Serial Killers as Heroes in Popular Culture

June 1, 2014

Amy Hankins

LE300 capstone: serial killers as heroes in popular culture

Final Project

The Evolution of serial killers and societies fascination

A serial killer is someone who is known as a friend, father, co-worker, politician, in fact a serial killer can be anybody. For centuries stories about serial killers have graced the covers of newspapers and magazines. Many famous stories have influenced a lot of films that have been produced and continue to be produced. There is an endless amount of questions as to how serial killers become serial killers, which falls under nature vs. nurture. “The causes of psychopaths remain a mystery. We don’t even have a satisfactory answer to the question of whether psychopath is a product of Mother Nature or a feature of upbringing (Brogaard & Marlow, 2012).” Nevertheless, due to the many serial killers that plague this country, they have come from a very unstable background mostly during the childhood years. Within this essay I would like to discuss not only what has been learned throughout the semester but also bring to light the possible reasons as to why serial killers kill and why society has such an enormous fascination with them.

According to the dictionary a serial killers is a person who commits two or more murders at different times. Serial killers are extremely intelligent and some have most likely obtained a degree of some sort. This sort of intelligence is evident in Mr. Brooks, Dexter, silence of the lamb and perfume. All of the main characters in both the films and novels are very intelligent. They can also be well-respected individuals like Hannibal Lecter who was a psychologist, and Mr. Brooks who was a businessman with a family. They are difficult to detect and that is the purpose, they blend in with society. We all know the many serial killers now, but why? Why did they become serial killers?

Many serial killers suffer from a mental illness, addiction, or have had a traumatic childhood...