Telvision Criticism - Univ. of Iowa

The intro to Dexter is an unsettling emergence into the world and mind of Dexter. Along with introducing the character Dexter to the viewer, the intro, through carefully chosen and edited visuals and specific shooting techniques, suggests the premise, overall pace, and mood of the show. On the surface the intro suggests not only that Dexter is seemingly complex, or hiding something, but that the show that is about to take place is dark, intimate, and potentially disturbing. To best exemplify how the intro to the show accomplishes this, I have broken it down into segments, based upon the different activities that take place during the intro. To further illustrate the segments, I have color coded my shot-by-shot breakdown of the intro to Dexter.

The first segment is arguably just the beginning of the intro. This segment begins with the opening shot on the mosquito, and ends when the title sequence begins. The overall message of this sequence is seemingly to suggest the joy that Dexter (Hall) gets from killing. This is conveyed by the squishing of the mosquito, the subsequent blood spot, and the barely noticeable, sinister smirk that Dexter (Hall) expresses after killing the bug. The mosquito and its remaining blood are centered and focused in close up; in the background Dexter's face is out of focus, and his lips (therefore his smile) are situated in the bottom corner of the screen. So clearly the intent of this sequence is to show Dexter (Hall) killing the mosquito; the nearly subliminal smirk following the bug squishing is there to suggest Dexter (Hall) found some sort of pleasure in killing the bug. There is another significant point about this sequence that should be made: the nature of the beginning and thus the whole intro. It begins with Dexter waking up and follows him through his morning routine. At the surface level, this seems to suggest he is just an average person (he sleeps at night, puts his pants on one leg at a time, etc.) However, I think this conveyed mediocrity is just representative of a front that Dexter (Hall) presents to keep his serial killing side under wraps.

The second segment is brief in comparison to the others as it is just the title sequence. This brief sequence is noteworthy though because it presents the title of the program in a very fitting way: blood soaking onto tissue. Throughout the theme (and the course of the show), blood is constantly seen. Furthermore, blood is central to Dexter as Dexter's police work involves blood splatters. The tissue soaked in blood image is also used again in the intro.

The third segment begins when the title sequence ends and the image returns to Hall, standing in front of a mirror. This sequence is centered around Dexter (Hall) getting ready to shave and then shaving. It essentially ends when the meat cutting and cooking sequence abruptly begins. Overall it seems this sequence is designed to suggest and show that Dexter (Hall) is human (he bleeds like us, can get hurt, etc.). This is most clearly conveyed by showing Dexter (Hall) cut himself while shaving (while we don't actually see him being cut, it is suggested as we see the razor, shaving lotion and then blood coming down his neck). Yet while on the surface this sequence is suggesting Dexter is human, the images and the presentation of said images arguably is suggesting something more sinister. This is most clearly exemplified when the deep red blood splatters on the white porcelain sink. The contrast of the bright white to the blood red is stark and to some extent unsettling. Furthermore, the splatters that appear on the sink bottom are not just drops of dripping blood, but actual blood splatters. The scene concludes almost anticlimactically with Dexter (Hall) soaking up the blood on his neck with a tissue, as if it's no big deal or at the very least like it doesn't bother him.

The fourth segment is centered around Dexter (Hall) cooking meat. It begins with Dexter (Hall) cutting through packaged meat and ends when he is seen eating the meat. The implications of this segment seem to be twofold. For one, it seems the viewers are being presented with images of activities that logically could be expected to be seen on Dexter; however, these activities are not being presented in a heinous or homicidal manner. In this segment Dexter (Hall) is simply cooking part of his breakfast (meat, presumably bacon of some kind). Yet because he is holding a knife, and because the presentation of this scene is shaky and fast paced, the seemingly simple act of cutting meat becomes suggestive of murder or cutting human flesh. The fact that the meat is still packaged reinforces this idea as if to convey the packaging is skin. The second component of this segment is how it potentially portrays Dexter (Hall) as animalistic, or even further as carnivorous. This is most made apparent by the close up shot of Dexter's teeth gnawing on the meat.

The fifth sequence is also about cooking, but this time eggs, and it begins just after Dexter (Hall) is seen devouring the meat and ends once the image cuts to coffee being ground up. Despite many similarities between this sequence and the meat sequence (such as murdering the egg, viewing yolk as blood), there is at least one very intriguing thing happening here. If watched carefully, there is a drop of blood (or so it appears) that falls on the plate with the egg. In a flurry of fast cuts and transitions, the blood is smeared. A careful analysis of this scene reveals that the egg is dragged through the blood while being eaten. Furthermore, this sequence ends with a shot of blood on the knife used to cut the egg, which again can't bleed but does have a yolk. Thus, this sequence reinforces or reiterates the idea of Dexter (Hall) being carnivorous or animalistic. This is also in contrast to the somewhat complacent or even boring/plain presentation of the intro to this point. Up until this scene, the most unsettling aspect of the intro was arguably just the blood in the sink or dripping down Dexter's neck. Suddenly food has entered the picture, so while this continues the narrative of his morning, we also are being further clued in to the secretive or underlying nature of the show.

The sixth sequence begins with the coffee beans swirling around inside a grinder, and ends when the coffee is shown brewing. Clearly its focus is on the grinding of coffee. Again we have sharp blades cutting something within this sequence. However, this sequence is different from both the eggs and meat sequence in that we see a whole (coffee bean) being transformed into parts (grounds) and then being used for another purpose (to brew coffee). The significance of this segment, then, is that the viewer is subliminally being exposed to again something Dexter (Hall) might do in the course of the show. Once again, though, instead of using bodies or showing him kill someone, the visuals utilize food, specifically coffee beans.

The seventh sequence then is focused on preparing a grapefruit to be juiced. It begins with the slow motion shot of the grapefruit being cut, and ends when the camera shoots a close up of the grapefruit "guts." Although this sequence is centered around the juicing of a fruit, it is arguably one of the most unsettling segments, and this is because of the presentation of the activity. In this sequence the idea that there is something more going on beneath the surface is made perfectly clear. When the sequence begins, it is hard if not impossible to know exactly what kind of fruit he is cutting. This is why, when its revealed to be a grapefruit, the pulp red insides of the grapefruit are unsettling. Furthermore, it immediately brings to mind the cut meat, stabbed eggs, potentially even the blood in the sink or on the neck. This sequence is also significant as once again we are seeing Dexter (Hall) do something we could expect to see him do on the show (using a knife to cut and juices, aka blood, spraying). Yet again the producers have carefully crafted the presentation of the visual and managed to use an inanimate object to illustrate potential actions that Dexter could take against living things, probably people.

In the eighth sequence, Dexter (Hall) is flossing. It begins with a close up shot of floss wrapped around his fingers very tightly, and it ends when he finishes flossing. Mostly it seems this scene is again showing us things Dexter could do, but instead of using knives or sharp objects, he is using string. Clearly it needs to be noted that he is not just wrapping some floss around his finger, and that he deliberately tightens the floss to cut off circulation in his finger. Thus, if anyone was suspicious if Dexter got pleasure from pain, they should know now that yes he apparently enjoys pain. This also means that the shaving and blood segment has to be reevaluated as it now seems completely plausible that Dexter intentionally hurt himself or cut himself shaving out of a desire to be pleasured by the pain.

The ninth sequence can simply be described as dressing. It begins with another close up of string around Dexter's fingers, only this time it's a shoelace. This sequence ends with Dexter (Hall) putting on his shirt and looking into the camera. This sequence is almost necessarily at the end as it provides a nice wrap up of his morning routine, thus reinforcing the idea that Dexter is supposedly normal. However, in this same sequence Dexter again wraps some string very tightly around his hands and fingers, only this time its shoe laces. The final shots of this segment also deserve close analysis as Dexter (Hall) awkwardly pauses while putting on his shirt, and even looks directly into the camera briefly. This seems to occur in order to try to connect Dexter to the audience, so to reinforce the reality or "averageness" of Dexter. Yet his facial expressions are somewhat misleading, even confusing. Along with the other subtly located disturbing shots, this problematizes the idea of Dexter just being human and average, essentially getting at the entire program's premise that Dexter, a serial killer, can blend in to the rest of society and even hold a job in law enforcement.

The tenth and final sequence begins with a close up shot of a key exiting a lock. It ends when the image cuts to black. This scene is vital because it provides the logical conclusion to the intro, which again is following Dexter through the course of a normal morning for him. The visuals, just like in the rest of the intro, are specifically selected though. The key in the lock suggests again Dexter is average (i.e. he fears for the safety of his stuff, doesn't want his apartment broken into, etc.). The other main visual here is seeing Dexter walk away from his apartment and out into the real world. Generally the image seems to be conveying a sense of "here he comes." We have seen how he acts in his private life, specifically in the morning, and we have a sense that something is just not quite right, yet he is outside, leaving his apartment, officially beginning his day. To top it off, Dexter (Hall) conjures up his awkward, suggestive smirk and looks into the camera as he walks off screen and it fades to black.

Labels: Dexter

# posted by Michael Sears @ 10:36 AM