Dexter
Apr 4th, 2008 by Micah Tillman | 5 Comments |
One good thing that came of the Writers’ Strike was CBS‘s rebroadcasting Season 1 of Showtime‘s Dexter. At least, I assume that the reason CBS started to run Dexter was that they had no new material to air because of the strike.
The show comes from the book series by Jeff Lindsay, and Season 1 at least is masterful. (Season 2 is now available for pre-order, but I haven’t seen it). And The Wife, who has now read all three Dexter books (which have been released so far) tells me Season 1 does a great job of expanding upon the first book.
Michael C. Hall does a brilliant job as Dexter, and Julie Benz (of Darla in Angel and Buffy fame) was the perfect choice for Dexter’s significant other, Rita.
If you don’t know already, the premise is that Dexter is a serial killer who kills serial killers. That said, it’s not kid-appropriate. But the psychological, anthropological, and philosophical questions Lindsay and the show’s writers deal with are well worth engaging.
Here are twenty of those issues:
(1) How does a person get to be warped?
(2) Can warpedness be redeemed (e.g., channeled into certain forms of expression which are good)?
(3) Can warpedness be healed?
(4) Can you redeem warpedness without healing it?
(5) Is it possible to live by a code which you were taught, but which goes against what you are?
(6) What is “what you are,” and how is it that you came to be what you are?
(7) Which parts of what we are should be redeemed and which parts healed? (That is, is it possible to change who you are?)
(8) Can evil be controlled, or must it be eliminated?
(9) Are there levels of evil (some of which are worse than others)?
(10) Is it legitimate to enjoy a necessary evil, and how does this relate to the issue of “guilty pleasures”?
(11) Is there a difference between a necessary evil and a redeemed warpedness?
(12) Is it legitimate to live a lie, for a greater good?
(13) Is it possible to live as something you are not?
(14) What would life without emotions be like?
(15) What is the nature of family?
(16) How should one respond to not belonging?
(17) What is the value of normalcy (being normal)? That is, what is the difference between what is normal and what is normative?
(18) What does it mean to not be alone (and how is this related to “connecting” with others, or to relationships in general)?
(19) Is justice outside government possible?
(20) What gives a person the authority to do justice (and of which kind)?
My brain collapsed from exhaustion after trying to process about 3 of your questions, but I can tell you that, yes, Dexter (well, the network appropriate version shot for future syndication purposes) made the jump to CBS as a way to provide new programming during the writer’s strike.
The evil, evil writer’s strike, which has forced me to wait until next freakin’ winter to get resolution on the numerous plotlines that Friday Night Lights was working.
Writers suck. Oops, I am a writer of sorts, and would prefer not to be self-loathing.
Oh, and, hi Micah!
*waves*
Oh! How rude of me!
Scott; this is Micah.
Micah; meet my friend Scott.
I believe you two may know each other from somewhere, but I’m not exactly sure where.
Any 1 of those questions could fuel a doctoral thesis, I think.
Rather than answer those questions I wonder if I might re-cast a few of them. It seems to me that our answers to broader philosphical questions will generally inform a number of these. Many of you are much more on top of your philosophical game so I’ll look foreward to correction, but here’s how I see it:
The question
(1) How does a person get to be warped?
a) can begun to be answered through questions around the nature/nurture debate, and b) questions around whether “warpedness” is a social construct or has some objective, transpersonal reality.
Micah’s question
(2) Can warpedness be redeemed (e.g., channeled into certain forms of expression which are good)?
c) Would have a similar answer to the wider question of whether or not the ends justify the means.
Micha’s question (3) Can warpedness be healed?
relates to question b) as stated above, as well as questions about the nature of the soul. (Call questions about the nature of the soul d)
(4) Can you redeem warpedness without healing it?
e) Perhaps there is a little bit about whether justice is punitive or restorative in nature running around under this question?
Micha’s question: (5) Is it possible to live by a code which you were taught, but which goes against what you are?
wider question: really a version of question b, I think; is the reality we are socialized to a rather arbitrary set of ideas or does it correspond to a wider reality.
(6) What is “what you are,” and how is it that you came to be what you are?
I suppose this adresses question d) again.
Anyway, I think you all get what I’m saying; basically I suspect it might be helpful it is to recognize the wider philosophical context of the questions. (Which probably isn’t really a surpeise to anybody, but I thought I’d throw my 2 cents in.)
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