dragojustine (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
dragojustine) wrote2007-12-08 04:19 pm
dragojustine) wrote2007-12-08 04:19 pm
Entry tags:
Dexter
Dexter- seasons 1 and 2
Fascinating, and probably the most morally coherent and engaged show on TV- a rejection of glamorization of vigilantes, completely different from the normal treatment of the "morally grey" hero (which is usually morally shallow and simply concerned with the fact that he does horrible things while looking cool). Most coherent struggle to define what makes a monster, what compassion and feelings actually come from (and are they learned? Can they be learned, if they weren't at a young age? Can Dexter be cured? Does he want to be?) as well as the idea of adults rejecting their parents morality and accepting their own. Says tons of interesting things about addiction and the psychology of addiction and need and what drives us to do things. We are obsessively inside Dexter's head, but he is not terribly self-aware- he keeps insisting on how dead he is, what a monster he is, but we see that he connects to and loves the people around him even as he insists that he doesn't. He needs to conceptualize of himself as a monster even against evidence, so he can conceptualize of those he kills as monsters too- he divides the world into killers and not killers, and places himself firmly on the "monster" side, and in so doing, allows himself to be comfortable with his own urges. After all, that's just what he is, right? So his self-deception is well done.
It completely avoids the normal glamorization of the vigilante. Dexter doesn't kill for justice- he kills because he likes to kill, and just happens to select a certain type of target. His cold-blooded, surgical methods strip it of all romance. What he gets off on is clearly the killing, purely and totally. We see enough gore that it's impossible to forget for one moment what he does, even as the inherent subjectivism of being so inside his head lets us like him and hate others for far lesser crimes.
I think Debra is my current favorite TV character ever. She is such a great creation, with her insecurity and her daddy issues and her fierce love for Dexter. She is so adolescent, trying so hard to figure out how to grow up without any approval or help from anyone around her, having to fight so hard for everything. And the actress is wonderful- she lives right there on the surface, in her face and body language- Debra is raw and vulnerable and in-your-face and impossible to misread- the character conceals nothing. And she is sexy as all get out, even as that her desperate insecurity and need for approval spills over there.
I'm so incredibly impressed by this show.
Fascinating, and probably the most morally coherent and engaged show on TV- a rejection of glamorization of vigilantes, completely different from the normal treatment of the "morally grey" hero (which is usually morally shallow and simply concerned with the fact that he does horrible things while looking cool). Most coherent struggle to define what makes a monster, what compassion and feelings actually come from (and are they learned? Can they be learned, if they weren't at a young age? Can Dexter be cured? Does he want to be?) as well as the idea of adults rejecting their parents morality and accepting their own. Says tons of interesting things about addiction and the psychology of addiction and need and what drives us to do things. We are obsessively inside Dexter's head, but he is not terribly self-aware- he keeps insisting on how dead he is, what a monster he is, but we see that he connects to and loves the people around him even as he insists that he doesn't. He needs to conceptualize of himself as a monster even against evidence, so he can conceptualize of those he kills as monsters too- he divides the world into killers and not killers, and places himself firmly on the "monster" side, and in so doing, allows himself to be comfortable with his own urges. After all, that's just what he is, right? So his self-deception is well done.
It completely avoids the normal glamorization of the vigilante. Dexter doesn't kill for justice- he kills because he likes to kill, and just happens to select a certain type of target. His cold-blooded, surgical methods strip it of all romance. What he gets off on is clearly the killing, purely and totally. We see enough gore that it's impossible to forget for one moment what he does, even as the inherent subjectivism of being so inside his head lets us like him and hate others for far lesser crimes.
I think Debra is my current favorite TV character ever. She is such a great creation, with her insecurity and her daddy issues and her fierce love for Dexter. She is so adolescent, trying so hard to figure out how to grow up without any approval or help from anyone around her, having to fight so hard for everything. And the actress is wonderful- she lives right there on the surface, in her face and body language- Debra is raw and vulnerable and in-your-face and impossible to misread- the character conceals nothing. And she is sexy as all get out, even as that her desperate insecurity and need for approval spills over there.
I'm so incredibly impressed by this show.