Dexter Morning Routine Analysis
Dexter - Morning Routine - Analysis
The title sequence for Dexter is a montage that depicts Dexter’s morning routine before he heads out to work. On our first watch, we instantly start to learn certain things about who Dexter is. He’s male, white, has brown hair and stubbly facial hair. By the tone and texture of his skin we can depict that he is around the 30 years old mark.
The opening begins with a close-up on a mosquito sucking blood. We associate mosquitos with painful bites and we can relate to trying to go out of our reach to kill them. This gives us a common bond with Dexter as this kill is seen as ‘acceptable’. However the audience immediately see Dexter’s sinister attributes as he is seen to be smiling as if enjoying killing. The
fact that his morning routine starts with murder helps to reveal his evil nature. Dexter’s facial expressions after the killing suggest that he took pleasure in exterminating the mosquito and also relief that he got there first before the mosquito got him. This clip is followed by the title of the show ‘Dexter’ which is the colour of blood and is accompanied by a couple of blood splatters, as if blood has been deliberately dripped into water. The blood resembles that he has left his trademark and that everything thing about his personality is about blood. The choice of the non-diegetic music is used to contradict the gory images that are shown and go against the typical conventions that we expect to see in a murder mystery
The imagery of blood continues when he cuts himself with his razor whilst he holds his neck in a position that gives and impression like you cold slit the throat and draws a drop of blood that slowly rolls down his neck. The diegetic sound of the razor and the way in which he prolongs the movement gives a very sinister feel. When Dexter cuts himself, he doesn’t show any sign of pain or anguish. The cleaning up of the blood and the stillness and delicacy of his movements represent how unfazed he is by blood and gore.
How food is connected to killing. The director has used the food scenes to show that even something so mundane can have a dark side to it. The cutting of the ham has connotations of slicing up a body and this continues to express Dexter’s obsession with murder. The non-diegetic music becomes much distorted when he slices the meat to show his twisted mind/thought processes. The close-up of Dexter slowly chewing the meat creates a very dark atmosphere as it implies that he is eating a body, it helps to pick up every detail from the slow chewing to the chewing sound and this helps to show how he likes to savour each part of a murder. The close-up on the egg makes it look like he is maniacally slicing it up with the Tabasco sauce mimicking blood .The way in which he slices and squeezes the blood orange gives the implication that he enjoys squeezing the life out of humans. He cuts the orange so delicately and accurately as if enjoying the experience. The next image of the remains of the blood orange looks like organs and this is how close-ups are effective as they make ordinary items appear very dark and evil looking.
The next shots depicts strangulation by the way in which we see Dexter tightly wrapping both the cleaning floss and the shoe laces around his fingers, to emphasise his strangulation of people he has killed .
Even putting on clothing depicts murder as the mid shot of Dexters slowing putting on his t-shirt gives the impression he is in a body bag. When he leaves his house, we see Dexter for the first time and our opinions of him have shifted as we don’t connect the murderer to the male leaving the house. This implies that anyone who appears innocent can commit murders and that no- one should be trusted
Subtle but horrifying at the same time
The title sequence for Dexter is a montage that depicts Dexter’s morning routine before he heads out to work. On our first watch, we instantly start to learn certain things about who Dexter is. He’s male, white, has brown hair and stubbly facial hair. By the tone and texture of his skin we can depict that he is around the 30 years old mark.
The opening begins with a close-up on a mosquito sucking blood. We associate mosquitos with painful bites and we can relate to trying to go out of our reach to kill them. This gives us a common bond with Dexter as this kill is seen as ‘acceptable’. However the audience immediately see Dexter’s sinister attributes as he is seen to be smiling as if enjoying killing. The
fact that his morning routine starts with murder helps to reveal his evil nature. Dexter’s facial expressions after the killing suggest that he took pleasure in exterminating the mosquito and also relief that he got there first before the mosquito got him. This clip is followed by the title of the show ‘Dexter’ which is the colour of blood and is accompanied by a couple of blood splatters, as if blood has been deliberately dripped into water. The blood resembles that he has left his trademark and that everything thing about his personality is about blood. The choice of the non-diegetic music is used to contradict the gory images that are shown and go against the typical conventions that we expect to see in a murder mystery
The imagery of blood continues when he cuts himself with his razor whilst he holds his neck in a position that gives and impression like you cold slit the throat and draws a drop of blood that slowly rolls down his neck. The diegetic sound of the razor and the way in which he prolongs the movement gives a very sinister feel. When Dexter cuts himself, he doesn’t show any sign of pain or anguish. The cleaning up of the blood and the stillness and delicacy of his movements represent how unfazed he is by blood and gore.
How food is connected to killing. The director has used the food scenes to show that even something so mundane can have a dark side to it. The cutting of the ham has connotations of slicing up a body and this continues to express Dexter’s obsession with murder. The non-diegetic music becomes much distorted when he slices the meat to show his twisted mind/thought processes. The close-up of Dexter slowly chewing the meat creates a very dark atmosphere as it implies that he is eating a body, it helps to pick up every detail from the slow chewing to the chewing sound and this helps to show how he likes to savour each part of a murder. The close-up on the egg makes it look like he is maniacally slicing it up with the Tabasco sauce mimicking blood .The way in which he slices and squeezes the blood orange gives the implication that he enjoys squeezing the life out of humans. He cuts the orange so delicately and accurately as if enjoying the experience. The next image of the remains of the blood orange looks like organs and this is how close-ups are effective as they make ordinary items appear very dark and evil looking.
The next shots depicts strangulation by the way in which we see Dexter tightly wrapping both the cleaning floss and the shoe laces around his fingers, to emphasise his strangulation of people he has killed .
Even putting on clothing depicts murder as the mid shot of Dexters slowing putting on his t-shirt gives the impression he is in a body bag. When he leaves his house, we see Dexter for the first time and our opinions of him have shifted as we don’t connect the murderer to the male leaving the house. This implies that anyone who appears innocent can commit murders and that no- one should be trusted
Subtle but horrifying at the same time