Running head: Is Dexter really to violent for Television?

Dexter: A Sociological Analysis

Patti Willeford

MED 454 FA10 MSU

Dexter: A Sociological Analysis

Dexter debuted Sunday October 1, 2006 on ShowTime.

Currently Dexter is filming its fifth season. ("Dexter on

ShowTime," 2010) The show is set in Miami, Florida and

features a blood splatter-pattern analyst for the Miami

Metro Police Department. Dexter Morgan played by Michael C.

Hall by day is the blood splatter analyst and by night a

serial killer. The first was season based on the novel by

Jeff Lindsay, “Darkly, Dreaming Dexter”. (Lindsay, 2004)

After the first season, the series was scripted. The

title sequence features a character preview of Dexter

Morgan, demonstrating everyday events with razors, fluid,

blood, and eating. In 2007 the series won an Emmy for

“Outstanding Main Title Design”. ("Dexter on ShowTime,"

2010)

In the book as well as the series, Dexter Morgan

follows a code of ethics set forth by his adoptive father

Harry Morgan. The code dictates that Dexter can only kill

murderers, and he should never get caught. Dexter is

portrayed as a psychopath. (Lindsay, 2004)

He uses an inner voice he calls his dark passenger.

This is used quite successfully as voice-overs in the

script. Dexter discovered his past through out the series,

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gaining some sympathy from the audience, justifying Dexter’s

condition.

Other characters such as Rita, Dexter’s now deceased

wife shows the audience Dexter deserves to be liked.

("Dexter the amiable," 2010) After all he likes children.

Dexter’s sister Debra adds a family dynamic to the show.

Dexter pushes the boundaries of a series. Viewers are

rooting for the killer. How does that happen? In the

beginning Dexter has no memory of his family, he only knows

his adoptive family. Then later in the series along comes

Brian Moser, Dexter’s older brother, who turns out to be the

Ice Truck killer. Brian toys with Dexter and his sister

Debra. Dexter then remembers how he and Brian were trapped

as children in a storage container filled with their

mother’s blood for days. Harry Morgan, who adopted Dexter

and sent Brian to an institution, rescued them. Dexter

began killing animals, Harry realized Dexter had a problem,

so if he was going to kill, Harry taught Dexter a code to

follow. Now the audience must question is Dexter a serial

killer because of himself or because of the code taught him.

Currently the series has come full circle and Dexter found

his infant son sitting in the bathroom in a pool of his

murdered mother blood.

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Is Dexter to violent for television? That is the question

I want to address. CBS (Columbia Broadcasting System) aired

Dexter debuting Sunday night, February 17th, 2008 at 9:00 PM

Central time. Immediately, the PTC (Parents Television

Council) protested and demanded CBS cancel the show. CBS

defended Dexter’s graphic violence as being “artistic”.

This did not last long, and Dexter was removed from prime

time television without the question being answered. ("CBS

shows ultra-violent," 2008)

Connections to Dexter were claimed in two murder cases.

The first in 2008 in Alberta, Canada, and the second in

Rising Sun, Indiana in 2009. Both defendants claimed they

felt like Dexter. ("Dexter (TV series),”)

Using Content analysis I plan to compare the violent

content of the shows from the 2008 9:00 PM Sunday time slot

to the first year of the Dexter series.

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References

Lindsay, J. (2004). Darkly dreaming Dexter. New York, New

York: Random House.

Darkly dreaming Dexter. (2010). Retrieved from

http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Darkly_Dreaming

_Dexter

Dexter the amiable serial killer: pt bloggers and other

experts show their love. (2010, August 30). Psychology

Today, Retrieved from

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/living-single/20100

8/dexter-the-amiable-serial-killer-pt-bloggers-and-

other-experts-show-their-

Dexter (TV series). (n.d.). Retrieved from

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dexter_(TV_series)

CBS shows ultra-violent serial killer drama Dexter in prime

time. (2008). PTC Insider, 10(3), Retrieved from

Http://WWW.PARENTSTV.ORG

Dexter on ShowTime. (2010). Retrieved from

http://www.sho.com/site/dexter/home.do

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