Be Binge-worthy: 5 Things Making a Murderer Can Teach Us About Work
It’s the golden era of murder/mystery documentaries. Serial, The Jinx and now Making a Murderer. You can’t hop on your Facebook timeline or Twitter feed without seeing someone saying something about Wisconsin and how back asswards their justice system is.
If you’re all like “Nope, I have no idea what you’re talking about,” then you are probably living under a rock. If you aren’t, scoot on over to your couch and get ready to stay awhile. When you’re really struggling to decide whether one more episode of Making A Murderer is more important than showering for the third day in a row, you will have arrived. (Congratulations.)
But why is it that we love these documentaries/talk-u-series so much? Is it the suspense? The intrigue? The dilemmas? The soothing voice of Sarah Koenig?
As we take a step back and examine these media masterpieces, what really shines through is the caliber of work each organization has put into their research. They want to get to the TRUTH. They’re working hard to show a side of a story that makes people challenge their preconceived notions of guilt or innocence, to explain the justice system, to examine how poverty affects your chances at a fair trial and how affluenza has been around since the 80s, at least.
So, in honor of The Jinx, Serial and the current golden child of Netflix documentaries, Making a Murderer, here are five ways you can do your job as justice depends on it.
Be sure to thank Laura Ricciardi and Moira Demos from Making a Murderer, Sarah Koenig and the team at Serial from This American Life and Andrew Jarecki, Marc Smerling and Zachary Stuart-Pontier from The Jinx for the upward swing in the quality and intensity of your work after you finish reading.
- Do your research.
This one should be easy enough to understand and simple enough to enact. All producers, directors and documentarians understand the importance of double-checking your work—then triple-checking it. If they didn’t, they’d probably all be in jail or drowning in lawsuits.
The same goes for any work you do. Research, research, research. You may think you have all the answers, but you don’t. Dig deeper.
- When the going gets tough, keep going.
It’s easy to sit on our couches criticizing the work that went into these documentaries and get into screaming matches with friends over whether we believe Steven Avery was set up (or not), but at the end of the day, we’re spectators. The real work has already been done. Just look at Jerecki’s determination after Robert Durst tried to ghost him in the last episode of The Jinx.
The fact is, doing what you love and doing what’s easy rarely align. That means you have to be passionate about the work you do, willing to put in 15-hour days and then get up the next day excited for more. It won’t be easy, but it will be worth it. (Especially if you get to expose a crazed murderer.)
- Stand behind your values.
In each of these cases, it would have been all too easy at the end of a long day to begin waning in your beliefs—to begin to question whether Adnan was telling the truth or stringing us all along, or if that key really was on Steve’s floor the whole time. This moment will come in the work you do. It will probably be after a long day or a tough conversation with a client, but there will be days when you’re tested—days where you need to stand your ground, take a deep breath and reconnect with what really matters.
You can’t let the values and whims of others dictate who you are and where you’re going. You’ve got to be true to yourself.
- Refuse to stand for bullshit.
This lesson closely shadows #3 above but goes one step further because, while we preach standing behind your values, we’re also allergic to wishy-washy nonsense. Don’t let people mess with your resolve and don’t let their BS affect your work.
Stand your ground and don’t be afraid to step forward and refuse to let other people’s shenanigans stand.
Editor’s note: AHHHHHHH
- Suss out the hard truths.
When it comes down to these shows, sleuthing for the truth is never easy, and rarely is it ever apparent. In a world brimming with information overload, you have to stand up for what you believe in while trying to find some nuggets of honesty and validity.
And just when you think you’ve found it, the truth is either not what you wanted it to be, or it’s something that never materializes. Did Adnan kill his girlfriend? Did Robert Durst murder his wife and Susan Berman? When the truth doesn’t fit with your preconceived notions, it can shatter your values and beliefs—it can leave you raw and unguarded. But you can’t let that deter you. The world can be backward at times, but that doesn’t mean you need to be. Look for hard truths about your work and use those truths to be better.
While we can’t all solve murders, put the bad guys away and give innocent people their lives back, we CAN do everything in our power to bring the same intensity these shows put into their work, into the work we do every day. Have the conviction of someone trying to overturn one. And for crying out loud, peel yourself off the couch and go be binge-worthy. Case closed.