Dexter: Bloody Good
by Guest Contributor Merq
As much as we clamor, beg, and plead for minority representation in the mainstream media, when we get it, it seldom seems to work out as we’d hoped. Many people of color can attest to squirming uncomfortably in front of their televisions, praying for that character of color to finish up and skulk offscreen, so we can return to the idyllic white utopia we enjoyed only minutes before.
Do not adjust your monitors – I really did just say that. While I appreciate the need for children and teens still defining their identities to have (at least) the occasional protagonist who looks the least bit like them, I never quite bought that argument as applied to adults. I (like many consumers of U.S. media) have never had a problem consuming all-white narratives for three reasons:
-
* It’s a fucking story. Any fully-formed adult mind should be able to identify with a properly written protagonist. (Hear that, white folks who “can’t identify” with predominantly POC casts?)
* As we all know, white is presented as the norm in all media forms and general discourse in the U.S.
* With the disgraceful way Hollywood depicts people of color, the all-white cast offers the least-painful viewing experience.
It was with all this in mind that I began to feel some apprehension when I noticed the first traces of melanin in the first episode of Dexter. I had just gotten Showtime and I wanted reassurance that cheating on HBO was the right thing to do. While I’d heard good things about The Tudors and Weeds, the premise behind Dexter was more than I could resist.
So with the show shaping up to be my post-Sopranos indulgence, I was understandably troubled at the possibility of some racist douchery messing up the whole thing – I find I can’t get reinvested in a show after that. (Please pass that on to Larry David. We aren’t on speaking terms.)
Early on in the first episode, things aren’t looking too good. The first non-white character we’re introduced to is Vince Masuka (C.S. Lee), a short, bespectacled APIA horndog who drools over Dexter’s sister (an undercover cop on the scene) while conducting a preliminary forensic analysis on a crime scene. Next, we see Lt. Laguerta (Lauren Vélez), a Latina higher-up who, despite being known for her media-savvy, gives Dex a spine-chilling, creepy-old-man wink in the middle of a press conference. In front of cameras. And a dead hooker. At a crime scene.
So, less than ten minutes in, we’ve already got a spicy Latina lusting after white-guy Dexter and an East-Asian geek lusting after white-girl Debra. Not looking good, kids. Or at least, it wouldn’t, if that were the end of the story. I remember one of my Media Studies college professors once pointing out how the contemporary male protagonist seems to emit pheromones so incredibly potent that all women he encounters are rendered helpless. It’s certainly true in most cases – and this seems to be yet another. Fair play, then. Still pathetically stereotypical, but at least it’s just sexist (rather than racist + sexist) in nature.
As the narrative evolves, we see Laguerta as a bitch on wheels to Debra, a devoted friend to Doakes and Angel (more on them later), and yes, still soft on Dexter. It turns out she doesn’t play well with another high-ranking female officer, either. Although I’ve heard complaints from some quarters that this was a sexist, “catty female” depiction, I beg to differ. She didn’t play well with someone whose very presence was effectuated to make her life difficult – not very nice, but perfectly normal. A few years ago, I watched a superb interview in which Diahann Caroll recalled insisting that the Dynasty writing staff treat her character no differently than a white male. She wanted ‘Dominique Deveraux’ to be as manipulative, sexed up, and downright evil as anyone else in the Carrington/Colby universe.
That has always been a point I’ve tried (and often failed) to get across in my rants against questionable depictions of minority characters in the media. People of color don’t all have to be rocket scientists or saintly teachers (two roles traditionally reserved for white folks on film). Just make them people, and we’ll be fine.
Laguerta is a vindictive, mean-spirited politicker. She’s a protective, fiercely loyal friend. She’s a sexually aware (and dead-sexy) woman. But these are only facets of Lt. Maria Laguerta, the person, so you’ll find no complaints here.
When we left off, Vinny Masuka was the little APIA lab tech who drooled over the ‘hot’ white chick in the short shorts through his geeky glasses, right? Wrong. Masuka wasn’t eye-humping Debra in her undercover-as-hooker gear because he was the stereotypical East-Asian male character who never gets any play. Turns out Vince gets love. A lot. He just makes those inappropriate comments because he’s a sleazebag. In fact, he and Angel seem to have the most active social lives in the department.
What I especially enjoy about the way Vince is portrayed is that his Lewd Asian Dude-ness is neither handled in a back-patting “we’re so progressive” manner, nor is it played for laughs in the “look, the Asian guy’s the one saying this” way most often seen in teen sex-romp comedies like American Pie. Vince is just a guy who works hard, parties hard, and wouldn’t be above taking this ‘hard’ reference to filthy, filthy places, were he the one writing this. We all know that guy. I work with that guy. I am that guy. (But I’m in advertising, so we’re pretty-much all that guy where I work – men and women alike.)
Angel Batista (superbly played by David Zayas) is a Latino officer whose mere presence on the show breaks a bunch of rules clearly outlined in the Representing Melanin in Mainstream Media handbook. First of all, the cast as a whole breaks the rule of tokenism by not dotting the all-white cast with a single minority – perhaps two, if we’re lucky. But having a second Latino primary character definitely breaks the “minority salad bar” representation rule. And wait… the two Latino characters aren’t dating? What the hell is going on here? Add to that the fact that Batista is a deeply endearing Latino male character who is attractive, cop-macho, and three-dimensionally sensitive, and you begin to wonder how they got away with this clusterfuckery.
Even Dexter, in a low moment, tells Batista that he (Angel) is the one person he wishes he could be. The kicker is, this wasn’t uttered after a selflessly devoted Batista saved his life/taught him to dance/helped him find soul/his rhythm/his swing/insert additional Magical Negro objective here. In fact, Batista was so engrossed in his own troubles that he wasn’t really moved by Dexter’s rare display of man-love.
But if you thought Angel was a tough crowd for Dexter, don’t get me started on Sergeant Doakes (well, I thought it was a pretty good segue), a hardass former marine and special-operative who suspects all is not right with Dexter, and intends to prove it. I heard some groans about the one-dimensional nature of this Angry Black Man character. As a sometimes-angry black man, I would like to be able to comment on that one way or the other, but I can’t get around Erik King’s horrendous acting long enough to ever really analyze the character he’s meant to be playing. Seriously, people. It’s like the director’s notes said, “Doakes: Think Sgt. Foley in An Officer and a Gentleman, as played by Mr. T.” Subtlety doesn’t seem to even exist in King’s world.
Finally, we’ve got Lt. Esme Pasquale (Judith Scott) – the Haitian-American top cop brought in to make Maria squirm. Pasquale is introduced as Maria’s steely nemesis, bent on putting her in her place. But she soon reveals an intention for the two to work hand in hand, boys upstairs be damned. However, by the time the season runs out, she’s been reduced to a raving madwoman, breaking all rules professional decorum to catch a fiancé she swears is cheating.
I was a little iffy about this at first. A powerful black female professional reduced to a pitiful “brotha dun’ done me wrong” cliché? Not good. But I let those concerns go pretty quickly. While again, many may argue sexism in the way she’s basically unable to function just because her man got to creeping on her, I must (again) disagree. Without spoiling it too much for those who haven’t seen it yet, I’ll just say that anyone –black, white, Puerto Rican (™ Prince) – is liable to act crazy when someone has made it her goal to make you crazy, and act as such.
The characters are indeed a joy to watch, but the city of Miami hosts the viewer in a way I don’t think I’ve seen before on TV. The words “sexy locale” are used to describe every TV city that isn’t Boise, Idaho (no offense folks – you just need a better publicist), but few actually even bother to mean it like Dexter does. There’s a hot, sweaty, humid-like-a-Brooklyn-summer sort of Miami sultriness that the often overly art-directed Nip/Tuck totally misses. This neon-soaked, palm-tree-dotted tableau of seaports, Santería shrines, and open air nightspots is unglamorously sexy without trying to be. Best of all, Dexter’s Miami isn’t stripped of its ethnicity – the Latin music on the show isn’t used as a sound effect (to signal the entrance of a particularly caliente woman, as you would expect from the MSM). Rather, the sultry, decades-old Cubano music is woven into the everyday tapestry of the narrative.
The same can be said for the city’s inhabitants – this isn’t like Seinfeld’s (or those six brats’, or those four slags’) New York. It’s a Miami in which Haitians and Cubans and APIAs and African Americans (and yes, Prince, Puerto Ricans) walk the streets with impunity, alongside their Caucasian brethren. Sure, some of them may be criminals. But in a setting that allows them to just be people, it doesn’t feel half bad.
Carmen Van Kerckhove is co-founder and president of
Rob Schmidt wrote:
Considering “Dexter” is set in Cuba-adjacent Miami, it better have some Latino characters.
Another point worth noting is that the actors aren’t all movie-star thin and beautiful. They’re more diverse in that respect too.
Doakes had an affair with another cop’s wife and was hazed for it, so he isn’t all Angry Black Man. He also shot a Haitian war criminal in cold blood, so there’s another twist to his character.
Posted 29 May 2008 at 7:44 am ¶
Pheagan wrote:
I loved Doakes, personally. I thought his angriness and hostility was there from the beginning to set up a compare/contrast between him and Dexter. Dexter, who had a nice facade but a killer underneath; Doakes, who has a killer facade but is actually a good guy underneath, a guy who sees the killer in himself and fights against it (which is where I presume the hostility comes from). What Dexter could be if he was a better man. Y’know?
Posted 29 May 2008 at 8:01 am ¶
different Ali wrote:
I’ve been loving this show ever since it hit network TV (no Showtime for me) but I do have to disagree with Rob that the actors aren’t all 1-D physically. The men definately have some diversity as far as looks and body types but among the women, Laguerta is the only one with any kind of curves and even she is still fairly thin.
Posted 29 May 2008 at 8:52 am ¶
M wrote:
nice analysis of an excellent show. but was it really necessary to denigrate the characters of Sex and the City as “slags”?
Posted 29 May 2008 at 8:54 am ¶
Philly Phil wrote:
i’m gonna have to disagree with your opinion of doakes. i think erik king is played that character to perfection. he was an angry black man but he had emotion and depth, especially in the second season.
i hope he keeps getting work.
Posted 29 May 2008 at 10:01 am ¶
Gori Girl wrote:
Love, love, love Dexter. One thing you didn’t mention that I really liked was how the Latino characters will occasionally speak to each other in Spanish – full sentences – and we get no subtitles or anything else to inform us of what they were talking about. Reminds me of my house (husband always talking to his friends in Bengali or Hindi, which I don’t know).
Posted 29 May 2008 at 10:05 am ¶
Niki wrote:
Love Dexter and the diverse cast. What an intriguing concept for a show in that it mixes crime-scene stuff with psychological thriller and interpersonal elements.
Agreeing with M above–it’s fine if you are not a SATC fan, but I hate when non-fans of the show make disparaging remarks about the women’s ages and looks instead of critiquing what they don’t like about the show.
Posted 29 May 2008 at 10:08 am ¶
Tasha wrote:
Have yet to see season two was hoping there was no spoilers and kudos on commentary without spoilers.
Posted 29 May 2008 at 10:24 am ¶
Brigitte wrote:
In Season 1, I thought the guy who played Doakes was a terrible actor but the he was better in season 2 so I’ll put some of the blame for his cringe worthy delivery on the script and director. I have no excuse for the woman playing Deb. She just stinks.
Most of the characters, especially the females, are sloppily written but I still can’t stop watching the show. There are still a lot of bugs but I’m hoping the writing gets better next season.
Posted 29 May 2008 at 11:09 am ¶
wendi muse wrote:
i haven’t seen dexter yet…but i have recently completed all the available seasons of Weeds and the L Word, two other Showtime shows, both of which are known for containing a multicultural cast. and i still, unfortunately, have super mixed feelings…
weeds: all the men of color want the white female main character and one black character constantly refers to her miniscule ass as a badonkadonk…
oh and the black matriarch is an overweight and sassy black mother with limited dating prospects…the black daughter has no baby daddy, and the south-asian american character is a science/math nerd overachiever turned pot addict and pusher…oh and, of course, his immigrant family speaks no english
and the l word: characterizations of POC are good for the most part (but um, where are the APIA women??? they live in LA for god’s sake) and their characterization of bisexuals sucks the big one
Posted 29 May 2008 at 12:10 pm ¶
Andrea R wrote:
I too started to watch this on network television (no cable, only get CBS through antennae) an noticed the diversity of the cast. What sprung out at me first was the use of salsa music. I too like Doake as one character pointed out the contrast with Dexter.
Enjoyed the article.
Posted 29 May 2008 at 12:33 pm ¶
Safiya Outlines wrote:
I love Dexter so much. It should be awful, but it’s just so watchable.
I agree with Gori Girl about the fact that Spanish speakers actually speak to each other in Spanish on the show, unlike most shows where everyone speaks English all the time.
Also like the fact that La Guerta is not a size zero but she’s still protrayed as a sexy woman (which she is, in spades).
Posted 29 May 2008 at 2:23 pm ¶
Carmen Van Kerckhove wrote:
Looooove this show. One of my favorite things about this show is the relationship between Doakes and La Guerta. There’s this knowing intimacy between them that’s unmistakeable – makes for a really interesting dynamic. I am glad they got rid of “pah-dun my tits” woman though.
Posted 29 May 2008 at 3:03 pm ¶
Arturo wrote:
As a sci-fi fan, I’ve had to get used to lily-white casts or stand-in “aliens.” I’m a Joss Whedon supporter, sure, but in no way did Sunnydale resemble an authentic California town.
Posted 29 May 2008 at 3:49 pm ¶
Brenda wrote:
I haven’t seen the whole Season 2 so I don’t know how things shook out, but I loved that the whole thing with Doakes is that he’s all angry and paranoid about Dexter, but he’s right.
Posted 29 May 2008 at 6:13 pm ¶
Ratrace wrote:
* With the disgraceful way Hollywood depicts people of color, the all-white cast offers the least-painful viewing experience.
Just wanted to quote that for truth.
Posted 29 May 2008 at 8:54 pm ¶
twentysomething wrote:
“With the disgraceful way Hollywood depicts people of color, the all-white cast offers the least-painful viewing experience”
I thought that was kind of funny. Sad… but true.
The way you feel about minorities in media is the same way I feel about minorties in the fashion world. Sorry to bring up fashion again, but I don’t have a problem seeing all white people on the runway (holds breath). Most of the big fashion brands (Chanel, Gucci,etc.) are created by Europeans, and when I say European, I am not talking about the ultra trendy, fashion forward European; I am talking about the old school “I was born in 1920″ type of European; The type of European who grew up in a racially homogenous society and who rarely enountered “different” people. Our perception of beauty is crystallized at an early age and is heavily influenced by those around us. With that being said, I think it’s only natural that these designers use European (or European-looking) models, because the European standard may be the only standard they know.
Now for the modern designers, I couldn’t care less if they chose to use minority models. To me the lack of minority models in ads does not mean that minority models are “ugly”, but I may be biased since I’m an advertising major. I’ve heard the argument, “well black people buy high end fashion too.” Yeah that may be true, but how much do they buy? More importantly, I’d rather not see an African American waif walking on the runway. I just don’t think it’s cute.
Posted 29 May 2008 at 8:55 pm ¶
merq wrote:
Thanks for the comments, folks. Lord knows my stream-of-consciousness writing is bound to piss of many a reader.
M wrote:
nice analysis of an excellent show. but was it really necessary to denigrate the characters of Sex and the City as “slags”?
I apologize if you were offended by my utterly harmless statement… I kid, I kid. Actually, I did struggle with that “slags” bit, myself. I eventually left it in, hoping that the word itself (”slag” being less toxic, Stateside, than “whore” and other similar terms) and the preceding “brats” reference to Friends would show the non-judgemental intention behind my use of the word.
For what it’s worth, when not in a relationship, I candidly self-identify as a whore. Not a ‘man-whore,’ but a whore. I used ’slags’ because while I understand and am comfortable with the term ‘whore’ as it describes my dealings with women and iPods (long story), I suspected that it wouldn’t be received as well by others when projected on others.
It appears ’slag’ doesn’t fare much better, so my apologies.
Gori Girl wrote:
Love, love, love Dexter. One thing you didn’t mention that I really liked was how the Latino characters will occasionally speak to each other in Spanish – full sentences – and we get no subtitles or anything else to inform us of what they were talking about.
Totally! I really did want to write about that as well, but there’s only so much I could put into that piece. Thanks for pointing that out, though — I really enjoyed that about the show.
Carmen Van Kerckhove wrote:
Looooove this show. One of my favorite things about this show is the relationship between Doakes and La Guerta. There’s this knowing intimacy between them that’s unmistakeable – makes for a really interesting dynamic. I am glad they got rid of “pah-dun my tits” woman though.
Bwaahaha! I too cringed a lot at Ms. Winehouse. Did you know the actress who played her is Bill Murray’s daughter?
Posted 29 May 2008 at 9:23 pm ¶
jvansteppes wrote:
One thing about Dexter I find troubling that isn’t mentioned here is the fact that in the first season sex workers/prostitutes/whatever you want to call them are basically treated as props in the interchange between the cops and the killer. Sex worker bodies are literally sliced into pieces and dehumanized to the point where they become the killer’s art form instead being remembered as people.
There are 2 reasons I think this analysis ought to be included in any commentary on this television show:
1. The murder rate of sex workers/prostitutes on this continent and elsewhere is astronomical. This isn’t a hypothetical situation when depicted in fictional settings, it’s inspired by murders that really happen. This is a subject that cuts very close to reality for women/trans people who work the streets. Serial killers like Gary Ridgeway have made it very clear that their decision to target sex workers is political [he did it to 'stop AIDS']; many people in this culture see prostitution as a crime naturally punishable by death.
2. Sex worker deaths are a race issue. Aboriginal women are over-represented among the 60 women murdered in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, or in the 25 missing women of Edmonton AB, Regina SK, and in most other Canadian cities where this occurs. [Sherene Razack has done great work on the ways aboriginality and street work function in Canada's colonial context...] In so many of these cases racism mingles with moral bigotry and misogyny to produce murderous outcomes. No one cared about Pamela George’s death because she was a ‘whore’ AND because she was Native.
I’m not as familiar with the American context although I seem to recall the South Side Slasher of Los Angeles to be a sk who hunted black sex workers and other black women in the neighborhood who were assumed to be prostitutes *simply because they were black*.
Posted 29 May 2008 at 10:53 pm ¶
Lyonside wrote:
>I’m not as familiar with the American context
jvansteppes, I think you’d find the same in the US. Just recently in New Jersey 4 suspected prostitutes (some had arrest records for prostitution and drug possession) were found murdered in a ditch near a fleabag motel. They suspect serial murder. Of course, the media focused on the sordid life history of the victims (those they could ID), to the point of interviewing a distraught estranged husband, and to my recollection, the perp is still not caught (although as of May they’re at least interested in 1 person – thank you google). Although I have noted – the women were white, and statistically their murderer is also likely white. I wonder, would they have bothered to track down mothers and husbands if the victims had been ethnic minorities?
There is a racial/ethnic division between street workers and high-end escorts. My impression and observation is that street prostitution is a last resort for people of lower socioeconomic status, often linked to drug addiction and a history of dysfunctional families and abuse, and in the US, that is disproportionately going to mean ethnic minorities. So, similar dynamics to Canada.
Posted 30 May 2008 at 7:08 am ¶
Jane C. wrote:
re: jvansteppes
Thank you for pointing this out. I’ve only seen the first episode, but I was immediately troubled by the way the bodies of murdered sex workers were treated. If I’m not mistaken, one of the members of the team even talked about the “nice ass” of one of the corpses. While I’m fully aware that people working in criminal justice departments don’t always act the way they should, something about that comment really made my stomach turn. Where do you draw the line between the depiction “real” people and the condonement of demeaning sexist behavior?
Posted 30 May 2008 at 9:51 am ¶
Hot Tramp wrote:
Good points throughout. Dexter definitely has some icky race and gender issues, but I think it’s still better than average.
And wendi, I’m glad you mentioned The L Word. I went through a crazy phase with that show, and I was always so impressed that they did actually talk about race and racism from time to time. I love the scene where the gallery’s board of directors is telling Bette that a potential donor is “one of your people,” and Better deadpans, “What, a mulatta?” Ouch.
Posted 30 May 2008 at 8:16 pm ¶
Hot Tramp wrote:
Oops, meant Bette — not Better!
Posted 30 May 2008 at 8:17 pm ¶
Judah wrote:
Actually, for Bette, “Better” is pretty appropriate, considering her personality type. If ever there was a type A character in the history of ever, it’s her.
As for the “nice ass” comment in Dexter, VM is just a perv and a jackass on the show. He’s meant to be a perv and a jackass, not the moral guiding light of the show or anything like that, so it’s different than if a character meant to represent appropriate boundries had said it.
Posted 31 May 2008 at 5:34 am ¶
Sewere wrote:
Merq,
Ol’ boy you say I no say when you put pen to paper … em fingers to keyboard the rest of us must to standa and watch you scatter any issue way dey in front of you like proper machette to boarding school grass.
But seriously, great post and I’m glad you brought this up because I haven’t actually been really into any show for a long ass time. The only minor issue I have with representation of people of color on shows is that quite often a show will be depicted in a city or town (like NY or SF) with people of color and nary a one will appear as so much as an extra (as in Friends). Given the fact that most of the upwardly mobile people depicted are more likely to interact with people of color, it is bewildering not to see any representation or were there is one it’s one dimensional and stereotypical as you said.
Just my 2Naira worth.
Posted 02 Jun 2008 at 5:42 pm ¶
livininphilly wrote:
i just recently started watching dexter (on demand) and I have went through both seasons. The show is very addictive and I was also impressed w/ the main characters of color, especially Latinos. I appreciated that the people of color also were in postions of power (esme & laguerta both woc who ran the homicide police department, doakes’ character being a formerly high ranking special ops guy in the military, masuka the only forensic expert on the show {side note dexter was the blood expert}). The characters were very, very nuanced on the show and had multiple character flaws. The show doesn’t pass judgement on who is the bad guy even the main character struggles with tyring to figure out whether the killer (season 1) is really a bad guy and what the differences are b/w them.
As far as the treatment of sexworkers I agree that they’re bodies were definitely not as respected and were treated as props literally. I will however point out that Deb has a part where she states that she must be on the team finding the ice cream truck killer b/c they weren’t whores they were her friends & people too. She handed masuka his ass b/c of his comments about the sex workers cut up bodies.
I wish more network shows would have storylines & characters that were this complex and interesting oh and not to mention various shades of brown!!!
Posted 03 Jun 2008 at 12:55 pm ¶
KFlowers wrote:
Like most, I love Dexter. I was excited when they decided to put it on free tv, but nervous as to how they were going to deal with all the graphic violence and adult language. After watching one particular episode (when Maria went behind her boss back and did an interview on the supposed Ice Truck Killer) I realized what I should have been worrying about is the parts they would cut out because they exemplified honestly how whites use minority against minority and how they use it expressly as tokenism to cater to the local people of color. I found that very interesting. It was in the showtime episode but completely removed from the CBS episode.
Posted 03 Jun 2008 at 7:11 pm ¶
Carol McCullough wrote:
We just finished the first season of Dexter via Netflix. I started out feeling rather ambivalent about it but have come to really enjoy it for many of the reasons described. With regard to the portrayal and treatment of sex workers and the callousness shown by the investigators, I appreciate the realism. With regard to the diversity of the cast, I love it. I will agree that I would like to see female characters in general developed a bit better, but it is still above average in that regard.
Posted 03 Jun 2008 at 10:54 pm ¶