Dexter ‘Morning Routine’ Analysis

By Connor Cummings

The opening begins with an extreme closeup on a mosquito sucking blood from a human. We associate mosquitos with painful bites and we can relate to trying to go out of our reach to kill them. This gives us a common bond with Dexter as this kill is

seen as ‘acceptable’. However the audience immediately see Dexter’s sinister attributes as he is seen to be smiling as if enjoying killing. The fact that his morning routine starts with murder helps to reveal his evil nature. The mid shot makes Dexter

appear dominant over the mosquito as this possibly hints that he is in a sense, larger than life.

Even the title of the series shows murder as it is written as if blood has been deliberately dripped into water. The blood resembles that he has left his trademark and that everything thing about his personality is about blood. We don’t know if this is one

of his victims blood and we are compelled to find out more and see what action happens next. The choice of the non-diegetic music is used to contradict the gory

images that are shown and go against the typical conventions that we expect to see in a murder mystery

The next scene is Dexter shaving. The diegetic sound of the razor and the way in which he prolongs the movement gives a very sinister feel. The slow movement hints signs of

enjoyment and pleasure.This shows that Dexter enjoys drawing blood and the way in which he is holding his neck gives the impression of strangulation. The blood slowly running down his neck portrays dexter as enjoying a slow death. When Dexter cuts himself, he shows no sign of pain or anguish. The cleaning up of the blood and the

stillness and delicacy of his movements represent how unfazed he is by blood and gore.

How food is connected to killing

Visually there is a connection between food and killing. The director has used the food scenes to show that even something so mundane can have a dark side to it. The cutting of the ham has connotations of slicing up a body and this continues to express Dexter’s obsession with

murder. The non-diegetic music becomes very distorted when he slices the meat to show his twisted mind/thought processes. The closeup of Dexter slowly chewing the meat creates a very dark atmosphere as it implies that he is eating a body. The close-up helps to pick up every

detail from the slow chewing to the chewing sound and this helps to show how he likes to savour each part of a murder. The close-up on the egg makes it look like he is maniacally slicing it up with the Tobasco sauce mimicking blood.The way in which he slices and squeezes the blood orange gives the implication that he enjoys squeezing the life out of humans. He cuts the orange so delicately and accurately as if

enjoying the experience.The next image of the remains of the blood orange looks like human innards and this is how closeups are effective as they make ordinary items appear very dark and evil looking

The next shots depicts strangulation by the way in which we see Dexter tightly wrapping both the cleaning floss and the shoe laces around his fingers. The closeups show this strangulation in strong detail as his fingers are white to

emphasise his strangulation of victims. The closeups are effective as we begin to feel more intimate in Dexters daily routine as the sequence progresses.

Even putting on clothing depicts murder as the mid shot of Dexters slowing putting on his t-shirt gives the impression he is in a body bag. When he

leaves his house, we see Dexter for the first time and our opinions of him have shifted as we don’t connect the murderer to the male leaving the house. This implies that anyone who appears innocent can commit murders and that no-

one should be trusted.