This week, we discussed the Gothic genre and the book that went with it, Frankenstein. However, I thought about the Gothic genre and the contemporary media, and what kinds of things, such as TV shows, books, movies, are more...of a contemporary gothic style.
And bing! Just like that, one of the best (in my opinion) written TV shows popped into my head.
Dexter.
So the question is, how is Dexter a Gothic TV show?
The one obvious thing is Murder. However, it's more complex then just straight up murder: it's murder with a purpose. He kills people who have done wrong, sometimes very, very wrong.
But, in terms of the TV show, it's definitely the creation of the dark, deeply rooted wrong (not evil, just wrongness) that, I believe makes this show Gothic. How so? Well, for one, whenever something dark or creepy is either about to happen or just happens out of the blue, there's this melody that starts playing. The chords dip down, in a weird, twisted way..and, it just so happens, that its called "Blood Theme"....
Blood theme - Youtube
It's actually 0:20 - 0:42 that I'm specifically talking about. Just the way the violins dip down, almost slithering down actually, makes the skin on the back of my neck stand up. Pair that with either a dead body, a person saran wrapped to a table about to be killed, or another killer that made an unbelievable kill, and your insides are pretty much twisting from absolute disgust. Additionally, it's also the voice in which Dexter speaks during the "Blood Theme" that creates an atmosphere of undoubtedly creepiness: a rich, deep, monotonous that literally has no emotion to it. Between that and the creepy melody playing the background, makes me want to run far, far away from watching the show.
But that's only one facet that makes Dexter gothic. I think it's also his struggle for maintaining/finding normalcy and satisfying these urges to kill that make this show Gothic. It's very much like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in a sense: by day, he's a normal person, with a 9 to 5 job, a girlfriend, and a sister who he has to "keep up appearances for" and pretty much display the entire spectrum of human emotions. However, by the depths of night, he slips away and kills other people who are bad: murders, child molesters, crooks, thieves...anyone who has done extreme wrong. What makes Dexter different from Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde though, is that he's learned to find a balance between these two vastly different people; the trouble he faces more than a few times though, is maintaining that balance he's found between his own Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, which is the point of the show. Well, that and not getting caught for all those murders he's committed...But between that and the atmosphere created, I believe, makes Dexter a modern, Gothic TV show. And a damn good one at that!
