Dexter Morgan (played by the eerie Michael C. Hall) is a ‘blood splatter analyst’ for Miami PD. Why is he so great at his job? Simply, Dexter is a calculated, (seemingly) emotionless, and creepy serial murderer (ironically Dexter sticks to a moral code of his deceased adopted father). It’s an absolutely fantastic show and I recommend it to all (you’ll watch one episode on Netflix and then BAM! [Emeril] you’ll be hooked forever). But I do not want to write broadly on the show of Dexter in this post because of the complexities that run throughout Showtime’s great hit.
Instead I want to focus solely on the video posted here; “Dexter’s Morning Routine”.
It starts off bluntly with Dexter murdering (a skill Dexter is more than adept at doing) a mosquito. But in every kill that Dexter has in the show is premeditated and Dexter stalks his ‘prey’ and covers his tracks like no other. This juxtaposition of killing the mosquito and Dexter’s normal careful murders show the difference between the two types of murders.
Then the show’s name (written in the shows namesake and Dexter’s obsession-Blood) appears before the viewer leading into the morning routine items. We see Dexter cut himself shaving (further referring to blood- a central theme in the show), meticulously (and professionally) slice some meat, crack an egg, grind up coffee beans, cut and squeeze a fruit, floss, tie his boots, put on a fresh white tee, lock up and then casually stole off to live a ‘normal’ life (giving one hell of a petrifying grin at the end of it all). (Also the disturbing music playing throughout the intro just sets a daunting tone for the show).
As Austin Powers said it best, “Whoopty-Doo… What does it all mean Basil?” Why on Earth would the director of a show just show a man going through his normal daily routines? Well, I believe it is used to show the everyday vulgarity of life and the analogous features of daily life to serial murder technique. Everything Dexter does in the morning correlates with his late-night murderous activities. You can easily throw any of the morning routine pieces it into any of the scenes where Dexter executes someone. The floss and boot shoestrings look like rope or duct tape to strangle or subdue a person. Dexter putting the shirt on correlates with him putting a mask on during his kills. When he presses the tissue on his face the blood is soaked up in the tissue just like when he cleans up after a murder. Every scene can be represented in a different homicidal light.
Overall this video gives you a brief introduction into the life of Dexter Morgan by showing his daily routine. But there is a hidden message under all of this and a central theme in the show is exhibited. Everybody you know performs murderous-looking acts every day, so that happy-go-lucky neighbor of ours that’s always smiling just might also be the person who has a kill-count in the hundreds… just like Dexter.
Boo!
