is the word 'diary' better than the word 'blog'? probably not.
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Dexter.
Now that the show Dexter, about the serial killer who only kills other serial killers, is on CBS instead of Showtime, I�ve been watching it. It�s good. It�s about a guy who has murderous impulses, sure. But, because he ended up in a good foster home, he was guided by a father figure to channel his impulses in such a way that they don�t harm innocent people�an interesting solution to the problem.
Dexter doesn�t have normal human feelings�he�s a sociopath�but he can fake those feelings and get by on a daily basis. As an adult he�s a medical examiner and crime scene investigator. For reasons that are clear only to him (and us) he is very good at solving murders: he has a view into the consciousness of certain kinds of murderers. When he kills, he only kills people who are themselves serial killers or mass murderers of some sort. So that�s interesting. Also interesting is the way in which the whole show takes place within his thoughts. So it�s like you get removed from the real world for an hour and placed in the thoughts of someone whose thoughts you�d never want to share. And yet Dexter is a sympathetic character on some level. You don�t hate him. You certainly don�t want to be him. You fear him a bit. But you see his struggle and, whatever you think of his behavior, you can�t immediately dismiss him as evil.
(If you think killing is always wrong, then he�s evil. Kant wouldn�t be able to justify his killing� but if, as Kant thought, a truly good will is formed by acting from duty rather than inclination (acting in terms of what you reason to be good instead of according to what you most WANT to do), then Kant would have to grant on some level that Dexter has a good will. And then of course if you think the end justifies the means, it�s up for grabs. Dexter might be good, virtuous even. A utilitarian could easily justify Dexter�s actions, and name them good.)
The fact of being made to sympathize with someone who is incapable of sympathy is itself interesting. And the fear you feel as you are made to identify with him also interesting. You feel fear, in the way you have an instinctual fear of something that is utterly other... because the fear is less about his killing than it is about his utter lack of connection to other human beings.
But that fear, the instinctual one that backs away from what is "other," is sometimes wrong, right? People sometimes react with fear or revulsion when they see something they�ve never seen before, like two men kissing or a person whose limbs aren�t of normal proportion to her body. But that kind of "instinctual" reaction (and, really, it's not "instinctual"�we're human beings, not cats or wolves, so nothing is purely instinctual�most such gut reactions are deeply-embedded cultural prejudice) can and should be unlearned, and should also teach us that gut reactions aren�t necessarily good or just.
But should I apply that lesson to being stuck in the mind of a serial killer? Probably not. But that's why the show works in the way it does.
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I object to the fact that I used the word "interesting" five (now six) times in this diary entry. It must mean that I still haven't figured out precisely what I think about the show.
But that didn't stop me from using Dexter as the basis of a whole hour-and-fifteen-minute lecture on ethics and meta-ethics for my "Ethics and Law" class. I even made a handout.
12:05 a.m. - April 18, 2008
Angela Kirk - 2008-04-21 11:23:15
I'm curious how you feel about the movie A Clockwork Orange.
The movie played with my emotions in a way I never expected... I hated Alex, then somewhat enjoyed the torture they put him through, then felt pity for him, then fear.
Just curious...
Now I'm going to have to watch Dexter. :-)
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js - 2008-04-26 17:00:20
You know, I never SAW A Clockwork Orange, because I don't like a lot of overt violence in movies. It haunts my dreams too much. Dexter, even though it's about a serial killer, is not really a very violent show. At least the cleaned-up episodes I've seen on CBS aren't....
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