Dexter

DEXTER

LOOKING AT AMERICA'S FAVORITE SERIAL KILLER 

Dexter is a television series about a serial killer called Dexter who kills 'bad' people. Dexter was rescued from his mothers murder scene at four years old and adopted by the police officer that found him, Harry. Soon Harry discovers that Dexter has 'urges' to kill and he helps Dexter to channel these 'urges' for good by teaching Dexter to only kill men and women who kill innocent people.




We find out that Dexter's 'urges' are a result of him witnessing his mothers murder as a four year old boy, memories he repressed until his brother brings them back to the surface at the end of series one.

Dexters' 'urges' to kill are inherently within him and a big part of who he is, the kills give him purpose and make him feel alive. He lives his life pretending to be someone else and all the while he is numb to feelings and purpose except for when he kills.

The Design for Living dictates living life by ritual and communication. In the first series of Dexter we are introduced to a man who has only a ritual - murder. As the series progresses Dexter falls in love with a woman, Rita, who he describes as 'just as damaged as I am' and in her and her children he finds connection from communication:

"I'm Dexter and I'm not sure what I am, I just know there's something dark in me and I hide it, certainly don't talk about it but its there always, this dark passenger and when he's driving I feel alive, half sick with the thrill of complete wrongness. I don't fight him, I don't want too, he's all I've got. Nothing else could love me...not even, especially not me. Or is that just a lie the dark passenger tells me? Because lately there are these moments I feel...connected to something else, someone. Its like the mask is slipping and things, people, who never mattered before are suddenly starting to matter. It scares the hell out of me!

Further into series two Dexters' victims are found at the bottom of the ocean and a Police case opens to find the 'Bay Harbour Butcher'. There is debate amongst the public about whether this serial killer is friend or foe after the police discover that all the victims had criminal convictions. Dexter ponders on the similarities between himself and a superhero:

"I never really got the whole superhero thing. But lately, it seems we have a lot in common. Tragic beginnings...Secret Identities...part human, part mutant...arch nemesis".

A superhero has a drive or ritual to use their powers for good, to accept who they are, different or alien because of what they were born with. Dexters' natural instinct is to kill but with the help of Harry's code his ritual is to use what power he has for good. The main difference between Dexter and a superhero is that Dexter's power is to kill, and a superheroes power is more...fantastical.

In series two Dexter meets another woman, Lila, who sees him for who he really is, who accepts the evil in him: 

"LILA: We're all good Dexter and all evil

DEXTER: She's looking behind the mask and not looking away"

Dexter has always lived his life according to what Harry said it had to be. Lila helps Dexter realise that his value system is different to Harrys and that he needs to figure out who he is, what he needs and what he wants.

"- What were you doing to your mother in this dream

-Saving her life

-Have you thought maybe you weren't saving your mother in this dream. Maybe you were saving yourself

-It's not what happened

-Don't be so sure. When I got clean, all the seriously fucked up reasons I used began to surface...this could be where your addiction started.

-There were three men. I don't know what happened to them.

-Dexter if these guys are behind bars you need to confront them...you need to do whatever it takes to get closure. How else do you expect to get better?

-I never expected to get better".

As the season progresses Dexter discovers that Lila's words and intentions are not all good ones, and she has manipulated him to bring him closer to her. She does this because, as we find out at the end of the season, she is inept at feeling anything. As Dexter puts it in the finale 'You're just like me'. Lila is exactly like Dexter but this is not what Dexter wants...he wants 'a normal life' just like Rita does. The 'normal life' girl is Rita and as soon as Dexter realises this he severs all ties with Lila and grips back onto Rita. I wont give anymore away but it is interesting to see that two different people can want the same thing and that this formula is what creates love, at least in this tv show. Is love about two people wanting the same thing despite who they are? Or is it about connection, similarities and finding a 'soul mate'?

Tate - "I prepare for the noble war. I'm calm, I know the secret. I know what's coming and I know no one can stop me not even myself. I kill people I like. Some of them beg for their life. I don't feel sad. I don't feel anything. It's a filthy world we live, in its a filthy goddamn world and honestly I feel like I'm helping to take them away from the shit and the piss and the vomit that run through the streets. I'm helping to take them to somewhere clean. There's something about all that blood man i drown it".

The Joker in Batman is largely regarded as insane. However there are those that think he is the opposite, that he is in fact too sane, beyond sane. That he is more aware of the world around him than everyone else and all his actions are reactions to the clarity around him.

"The world is a filthy place. It's a filthy goddamn horror show. There's just so much pain, ya'know" (American Horror Story)

It is also implied that the Joker pretends to be insane in order to avoid execution.