Intrigued by Sociopathic Characters

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I find it interesting that most of the characters from film and tv that really seem to captivate me also happen to be the people in real life I make sure to avoid like the plague: sociopaths. I am not sure why I am intrigued by it so much as I absolutely loathe their actions and overall personalities, but the characters always seem to steal the screen for me when they are on. Does anyone else relate to this?

Examples I can think of are the following:

Walter White (Bryan Cranston) - Breaking Bad (later seasons)
Francis Underwood (Kevin Spacey) - House of Cards

Alex DeLarge (Malcom McDowell) - A Clockwork Orange
Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz) - Inglorious Basterds
Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem) - No Country for Old Men
Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins) - Silence of the Lambs
John Doe (Kevin Spacey) - Se7en

My favorite character, by far, on the old series "Dallas" was J. R. but I would not like him in real life. I would know to steer clear of him. I used to be interested in serial killers - documentaries, books. I think the interest is to understand them. If you know how they think, what motivates them then you have a better chance of avoiding or surviving them.

I really like Sweeney Todd from the movie of the same name and Light Yagami from Death Note, even though they are both serial killers. I guess I have something in common with Mrs. Lovett and Misa then

Same here. I am really fascinated by these kind of people, maybe because I identify with them a lot? A clockwork orange and Silence of the lambs are two of my favorite movies!

Bad guys are just so much more interesting. And as TV shows and movies are fiction, you don't have to seriously be horrified by the celluloid psychos' actions. That's why my favorite Star Wars character is Darth Vader, and I can sympathize with Roy Batty in Blade Runner. But show me a Serbian war criminal, a cracker racist, or a serial killer in real life, and I'll think of them as the scum of the earth.

-Bill, otherwise known as Kraichgauer

Can't forget Dexter Morgan! XD Both a protagonist and a serial killer! XD

^ ^ Yep!

I love them too. Although, I am also fascinated in real life.

They are a mystery.


I like puzzles.

but dexter is or has been just and righteous. He is putting his blood lust to work on a worthy goal.

The BBC version of Sherlock Holmes is portrayed as a self-described sociopath, though as Jim Moriarty points out to him in one episode, "We both know that's not quite true." Moriarty himself is much more of a true sociopath.

Patricia Highsmith's five-novel Tom Ripley series is excellent, but you seem to be looking for films and TV shows instead of literature. In that case, I would recommend to first two film adaptations, Purple Noon (1960) and The American Friend (1977). Both are pretty terrific. Ripley's Game (2002) is also decent, but The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999) is pretty mediocre.

There's also Parker, the criminal antihero created by Richard Stark, aka Donald Westlake. His excellent novel The Hunter was turned into two very good films, Point Blank (1967) and Payback (1999). Payback is the better film, but make sure you get the version titled Payback, Straight Up: The Director's Cut.

He isnt any of that. He only follows "the code" so he wont get caught, he dont give a s**t abot justice and righteousness. Dexter is an intriguing series, but IRL he would have been been discovered and executed years ago.

I am however interested in one character: House MD. He was this normal guy who had a life, then became a sociopath when his life was shattered (the leg/chronic pain/drug thing). But he solves puzzles and does whatever it takes to do it. Like Dexter, he do not give a crap about his patients - all is about solving puzzles.

Sure, House is funny, i love the sarcastic humor he got, but in real life, being an antisocial prick that push people away and treating people like he do - wont work, no matter how brilliant you are.

I find them intriguing, too. They're much more interesting. Usually, it's the villains who I like most. Oddly, I sometimes identify a bit with them. I wonder what that says about me. Maybe that they can be obsessive? I find it impressive how a lot of them can manipulate people so well. That's something I'd never be able to do. The only exception is Captain Planet. I never had a favorite eco villain. I just hated them all and their polluting ways.

In terms of Dexter, I think what you're saying reveals a bit of an inconsistency in the show....still a great show though. But Dexter definitely reacts to what he and everyone else would consider injustice. I always thought of Dexter as a superhero who has the ability to "serial kill" if that makes sense. He's kinda like Ghost Rider, a somewhat obscure Marvel super hero. He is judge, jury, and executioner, punishes evil, and he reveals a persons crimes and then kills them.

Well, if you take a closer look at him and the conversation he has with the image of his dad in his mind, the show makes this pretty clear. Especially the first season, like "Dont be a bully, people remember bullies". When given a psychiatric test, his dad says "Tell the opposite of what you are thinking". His dad indoctrinates this further by taking him to an execution and shows him what awaits him if he does not follow the code.

Dexter is not your average psychopath though, Michael C Hall said that he studied up on the litterature of antisocial behaviour because he thought that the Dexter character would have done so too - to learn to not stick out and make it harder to be profile.

He fooled almost everyone - except one guy: Doakes.

(I have met a few people with obvious antisocial symptoms. They find people with Aspergers troublesome because many of us do not follow - or care about social protocols...)

I think we're both right. Sometimes it's the code, which is purely pragmatic, that keeps Dexter in line, guides him. But then he'll also show some sense of morality, and some weird enjoyment with showing bad people their sins....I dunno, he's a really interesting character regardless lol.

Personally, I see Dexter as something of an amalgamation between psychopathy and Aspergers. The creators seem to have combined several of the callous-unemotional (Type I) traits from psychopathy with several of the social difficulties of the Autism Spectrum. They have - however - more or less left out all the impulsive (Type II) traits which are central to psychopathy and Antisocial Personality Disorder, especially when it comes to Dexter's meticulous planning of his kills.

My favourite has always been Christian Bale as Patrick Bateman in American Psycho. He plays it straight, but that's also the entire point of the film.

For all you STAR TREK: VOYAGER fans out there, two words: Lon Suder. I realize his character was necessarily self-limiting, so they redeemed him briefly before death, but I REALLY would have liked to see more done with him.