‘Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story’ Team on Painting a Portrait of Female Rage — and Leaning into Lesbian Theories
The new season uses limited historical evidence to examine gender oppression and the unresolved acquittal in the 1892 axe murders.
- On Thursday, Netflix released Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story, starring Ella Beatty as the Fall River woman acquitted of 1892 axe murders. The anthology series takes significant creative liberties with the historical record.
- Creator Ryan Murphy noted the show strays into "outright fantasy," inventing relationships like a lesbian affair between Lizzie and maid Bridget Sullivan that lacks historical evidence. The series prioritizes dramatic spectacle over historical accuracy.
- Director Max Winkler described the show as "Noises Off on acid," adopting a "guttural punk rock scream" aesthetic rather than a traditional period piece. The series aims for darkly comic study of female repression.
- For star Ella Beatty, the series explores the tension around women's potential; she told The Hollywood Reporter it "is not about if Lizzie did or didn't do it." Charlie Hunnam portrays Andrew Borden while Rebecca Hall plays Abby.
- Historians continue to debate Borden's sexuality, noting she lived with her sister until her death in 1927 at age 66. The show explores gender oppression that creators argue persists 100 years later.
12 Articles
12 Articles
What 'Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story' gets right (and wrong) about the Borden murders
Lizze Borden has fascinated true crime junkies for over 100 years. Now, her story lies in the hands of Ryan Murphy. Lizzie Borden. The name instantly conjures images of axes (or more accurately, hatchets), that 19th-century Greek Revival-style Massachusetts home, and children singing that creepy rhyme: Lizzie Borden took an ax / And gave her mother 40 whacks. / When she saw what she had done / She …
Monster portrays Lizzie Borden as a lesbian - what was the reality?
Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story was released on Netflix on Thursday (18 September), and the latest instalment of Ryan Murphy’s bloody anthology series is already proving just as provocative as the previous three instalments. After three seasons exploring the heinous crimes of Jeffrey Dahmer, Ed Gein and the Menendez brothers, season four of the show turns […] The post Monster portrays murder suspect Lizzie Borden as a lesbian – but what was the…
What 'Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story' Gets Right (But Mostly Wrong)
Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story, the fourth iteration of the anthology series, purports to tell what happened to Andrew and Abby Borden on the day they were killed. The show opens up with their murders - at the hands of Lizzie Borden. Lizzie Borden was later put on trial for killing both Andrew and Abby, ultimately acquitted for the crimes. That may be the biggest error in Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story - the implication that Lizzie did it. T…
Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story's premiere has the axe, but no point
Lizzie Borden’s story has been co-opted plenty of times in the 134 years since she was accused of hacking her father and stepmother to death in their Fall River, Massachusetts, home. Stage plays, a musical, and podcasts have explored Borden’s difficult upbringing, the crime, the trial, and the incessant public attention; there’s a heavy metal band named after her; actors Elizabeth Montgomery, Cristina Ricci, and Chloë Sevigny have portrayed her …
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