Are shows like Dexter to blame for inspiring violent crimes? | Steve Lillebuen | Opinio... - 0 views
-
serious crime has always been tied to pop culture.
-
But the scientific evidence backing up such a link has never been very clear, leading many to quite rightly discount the level of influence.
- ...6 more annotations...
-
how Twitchell's crimes challenge this new way of thinking that totally exonerates pop culture from contributing to real-life violence.
-
In 2008, he had been completing a Dexter-inspired film production when police charged him with a missing man's murder and an attack on another. An unimaginable court case then revealed all: the filmmaker had re-enacted his horror script in real-life.
-
This didn't seem like a case of insanity, mental illness or a drug-induced psychosis. Twitchell was a married father with no history of violence or criminal convictions before he transformed seemingly overnight into a would-be serial killer.
-
Like other tragedies before it, this finger-pointing stems from an intense need to find tangible explanations for horrific violence when the answers can be far more layered, far more complex.
-
Millions around the world are now watching. The uncomfortable truth remains that so is Mark Twitchell and many others who are like him.