Mark David Chapman - Impact

Impact

Following the murder, and for the first six years in Attica, Chapman refused all requests for interviews. James R. Gaines interviewed him and wrote a three-part, 18,000-word People magazine series in February and March 1987. Chapman told the parole board it was an interview "which I regret." Chapman later gave a series of audio-taped interviews to Jack Jones of the Rochester, New York-based Democrat and Chronicle newspaper. In 1992 Jones published a book, Let Me Take You Down: Inside the Mind of Mark David Chapman, the Man Who Killed John Lennon.

Also in 1992, Chapman gave two television interviews. On December 4, 1992, the ABC show 20/20 aired an interview that he gave to Barbara Walters, his first television interview since the shooting. On December 17, 1992, Larry King interviewed Chapman on his program Larry King Live.

In 2000, with his first parole hearing approaching, Jack Jones asked Chapman to tell his story for Mugshots, a CourtTV program. Chapman refused to go on camera but, after praying over it, consented to tell his story in a series of audiotapes. He told the parole board that the program "took a lot out of context, but that's okay." and that "Those three hours later were really great, because I was able really—it was like a confession almost. I was able to accept my responsibility in this for probably the first real time, and I told him I didn't deserve anything."

Chapman's experiences during the weekend on which he committed the murder have been turned in to a feature-length movie called Chapter 27, in which he was played by Jared Leto. The film's title is a reference to The Catcher in the Rye, which has 26 chapters. Chapter 27 premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2007 and received generally mixed reviews. The film had a limited release in theaters in the United States in March 2008. Chapter 27 was released widely onto DVD on September 30, 2008. Another film was made before the feature film entitled The Killing of John Lennon starring Jonas Ball as Chapman, which documents Chapman's life three months before and up to the murder and portrays Chapman in a somewhat sympathetic light. The film features Ball as Chapman narrating the film and states that all the words are Chapman's own.

A number of conspiracy theories have been published, based on CIA and FBI surveillance of Lennon due to his left-wing activism, and on the actions of Mark Chapman in the murder or subsequent legal proceedings. Journalist Fenton Bresler put forward the idea in a book published in 1990. Liverpool playwright Ian Carroll, who has staged a drama conveying the theory that Chapman was manipulated by a rogue wing of the CIA, suggests Chapman wasn't so crazy that he couldn't manage a long trip from Hawaii to New York shortly prior to the murder. Claims include that Chapman was a Manchurian candidate, including speculation on links to the CIA's Project MKULTRA. At least one author has argued that forensic evidence proves Chapman did not commit the murder, while others have criticized the theories as based not on the known facts but on possible or suspected connections and circumstances.

In 1982, Rhino Records released a compilation of Beatles-related novelty and parody songs, called Beatlesongs. It featured a caricature of Chapman on the cover which was drawn by William Stout. Following its release, Rhino recalled the record and replaced it with another cover. New York based band Mindless Self Indulgence released a track entitled "Mark David Chapman" on their album If. Irish band The Cranberries recorded a song called "I Just Shot John Lennon," for their 1996 album To the Faithful Departed. It cites the events that took place outside the Dakota on the night of Lennon's murder. The title of the song comes from the words said by Chapman that evening.

Austin, TX art rock band ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead have also released a song called "Mark David Chapman" from their 1999 album Madonna. Julian Cope's 1988 album Autogeddon contains a song called "Don't Call Me Mark Chapman" whose lyrics suggest it is told from the point of view of Lennon's murderer. Filipino band Rivermaya released a song called "Hangman (I Shot the Walrus)" on their album Atomic Bomb (1997), supposedly written from Mark Chapman's point of view.

Chapman's obsession with the central character and message of the The Catcher in the Rye added to controversy about the novel. Some links have been drawn between Chapman and its themes of adolescent sensitivity and depression on the one hand, and anti-social and violent thoughts on the other, including in the play Six Degrees of Separation and its film adaptation. One writer has described Chapman’s claim that the book was his statement as "disarmingly honest".

Links have sometimes been drawn between Chapman's actions and those of other killers or attempted killers. John Hinckley, who only months later tried to assassinate President Ronald Reagan, was also associated with The Catcher in the Rye. More recently, a writer who experienced mental illness in the same city as Jared Loughner has suggested examples like Chapman's show the need to challenge stigma about mental health problems and ensure there are good community mental health services, including crisis intervention.