Popular media has shifted from reporting facts to curating an aesthetic. Mangione’s mugshot, his alleged good looks, and the manifesto have been stripped of context and repackaged as a character study. On TikTok and X (Twitter), he is being framed less as an alleged killer and more as a folk hero or a character from a Mr. Robot / Fight Club screenplay.

Media outlets are sensationalizing the "class war" angle. By focusing on the victim’s corporate status and the suspect’s privileged Ivy League background, content creators produce a glossy, cinematic revenge fantasy. The "shimmer" is the gloss of high production value (green screens, cinematic voiceovers) applied to a brutal act.

Ultimately, this is the "society of the spectacle" at its peak. The real victim (Brian Thompson) has been erased from the narrative for many, replaced by a symbolic character. The entertainment is not in the justice, but in the narrative tension : the handsome genius vs. the corporate machine.