Serial Killers as Heroes: Understanding the Fascination and Attraction

Running head: SERIAL KILLERS AS HEROES
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Serial Killers as Heroes
A serial killer is a person who commits more than one or at least three murders over a
month or a period of time with a break or a cool off in between the murders. Serial killers can be
driven by different motives to kill according to their interests, state of mind, anger, financial gain
or attention seeking. According to (Aken 4) serial murderers cannot be easily spotted, however,
people are continuously scared and fascinated by the concept because the reputation of serial
killers has been in existence over years in history.
Psychologists and sociologists have attempted to understand the drive behind serial
killing by giving different explanations on why these things happen. Psychologists view the
behaviour of serial killing in terms of interactions between thoughts and behaviours. This
behaviour is normally a secret life that these people live as seen in Mr Brooks where, the serial
killer lives two lives as a celebrated businessman and as a silent serial killer with a bloodthirsty
ego (Papamichael, 12). This is seen from attachment theory where serial killers are seen as
having some challenges in their development which leads them to become killers. On the other
hand, sociologists view this as a violent criminal behaviour that deviates from the norm and is
contrary to the actions of the human being as social animals. As shown in the movie Natural
Born Killers, the way of upbringing children and the kind of relationships they undergo and the
environment that they live in can turn them into serial killers. Therefore, structural functionalists
view this as a problem of social development of the individual.
According to Barcella (3), serial killing has evolved in history both in the cases and the
individuals who commit them. When people kill for the first time, they develop the fantasy of
killing and nurturing their actions through realization to the point that they cannot go back. The

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practice becomes a cycle that they get in and will want to improve on every killing that follows
the other one that they had committed. Further, technology and proximity to finding victims have
changed since technology allows them to stock their victims for some time before killing them.
When understanding the reason why serial killers become recognized as heroes in the
society, we need to look at the type of victims that fall prey to the world of serial killing. In most
cases, these killers express the reality of the society into the types of victims that they kill (Lilly,
Cullen and Richard 12). For example on the novel Darkly Dreaming Dexter, the serial killer
Morgan targeted murderers, rapists and any undesirable people in the society that he felt the law
had failed to apprehend. As a police officer, he was driven by the inner voice referred to as the
“the dark passenger” which made him develop homicidal urges for killing his victims (Lindsay
5). The connection of their victims to the society shows that most victims are people struggling
with issues in the society and are considered less dead.
According to Schlesinger (569), the reason why most serial killers become famous is that
they lead double lives where they protect the people they care about as they continue their serial
killing spree. This is seen by the number of positive reviews that these movies receive from their
viewers. As modernity changed the society and led to the erosion of culture, artists have started
making fortunes in serial killing. Despite the fact that killing is bad serial killers become famous
because of the role that they play in the society. By eliminating the undesired people in the
society, serial killer Morgan has designed his set of rules that guide him in selecting the victims
that he chooses for killing. Choice theorists argue that people have the choice to do what they
want. This means that we can protect life or take away life depending on the satisfaction that we
get.