Author Topic: What do you think----  (Read 1430 times)

Izzy_*now*

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What do you think----
« on: July 08, 2008, 02:47:44 PM »
--of the premise for the 'Dexter' TV shows.

A psychopathic killer who is just killing off psychpathic killers, no one else.

His foster father, a cop, gave him that idea, knowing of his 'need to kill' and that is the way it is channelled.

Somehow, on one level, it all makes sense--Izzy

Izzy
"The joy of love lasts such a short time, but the pain of love lasts one's whole life"

Gaining Strength

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Re: What do you think----
« Reply #1 on: July 08, 2008, 03:14:53 PM »
I think the premise is one of the most frightening one to come to television.  Dexter is portrayed by a "cool", great looking actor who has a certain charisma.  How frightening it is to package cold-blooded murder by a psychopath as a positive thing (ridding the world of evil murderers.)

This is the worst of the worst IMO.

Certain Hope

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Re: What do you think----
« Reply #2 on: July 08, 2008, 03:20:16 PM »
Iz, I agree with Shame Slayer. At an emotional level, that is a thoroughly warped theme, imo... and it doesn't even make sense, to me... logically speaking.

I mean, this is a psycho with a need to kill.... but he's expected to be able to curb his urge to kill only those who supposedly "deserve" such an end?

What a twisted notion of vigilante non-justice!

Carolyn

gjazz

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Re: What do you think----
« Reply #3 on: July 08, 2008, 04:03:37 PM »
To my mind there's nothing really new about asking an audience to root for a protagonist who kills people.  In the past, though, the standard was putting the protagonist in a position where killing the person was so much the lesser of two evils (there's always a choice), and then instilling a dollop of healthy remorse.  Dexter challenges those conventions. It's not a show I'd want my young children watching, if I had young children, but it does have the sort of storylines that raise hard questions about ourselves and our society, and in that I find it interesting. 

Izzy_*now*

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Re: What do you think----
« Reply #4 on: July 08, 2008, 06:43:39 PM »
We have to realize that this is fiction, as in real life, no one person could rid L.A. of all serial killers, let alone the whole world, but the premise is interesting.

Remember psychopaths are Ns too.........
..........made me think of the phrase, 'Remember dogs are people, too'....

I suppose I can just let my imagination fly and envision a world free of N/Ps.
Izzy
"The joy of love lasts such a short time, but the pain of love lasts one's whole life"

Izzy_*now*

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Re: What do you think----
« Reply #5 on: July 08, 2008, 06:55:44 PM »
Good Heavens.

I made 8 posts today (this makes 9) and I will surely up my average per day with this.
"The joy of love lasts such a short time, but the pain of love lasts one's whole life"

Certain Hope

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Re: What do you think----
« Reply #6 on: July 08, 2008, 07:10:51 PM »
Good Heavens.

I made 8 posts today (this makes 9) and I will surely up my average per day with this.

LOL... yup.  And isn't that every girl's dream? To have the highest average?


 :D

Yer on a roll, Izzy! Keep up the good work!!

Love,
Carolyn

gjazz

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Re: What do you think----
« Reply #7 on: July 08, 2008, 07:11:45 PM »
It's fiction, as Izzy says, and writers love their nasty characters.  They're fun to work with.  It's sort of tough to make them the protagonists--in this case, of course, they took the easy way out and made the protag's victims "worse" in most peoples' eyes, so the audience will identify with the antihero.  Not meaning to ignore the question of morality, the slippery slope of revenge, but compare for instance Dexter to Tom Ripley, of the Patricia Highsmith novels of half a century ago.  Tom kills perfectly decent people because he wants an easier life.  Money, position.  That was shocking at the time, because there was so much less general understanding then of narcissism and psychopathology, esp. in the US (her books sold much better in Europe).  Tom is actually much more true to life, then and now, than Dexter, who seems to me a product of TV-land's incessant need to up the ante, find a new twist.