Okay, I don't know how many of you have your favorite shows that you just have to watch or your whole schedule is just thrown right off track. For these shows, I have subscribed to OnDemand, or invested in DVDs for myself. Much easier, but not the point of my post.
One of these shows is a new addition to my addiction. Dexter airs on Sunday night on Showtime and is available on Showtime OnDemand as well. I love this show. I find myself constantly wondering who's going to die next and how's he going to do it.
For those of you who do not get Showtime or have not seen this show; Dexter works in the forensics department specializing in blood and blood spatters for the Miami Police Department. In addition to his job of catching the bad guys, Dexter is a serial killer. The catch is that he is a serial killer who kills other serial killers or murderers - the guys the police don't or can't catch.
Now, in watching the show, I and others both look at Dexter's "victims" and think - well, he deserves to die" and a lot of times boy - do they ever! A man who kidnaps women and kills them making pornographic snuff films for the Internet, a man who rapes and kills little boys from the choir, a demented psychologist who breaks and convinces women to commit suicide - these are all some truly atrocious people.
But I am still left to wonder, should we as a society be trying to justify serial killings? I mean, every one already blames the media now for stupid things - when will the next serial killer claim he got his idea from television and a whole new wave of censorship starts? And Showtime is coming out with a lot of shows now based on making the "bad guys" into the heroes of the show. I haven't been watching most of them and there are some that really I am just not interested in seeing (like "The Weeds").
What do you think? Have you seen this show? If so, do you like it? If you haven't, do you think it's the type of show you might want to check out based on what I've written here? Am I over-analyzing again?
But if your serial murder your waste space on this earth
I think Dexter, Battlestar Galactica and Veronica Mars are the finest shows on television right now. I think anyone who cannot tell the difference between scripted fiction and reality needs to jump back to the womb. It's a tv show. I hate it when people blame media, games, etc. for bad behavior. This is fiction. It's meant to be watched and enjoyed, not emulated.
Madspirit
I feel we do have to justify their actions. I mean if someone killed over 8 people i am sure we all want to find out what they were thinking because it's not normal. But in hope of finding out what the signs of a serial killer are can actually help get other serial killers off the streets. So in a way we need to justify why they go on these killing sprees for future purpose.
<3 NeEsha <3
Um, you're explaining rationalization, not justifying them...
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...but this is a television show, based on three books. It is fiction. It is not Psychology 101. It is meant to be enjoyed and discussed but not as a blueprint for behavior or even for indepth analysis of sociopathy.
Madspirit
There are not enough psycho killers out there anyway. Most of the murder in this country is because of robberies, sex, drugs or just fights that go too far. There aren't many people out there just killing people for fun.
He should be killing organized crime killers, not serial killers.
Res ipsa loquitur.
memor mori, mahalo.
Justifying Dexters acts is a tuff question. Dexter is simply the newest form of vigilante, and vigilantes have always been around. People cant help but love vigilantes because they have the ability to truely punish those who deserve to be punished. Morality is a strange thing. When someone does something bad, we want something bad to happen to them. This is simple human nature. Law enforcement are bound my laws and a duty to justice. People like Dexter, they are not bound to such codes. They administer that peverse justice that so much of us secretly believe in.
Dexter is also infallible. He doesn't kill those who are innocent. He kills killers whom the audience knows to be guilty.
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