What Does Dexter And Green Arrow Mean

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Dexter and Green Arrow In the essay “The Thematic Paradigm, “Robert B. Ray discusses how American films have traditionally reflected fundamental patterns and contradictions in the myths and values of society. Americans are drawn to characters that possess two traits within in one character: the official hero and the outlaw hero. While the characters and story lines differ in movies or television shows, there are three types of characteristics that define the outlaw and official hero type. The first characteristic is aging: The outlaw heroes portray childlike qualities. They are more emotional, lack responsibility, freedom, trusting and naïve. In opposition, the official heroes embody adulthood characteristics: sound reasoning and judgment, …show more content…

Dexter Morgan is a Forensic Expert who specializes in blood splatter analysis working for the Miami Police Department. He was adopted at a young age by Harry Morgan, who was a detective, and his wife. When Dexter is in his teens, Harry discovers that Dexter is killing animals and tries to help him stop this behavior. After a period of time Harry realizes that Dexter is unable to suppress these urges so he provides Dexter with some structure, a code to follow. He trains Dexter how to hunt murderers without being caught. This is where the vigilante, outlaw hero personality evolves for Dexter. The “code of Harry” is what Dexter refers to throughout the series. He only kills serial killers that fall through the system. The code is that he also has to be certain the killer is guilty and leave no evidence behind, do not get caught. Dexter is a sociopath and is unique compared to most hero types. While he does lead a respectable, responsible life as Forensic Expert, his official hero role is forced and fabricated since he is unable to have the normal feelings that people have in relationships. He is liked by his friends and coworkers, respected in his field at work, at one point has a wife and family and follows the law in his daily life. As the outlaw hero, Dexter works alone and takes the law into his own hands by tracking the serial killer himself and once captured, he confronts them …show more content…

Oliver, a billionaire, living in Starling City is also the vigilante, Green Arrow. Both have the same goal, to right the wrongs of his family and restore Starling City to its former state. The series begins when Oliver, presumed to be deceased, returns home after being shipwrecked on a remote island for five years. During his time on the island, he was trained to fight and hunt. Upon his return home, he finds a book of his deceased father’s, which contains a conspiracy to take out a section of the city known as the Glades. He makes a vow to right the wrongs of his family and becomes the vigilante, Green Arrow. He protects his identity by wearing a hood and hiding his in the darkness. Along with his bodyguard and chauffeur Diggle he creates a headquarters for his operations in the lower level of his home and begins to take the law into his own hands by tracking and capturing criminals. This represents the outlaw hero side of this

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