Journal Analysis:
Dexter
Tara
Paider
Popular
Culture, HUMN240-F3WW
Joseph
Poston
July
26, 2012
Journal Analysis:
Dexter
The journal article reviewed is about the television
show, Dexter, and how America is fascinated with the title character, Dexter
Morgan, who is a serial killer. The article suggests that Americans like
complex characters who challenge our notions of right and wrong. We like people
who break rules for the benefit of others, and this is aligned with our
traditional view of famous heroes. Audiences expect to clearly see right and
wrong, good over evil, and law to prevail. We then reward the writers of the
show by watching and the industry benefits financially from our validation that
the show has met our needs. The article states that traditional gothic
characters struggle with both good and evil parts of their personality.
However, external culture puts pressure on the character to align to a specific
moral ideology. This pressure on the character would force good to prevail over
what the article calls “Other” (Donnelly, 2012). The character of Dexter
establishes clear lines between normal and “Otherness”. What is abnormal to us
is “Other”. Anything that deviates from normal is classified as “Other” and is
prevalent in fiction and film. One of the main points the author attempts to
make is that “Others”, including serial killers, are a manifestation of social
anxieties (Donnelly, 2012). The article goes on to explain that in the 1980’s,
serial killer characters became common in fiction. This was because American’s
were conflicted by what was happening in their country and the world with what
they were feeling inside themselves. America was out of the recession, the Cold
War had ended, and there was this prevailing sense of everything being right.
Yet, people still felt anxious and fearful, but had nothing external to which
they could attribute that fear. People latched onto this serial killer
character as a monster to which they could focus their fear and feel better
about this “Otherness” they were feeling. It allowed them to refocus their fear
from a foreign enemy to something that prowled closer. It became almost a
political statement for the time (Donnelly, 2012). Then, there was the rise of
the anti-hero. These are serial killers that we can understand and identify
with who, the author feels, challenge our deeply flawed notion of right and wrong.
However, based on my understanding of the author’s intent, it is important that
we understand what makes a serial killer do what he does because it allows us
to rationalize the behavior and clearly define the difference between them and
us. Unlike monsters, serial killers look like us and this scares us. So, film
makers will let the mask of the traditional serial killer slip every so often
so that we can see the monster and reinforce that they are indeed “Other”
(Donnelly, 2012). But, with anti-heroes, this never happens. Also, with early
anti-heroes, it is never clear what causes their behavior, so the clear
distinction between them and us is not there (Donnelly, 2012). Dexter meets all
the criteria of an anti-hero and the show clearly articulates what causes his
behavior. Dexter is not like us and we are not like him. The line is clear.
Although Dexter’s behavior is amoral and does not conform to our sense of right
and wrong, he lives by a strict code which is absolute. He has a clearly
defined moral ideology, which makes him identifiable to the audience. Dexter is
“Other” so he can kill. Dexter kills people who kill people like us, which
makes him endearing to us. The article ends with hypothesizing that the
American culture needed this and other vigilante type movies and games that
were released around the same time because of the September 11 tragedy. America
realized that not everyone loves us, and we needed to reconcile our behavior in
Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib with the ideal that America is righteous. This
type of show allows us to revel in the idea of punishing those that have
wronged us in whatever way possible (Donnelly, 2012).
The article appears to be geared towards a general
audience, not a particular segment of the population. It definitely has a
political slant, but does not use any subject specific language or terminology.
It references other shows that show similar traits in proving various themes
discussed. So, it might be nice to have a general understanding of popular
television shows, but not required.
The article did not flow very well. The author jumped
back and forth between points, and particular points were made multiple times,
which made it difficult to organize the main points of the article. They could
be identified, but they were not easily organized. For example, Dexter’s “code”
and how that helps us identify with him from a moral perspective is stated
multiple times throughout the article when it really only needed to be stated
once. In some cases, it was stated in the middle of another thought. The
section that talks about anti-heroes and what makes the old anti-heroes
different than Dexter as an anti-hero is confusing, and it was difficult to
interpret.
I do agree with most of the points raised by the
author, particularly with our need to identify what is “Other” and justify why
we are not “Other”. Tying the fascination with this type of character to
political and world events is interesting. I cannot say that I agree or
disagree, but it is interesting and could explain America’s general apathy with
some of our military decisions. The author cites work that makes a similar
conclusion, but this other article focuses on Neoconservatives and Neoliberals
specifically. The author being analyzed her seems to attribute it to the general
American population regardless of political affiliation. I honestly do not know
enough of about trends in television show themes to be able to truly state
whether there is a correlation between political and world events to what
American’s prefer to watch on television. But, again, the article does make
interesting points and it is something we should consider.
I think the article is important because it does
raise a possible interesting correlation between what our culture finds popular
in television characters with world and political events. It hints at the
audience being fickle if their emotional attachment to a particular character
can be broken or not exist at all based on the swaying of the political climate
in the world.
References
Donnelly,
A. M. (2012). The New American Hero: Dexter, Serial Killer for the Masses. Journal
Of Popular Culture, 45(1), 15-26.
doi:10.1111/j.1540-5931.2011.00908.x
