 In the immediate aftermath of the murders and later , " Jack the Ripper became the children 's bogey man . " Depictions were often phantasmic or monstrous . In the 1920s and 1930s , he was depicted in film dressed in everyday clothes as a man with a hidden secret , preying on his unsuspecting victims ; atmosphere and evil were suggested through lighting effects and shadowplay . By the 1960s , the Ripper had become " the symbol of a predatory aristocracy " , and was more often portrayed in a top hat dressed as a gentleman . The Establishment as a whole became the villain , with the Ripper acting as a manifestation of upper @-@ class exploitation . The image of the Ripper merged with or borrowed symbols from horror stories , such as Dracula 's cloak or Victor Frankenstein 's organ harvest . The fictional world of the Ripper can fuse with multiple genres , ranging from Sherlock Holmes to Japanese erotic horror . 
