3 ms·
The problem is that the audience is meant to empathize with the murderer. Like saying, killing is ok, which freaks the hell out of me. In Saw the antagonist is
by Ygg2 13y ago
The problem is that the audience is meant to empathize with the murderer. Like saying, killing is ok, which freaks the hell out of me.
In Saw the antagonist is the only one committing crimes, so it's easy to put mental barriers around violence, saying only a disturbed/twisted/evil individuals commit gruesome murders. In Dexter there are no such barriers, you either accept the protagonist and his PoW that murder of people is fine, or you reject the series. Dexter is much more sublime in it's violence, it implicitly says this could be you.
- scotty79 13y agoI really don't get that. I think it's because I've played so much videogames where I personally "killed" countless "people" while impersonating sometimes less than stellar protagonists. While watching Dexter I have the same feeling as when playing videogames. It's not violent if "killed" is just a bunch of pixels on the screen. In Dexter killed usually have almost no personality only some serious criminal traits. When they are killed I don't feel any more empathy than I feel towards targets in a game. I find shows where characters are properly humanized before getting hurt much more disturbing. And it doesn't even have to be physical harm.