Netflix's Mindhunter and Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood are the latest pop-culture works featuring Manson that don't delve into his white supremacy beliefs. Fifty years after the Manson murders, "Hollywood is still enamored with the notion of Manson as an enigmatic, somewhat groovy villain with otherworldly powers of persuasion," says Lorraine Ali. "It’s certainly a more bankable image than Manson the ignorant white supremacist who tattooed a swastika smack dab in the middle of his forehead — just above his pinwheel crazy eyes." Ali adds: "In the Netflix series, a wild-eyed, rambling Manson (Damon Herriman) flummoxes agents Holden Ford (Jonathan Groff) and Bill Tench (Holt McCallany) when they interview the incarcerated felon as part of a larger effort to understand the minds of serial killers. They’ve already spoken to Son of Sam, the Coed Killer and other notorious predators with the goal of using what they find to help break ongoing cases, but Manson — who’s not technically a serial killer — seems to catch them off guard. Though the series begins to tear down Manson’s mystical aura, with the cult leader joking about the powers prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi claimed he had to stop a watch, it swiftly backs off. Ford and Tench end up in the same place as always, with Manson an unsolvable mystery."
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TOPICS: Charles Manson, Netflix, Mindhunter, Anna Torv, Damon Harriman, David Fincher, Quentin Tarantino