriend

, making her transform from lying around and waiting for any news or a call from Ted, to moving on and even getting more closely with one of her male co-workers. There is even a second transformation, as she at the end decides to visit Ted in jail – she had been avoiding him for many years. She decides to visit him in order to ‘free’ herself from the guilt she has always felt for giving his name to the police at the very beginning of Ted’s arrest. Whether she is freed from this guilt is not clear, but it does show a second transformation within her character.

Ted does not show any particular transformation, as he remains acting the same way throughout the entire movie: convincing people of his innocence, escaping, murdering again, and so on. However, this is also a choice worthy to be noted, as this shows that a clear choice in this has been made by the director. One could perhaps see his last conversation with Liz as a slight transformation, as he ‘confesses’ the killing of one girl to her by writing ‘HACKSAW’ on the glass.

Photo 8: Giftshop (Schnabelgasse, © HEN-Magonza, n.d.)

A second character development that Batty (2014) mentions, is that of conflicting characters. In his chapter, though, this is related to the entertainment that conflicts can give in reality television, but in Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile the power of this character development is also visible. Liz and Ted start off as characters that are very fond of each other, spending much time together and expressing their affection, however, this quickly changes when the arrests of Ted start. As mentioned before, Liz is first feeling very conflicted and believes Ted, but this changes over time.

From then on, the conflict starts. It is not a loud, very present conflict, as there are not many words shared between Liz and Ted and there is no real fighting between them. Still, a conflict is present as we are witnessing how Liz decides to not answer all Ted’s calls anymore, making him feel rather annoyed. This happens more often when Liz’s co-worker also starts playing a role in her life and decides to, for example, tell Ted on the phone that he should not contact her anymore. One could also see this as a rather one-sided conflict, as Ted is frustrated because of not being in contact with Liz, but the struggle of Liz herself is also clearly visible. Hence, the aspect of character development regarding conflicting characters is very present, but in a more calm, silent form.

Thirdly, the role of Liz as a ‘cultural intermediary’ (Batty, 2014, p. 51) can be seen, as through her, we understand what it is like to be in a relationship with someone who is the main suspect in several murder cases. It is through characters, such as Liz, that we are able to make sense of the world we live in. (Batty, 2014, p. 51) Liz can be seen as, what Batty calls a ‘celebrity expert’ (2014, p. 51). Even though she is not considered a celebrity, we can definitely see her as an expert on the issue of being in love with a serial killer.

A serial killer and celebrity

Having explored the character of Liz more than that of Ted in the previous paragraph as the movie is based on her book, we cannot deny the importance of his character as well. When talking about Ted Bundy, in real life, it quickly becomes apparent that he is not just a serial killer: he is also a character as he ‘…bears all the traits of a fictional protagonist to draw in…audience:…a unique persona, a strong voice, and alarming actions.’ (Batty, 2014, p. 36) Ted Bundy, in real life, was very aware of his celebrity status and knew that the people in America were fascinated by him. (Schmid, 2005) This made for a very strong contradiction:

‘Bundy presents the puzzling relationship between normality and abnormality in serial killers in a particularly concentrated form because of the apparent extreme contrast between his successful, ambitious, handsome, white, straight, Republican, male, middle-class exterior, and the “monster within.” (Schmid, 2005, p. 212)

Within the movie, it shows that Berlinger chose to work this contradiction, with a larger focus on the normality that Bundy radiated. One could question this choice, as Bundy was still a brutal murderer of many women: should we then not display this? It really became a problem for many others, such as true-crime writers, that worked with Bundy’s case as it was very difficult to ‘…reconcile Bundy’s all-American appearance with the fact that he was accused of the brutal murder of dozens of young women.’ (Schmid, 2005, p. 212)

the character of Ted shows to be very true to the facts as we see that even though he was a suspect in brutal murder cases and eventually also sentenced for this, he still played his role as the charming, caring, neat, ‘all-American’ man. B

undy was, until the very end, seen as an extremely attractive man by many women, as some of them even showed up to his trials in court to support him; these were called ‘Ted groupies’ and even gave him financial support and the promise of never-ending love. (Schmid, 2005, p. 212) However, this part of Bundy was something fundamental to his entire case, and Bundy’s character in the movie of Berlinger shows exactly that.

The audience of the movie is introduced to Ted as a charming man who is confident with himself, admired by many women, but still going for one woman in particular: Liz. He becomes a family man, while also being a law student. As his accusations are building up, women are still very much attracted to him, everywhere he goes they are staring and Ted is still feeling confident as ever. Also, the courtroom scenes where as previously described, the Ted groupies would come to support him, are present.

Even though one might criticise this choice in the character of Ted as a romanticization of a serial killer, the harsh reality remains that Bundy was found to be a charming, attractive man, the ‘all-American’ man that everyone knows a few of. Besides this, Berlinger also stays true to the aspect of telling the story from Kloepfer’s perspective in which there were not many confrontations with Bundy’s killer side. After all, the two were madly in love.

Conclusion

Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile shows us two main characters, Ted and Liz, from the perspective of Liz. Berlinger shows clear choices in their characterization while staying true to the factual matters. Liz (Elizabeth Kloepfer) is portrayed as a transformative character, undergoing several emotional transformations in her journey towards healing from the truth behind Ted, and healing from the loss of a loved person in her life. Ted, however, is not really going through any transformation, which is still a clear choice for his character.

Throughout the entire story in real-life, he also always stayed in his ‘character’ and beliefs. Liz can also be seen as a cultural intermediary as she gives the audience an opportunity to understand what life is like in her position. Besides this, they also show the characterization in the form of conflict as the constant struggle, which still is quite a calm and quiet one, is visible throughout the movie.

Lastly, the character of Ted shows to be very true to the facts as we see that even though he was a suspect in brutal murder cases and eventually also sentenced for this, he still played his role as the charming, caring, neat, ‘all-American’ man. This is, of course, also what made it possible for him to come so close to his victims, and what also made for many women to be supportive of him throughout his entire trial. While some can perhaps experience this characterization of Bundy as a romanticized one, this actually points us to the harsh reality behind his crimes and above all, why he got away with them for so long.

Even though the movie shows Ted Bundy’s story from another perspective, his character still takes up a big part of the spotlight. While exploring the characterization of his character in Berlinger’s movie, it shows that most is spot-on the same. However, the underlying story beneath his charming persona remains the same: he’s extremely wicked, shockingly evil and vile.

References

Batty, C. (2014) Me and You and Everyone We Know: The Centrality of Character in Understanding Media Texts. In Thomas, B., & Round, J. (Eds.) Real lives, celebrity stories: Narratives of ordinary and extraordinary people across media. New York, United States: Bloomsbury Academic.

Berlinger, J. (Director & Producer), Costigan, M., Chartier, N., Keshishian, A. & Simkin, M. (Producers). (2019). Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile [Motion Picture]. United States: COTA Films, Voltage Pictures & Third Eye Motion Picture Company.

Berlinger, J. (Director & Producer), Doran, J., Kamen, J. & Wilkes, J. (Producers) (2019). Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes [Documentary series]. United States: Elastic, Gigantic Studios, Outpost Digital & RadicalMedia.

Jenkins, J. P. (2019). Ted Bundy. Retrieved from: Encyclopaedia Britannica, inc.: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ted-Bundy on May 28, 2019.

Kloepfer Kendall, E. (1981). The Phantom Prince: My Life with Ted Bundy. Seattle: Madrona Publishers.

Lipkin, S. N. (2011). Docudrama performs the past: Arenas of argument in films based on true stories. UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

Poletti, A. (2012). Reading for Excess: Relational Autobiography, Affect and Popular Culture in Tarnation. Life Writing, 9:2, 157-172. DOI: 10.1080/14484528.2012.667363

Rhodes, G. D., & Springer, J. P. (2006). Docufictions: Essays on the intersection of documentary and fictional filmmaking. Jefferson, N.C: McFarland & Co.

Schmid, D. (2005). Natural born celebrities: Serial killers in American culture. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press.