Angela Baik Professor Angela Allen Writing 1: Monsters 16 Nov. 2015 Serial Killers and their Presence in American Culture Though violence is not a new concept within the human race, it has been becoming more and more of an increasing problem within modern society. Several of these recent phenomenon can be linked with what is known as “serial killer culture”. Serial killer culture proves to be an extremely popular topic within media and entertainment. The question of why serial killer culture remains so prevalent within our society remains unanswered because of the loose definition of the term, and several studies that remain LASJDFLAJFLAKWEF Throughout the years, researchers and law enforcement have used several different definitions of …show more content…
The movie Psycho, directed by Alfred Hitchcock in 1960, follows a psychologically unstable man named Norman, who had murdered his mother and her lover out of jealousy ten years prior. He later adopts his deceased mother’s persona out of guilt and exhumes her corpse while killing any woman he feels sexually attracted to. Now considered one of the greatest films of all time, the fascination and indirect worship of a real-life killer, Ed Gein, was the inspiration of this film (and many others). Gein exhumed corpses from local graveyards and fashioned trophies out of them while also killing some of his own victims (Murderpedia). Another television show that faced much criticism and controversy was Dexter. Dexter follows a main character of the same name, who leads a secret life as a serial killer who hunts down other murderers who have slipped through the cracks of the justice system. Regardless of the subject matter, this show caused much controversy because of the moral dilemma that many viewers were put through. Was it okay to support this killer because he only killed “bad” people? This lead to the show being banned several times, though it went on for eight seasons, winning countless awards. The finale for Dexter has also been named for having one of the “top ten controversial television show finales” (Susman), because of Dexter seemingly getting away with all …show more content…
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