Dexter Season Finale video controversy, race, and dissent

Yesterday I created a video-blog (video above) asking why the Showtime Original Series Dexter was so popular given the, er, habits, of its main character Dexter Morgan (played by Michael C. Hall from Six Feet Under) and why Dexter was cast as a white male.

In "Dexter Season 5 - what's Dexter anyway?" I asked two questions: first, what's wrong with a society that makes a show featuring a serial killer popular?; second Would the show be as popular if he were black? I ask those questions because I'm not comfortable with how we as a culture tend to consume mass media images given to us without questioning their existence. Simply, why is this what it is?

Dexter (regardless of Season 4 or Season 5 to come) may be good and with Michael C. Hall in the title role I'm sure its excellent, but I don't like what it says about America in 2009.

I am used to being insulted and criticized; that comes with the territory. However, what I find bothersome in this case is the sheer anger that some express over asking questions. Someone over at YouTube wrote that I should just "shut up and enjoy the show", which is a solid guarantee that I will do neither.

There aren't a lot of voices video-blogging such questions for a mass audience and I can think of just a few names with major news organizations who write about why blacks or women or people of color in general are regularly excluded from anything - but the question is important to raise regardless.

I remind all that I have and will employ the right of dissent. And if you need a refresher on its meaning, here it is:

1. To differ in sentiment or opinion, esp. from the majority; withhold assent; disagree (often fol. by from): Two of the justices dissented from the majority decision.
2. To disagree with the methods, goals, etc., of a political party or government; take an opposing view.
3. To disagree with or reject the doctrines or authority of an established church.

In Dexter's case, I received precious few sensible answers to my questions, but even then what I got was both elegantly presented and a bit disturbing. Here's an example:

"Dexter is popular because many people like the idea of payback. Justification makes the concept of ending a life understandable. Not saying it is good, but if a person were to be removed from this planet and they were a vicious killer, Dexter's concept of testing and finding guilty is great!"

What I found bothersome, and the author agrees with me, is the idea that "Dexter's concept of testing and finding guilty is great!"

When I read that and considered that the organization Dexter Morgan works in is within the Miami Police Department, I wondered if a real life Dexter existed and if he went unnoticed in part because he was a good-looking white guy. So I openly wondered why Dexter isn't black?

And this - in a time when one online publications' list of the passing of important figures in American media included not a single African American person - is an important question. We as a nation must end this knee-jerk fear of questioning (or lack of attention to the question of) why people of color are excluded from presentations of our World in media.

Here's what's bothersome to me: the possibility that being bombarded with such images causes us to judge how bad someone is by the color of their skin, and at a subconscious level. Could Dexter's fans handle seeing a black Dexter exact his unique form of justice on mostly white victims? For that matter, would the people that could not stand such an image become fans of the show in the first place?

Those are the questions swirling in my head. They don't take the place of my concern with the America Economy, or the lack of spending for the University of California and the outrageously high tuition cost, or for the safety of Berkeley Chancellor Robert Birgeneau in the midst of this season of protest, but they're important nonetheless.

We must make sure that the images presented to us for consumption in media do not cause us to violate our amazing civil rights progress or forget the basic ideals that created America.

The elimination of racism and the embrace of dissent are key objectives in the advancement of American culture. Let's make sure we don't reject them and deteriorate into a society directed by the irrational, unpredictable, harmful, and occasionally racist desires of the mob.

Lastly, for those who've not seen Dexter and want a taste of it, as well as the show's producers, who are certainly happy for the Internet chatter, here's a clip from the show's last episode of 2009:



Stay tuned.