Running head: Is Dexter really to violent for Television?

Dexter: A Sociological Analysis

Patti Willeford
MED 454 FA10 MSU

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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 Dexters

condition.
Other characters such as Rita, Dexters now deceased
wife shows the audience Dexter deserves to be liked.
("Dexter the amiable," 2010)

After all he likes children.

Dexters 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, Dexters older brother, who turns out to be the

Ice Truck killer.
Debra.

Brian toys with Dexter and his sister

Dexter then remembers how he and Brian were trapped

as children in a storage container filled with their

mothers 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 Dexters 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/livingsingle/201008/dexter-the-amiable-serial-killer-ptbloggers-and-other-experts-show-theirDexter (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