Dear Dexter

Dexter is an American TV series created by J. Manos based on the J. Lindsay’s novel. Dexter Morgan is a random Miami police forensics expert in blood by day and a serial killer by night. In his daily life, he is quite introverted and feels no emotion since a trauma in his childhood. His only moment of extreme pleasure is when he follows his prey and kills it.

It is then interesting to show sensory things for someone who feels nothing. And it’s exactly what the credits are about. Touching, it’s a bit like talking with your hands. It’s like penetrating the notion of intimacy in our perception of the world, with the skin as a receptor. To not be touched is the main issue for Dexter, that’s why the titles are about two main concepts: the sense of touch and ritual.

The opening credits are a succession of shots representing the beginning of the day. From Dexter's waking until he leaves his apartment, there is a series of very precise almost mathematical gestures and movements that it evokes a ritual. Everything makes you believe that the character accomplishes those actions in the exact same order every day, he seems like an efficient machine, no hesitation, no slowdown. Every single image reminds one of a daily protocol and emphasizes the fact that Dexter’s life would be a mess without this perfect organization. It is composed by ten sequences, and almost only close-ups. Then it goes straight to the point, no seduction, and the audience understands that being around Dexter can be violent.

The visual and sound sensations, the contacts and the chain of sequences eventually provokes  physical feelings on the skin, caresses, creeps and violence. The viewers can feel the grilled meat, the eggs, smell the orange, and and that’s the reason for all those close-ups, it allows us to be in contact with the reality and touch it by seeing it. The skin suggests superficiality but all that is shown in this sequence is deep; the skin is then like a porous border between intimacy and the exterior reality.

To conclude, this opening sequence is like Dexter’s character, it arouses both desire and repulsion.