Popular TV Shows: Dexter in Focus - Bridge Between Confucianism and Legalism

Popular TV Show Character Dexter

When I heard about the Dexter show and the main character, I realized immediately that the Confucian traditions are applicable to the character.  In fact, Dexter follows the code from Xunzi’s (Xunzi was a student of Confucius's grandson) saying of “In the case of incorrigibly evil men, punish them without trying to reform them.” This is exactly how Dexter acts in his actions and how he justifies himself.  For Dexter, the justification he used is called the “The Code.” According to his code, he only kills victims that have killed someone without justifiable cause and will likely commit the crimes again. 

Many people in Stockton, especially the students at the University of the Pacific, watch this popular show during their free time.  Off the top of my head, I can name a few of the pharmacy and the undergraduate students.  This show is so popular that the last season was watched by over 5 million people per week. Additionally, the Dexter show has been nominated for numerous awards, such as 19 Primetime Emmy Awards (3 times in a row from 2008 to 2010), Creative Arts Emmy Awards (over a dozen), Golden Globes (2 times), 14 Satellite Awards, etc. Thus, I feel that, as a current student of the Pacific, I should write a blog about this popular show.

Basically, he believes in that above phrase that I put above.  He always makes sure that the victims are guilty and makes sure that there is proof of the victims’ guilt. He punishes the evildoers because he considers them “incorrigibly evil men.”  Dexter believes that “if [a human] comes forward in bad faith, meet him with punishment.” So Dexter’s actions are carried out to whatever he believes is true in the eyes of the beholder (himself).  Those ‘evildoers’ are not men/women because they are not cultivated. They are like the “birds and beasts” that have “intelligence but no sense of duty” (The Regulations of a King 45).  Also, Xunzi said “a man without ritual will not live” (Introduction to Confucianism 80).  By the the wisdom of this phrase, Dexter was right to punish the evildoers without reforming them since those evildoers did not follow “li” or “ritual” of the society when they decided to harm another member of the society.  If a human is cultivated, then he/she would “come forward in good faith” (The Regulations of a King 34).  When this is the case, this human should be “treated according to ritual” (The Regulations of a King 34).  

Upcoming post: Dexter breaking the “yi” of Confucian ethics!