Charles Manson: the man, the myth, the misreading
CHARLES MANSON NEVER RELEASED HIS GRIP ON THE American imagination. Since 1969, when his “Family” committed mass murder in L.A., he’s inspired operas, YA novels, South Park episodes. But the years surrounding his 2017 death and the 50th anniversary of the slayings have seen a surge in Manson mania. Beyond Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood, Family lore has fueled Emma Cline’s buzzy novel The Girls, Mary Harron’s indie film Charlie Says, and parts of the shows Mindhunter and American Horror Story. Every month seems to bring a new memoir or podcast or TV special.
The latest is a six-part Epix docuseries from director and producer Lesley Chilcott with executive producers including the ubiquitous television creator Greg Berlanti. While schlocky Manson-ploitation projects make no attempt to avoid redundancy, nobly aspires to say something new. As Chilcott sees it, the Black-vs.-white race war Manson prophesied—and dubbed “Helter Skelter,” to help convince his followers that the Beatles’ White Album was a coded message intended specifically for them—wasn’t the true catalyst of the Tate-LaBianca murders. Manson, she argues, was simply a grifter looking to cover up earlier crimes and, ultimately, get famous. It’s a canny thesis; if only it weren’t submerged in such a conventional retelling of the Manson saga.
