"The New American Hero: Dexter, Serial Killer for the Masses" Article Analysis

Journal Article Analysis

Crystal Kempher

HUMN240-E2WW

Whitney Ilse

February 10, 2013

This article analaysis is going to summarize the main points of an article that can be found in The Journal of Popular Culture, titled, “The New American Hero: Dexter, Serial Killer for the Masses”.  The Showtime series Dexter has been a big hit since it began in 2006.  When it began, it was loosely based off of a book by Jeff Lindsay that was written in 2004.  Dexter has been fascinating Americans and has a large following of fans as well as several critics.  If you’ve never heard of the television series Dexter, its main character is a serial killer that works for Miami Metro’s Police Department as a blood splatter analyst.  When he was just a toddler, he witnessed the brutal murder of his mother.  Three men killed her with a chainsaw and dismembered her body.  The first police officer that arrived on the scene ended up adopting Dexter.  As he was raising him, Harry realized that some kind of darkness was present in Dexter and a need grew inside of Dexter to kill.  Harry knew that this need would be too strong to stop completely and taught Dexter a code to live by.  This code would help him decipher who he was allowed to kill.  Dexter understands that murder is wrong but he has a strong urge to get revenge for those who have been victimized.  Dexter is a good serial killer so to speak, if there is such a person, and he only kills criminals who commit heinous crimes and defeat the justice system (Donnelly, 2012).

      Serial killers hit the media in the 1980’s.  During this time frame serial killers were easily identified as being different from the norm.  The traditional serial killer was stereotypically seen as an evil person with a freezer full of body parts from their victims.  Often times they were portrayed as having some kind of reason for acting and being the way that they were.  Some of the more common reasons were that they were abused as a child, have a mental disorder, or are demons from hell.  Serial killers scare us because they look like us on the outside but underneath of their mask they are monsters.  Serial killers also scare us because they target people just like us; normal people (Donnelly, 2012).

Dexter is a different kind of serial killer and is portrayed as an anti-hero.  We view Dexter as being abnormal and a killer.  However, we don’t fear Dexter like we have other serial killers in the past.  This is because he doesn’t blur the line between right and wrong by killing innocent people.  Instead, he follows a strict code that clearly defines who his targets are.  He understands that crimes such as murder and rape are unacceptable but that the vengeance he seeks is acceptable.  In other words, it is acceptable for him to torture, murder, and dismember his victims because he is getting justice for us.  We are able to separate ourselves from his hit list.  Dexter is actually a vigilantly that works to seek revenge for victims who look like us (Donnelly, 2012).

The reason that serial killers gained popularity in the 1980’s is a controversial topic but seems to be strongly tied to the economy and popular culture.  President Reagan’s administration was creating a feel-good, capitalist country and was eliminating outside threats to America.  America was emerging from a recession and oil crisis.  Americans continued to feel anxiety and didn’t know what it was stemming from.  Serial killers were the perfect outlet for that anxiety.  Now instead of fearing external factors that were out of their control; Americans had an internal fear.  This fear was now in society and knowing of these serial killers.  They also feared themselves when they realized that they too battled good versus evil on a regular basis.  The lines between right and wrong began to blur (Donnelly, 2012).

            The economy and popular culture continue to play a major role in our fears and anxieties today.  The attacks on September 11, 2001 gave Americans new fears.  They began fearing external factors again.  They realized that not everyone is a fan of America and what it stands for.  Dexter entered the picture and clearly defined right and wrong in a serial killer’s mind.  This gave us a sense of relief and allowed us to stop fearing those in our society.  It also allowed us to look at ourselves and see that we follow a moral code of right and wrong and the norm is not to harm innocent people; good will prevail over evil.  The economy and popular culture have switched our fears back to external factors (Donnelly, 2012).

            Dexter is America’s primetime hero.  He’s marketable, attractive, witty, and is absolute by showing us his moral code of right and wrong.  He is abnormal and we are able to understand why without fearing him.  He doesn’t pose a threat to us; he threatens only those who deserve it.  Dexter has gained so much popularity that you can find fan pages on Facebook and MySpace.  He’s on the cover of popular magazines.  Showtime has an online store that sells bobble-heads; blood splattered coasters, body part earrings, posters, t-shirts and much more.  One of the most popular slogans is, “Power saw to the people.”  This slogan reiterates that Dexter has removed the internal fears of Americans and allowed them to focus back on external fears (Donnelly, 2012).

            The article by Ashley Donnelly, that this paper is based off of was written for several different audiences.  It was written for fans, critics, and philosophers of the show.  It was very easy to follow as it was presented in a chronological order that explained the transformation of serial killers since the 1980’s.  It was clear to see the differences between good versus bad as well as, internal versus external fears that Americans have tried to clearly define for years.  Any information that was complex was followed by detailed explanations to help the reader digest the information.  It was a great article that really showed the affects of popular culture on America over the last three decades and solidified the importance of understanding popular culture.

References

Donnelly, A. (2012, February). The New American Hero: Dexter, Serial Killer for the Masses. The Journal of Popular Culture 45(1) 15-26. Retrieved on January 12, 2013 from http://0-journals.ohiolink.edu.olinkserver.franklin.edu/ejc/article.cgi?issn=00223840&issue=v45i0001&article=15_tnahdskftm