Four thieves made a broad daylight robbery of 88 million euros ($102 million) worth of crown jewels from the Louvre on Oct. 19. For the world’s most famous art museum, the heist was a disaster. For the Internet, however? It was a dream come true.
Rather than expressing concern over the precious jewels’ disappearance and the Louvre’s obvious security flaws, people on social media have instead been raving over the genius and rarity behind the crime. Since the heist, my TikTok for-you-page has been flooded with endless dark academia “Louvre heist core” moodboards, memes and even inspired Halloween costumes—black burglar masks and all. But exactly how much is too much, especially in the face of criminal activity?
While I’ve definitely had my fair share of laughs at recent Internet jokes, I do believe there is a line that must be drawn between lighthearted comments and complete delusion. People have started posting videos with predicted character headcanons of the thieves, and a user even commented, “I really hope romance was involved.” While people with seasoned media literacy probably know that the Louvre thief was not a conventionally attractive teenage boy named Carlos who “hacked into the mainframe” and looks like your Pinterest crush—according to a viral TikTok—impressionable youth may not. Romanticization of criminal activity could easily become problematic, resulting in desensitization towards genuinely illegal behavior and tragedy.
This phenomenon has been around for years. The fabrication of parasocial criminal fantasies is unfortunately extremely common, whether that be in the form of TikTok thirst trap edits of serial killers or the glamorization of true crime theories on YouTube. These social media norms feed into widespread ignorance and can be especially insensitive to the victims of said or similar crimes.
Sure, recent events may not be as evidently horrific as first-degree murder, but they can still serve as a reminder of what happens when we lose the plot and forget to assess the reality of law violations. At the end of the day, no matter how flashy the story may seem, valuable artifacts were still removed from their rightful place—with some even referring to the incident as a “cultural wound” comparable to the burning of the Notre Dame Cathedral in 2019. We don’t know what kind of potentially more dangerous or elaborate motives could be behind the jewelry theft.
When dealing with these kinds of situations, we must remember that they aren’t fictional Wattpad stories; they’re real crimes committed by real people, with incredibly real consequences. We should not shrink down their significance with oversaturated romantic and unrealistic idealizations, and instead learn to treat them with a certain level of sensitivity that they deserve.
I’m all for the hype around newsworthy stories, especially ones as intriguing as an art museum heist. But before we get too sucked into our “Ocean’s Eleven” daydreams, let’s tone down on the aesthetic vision boards and not lose sight of one thing: respect.
