MEDIA CULTURE
The Murderers We Fall For
Exploring the likable sociopath trope
“He decided in favor of life out of sheer spite and malice.”
― Patrick Süskind, Perfume: The Story of a Murderer
Let’s travel back to 1985 and again to 2006 when the world was introduced twice to Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, a creep whose mission in life is to create the finest perfume ever to exist that he’ll do anything to fulfill his vision.
Reading the novel Perfume: The Story of a Murderer at a young age, and then watching the movie as an adult, left me with two strong emotions regarding Grenouille. One, repulsion for his killing of innocent young women. Two, bafflement at him for not having assaulted any of his victims. And then there’s my sympathy and admiration.
However, characters like Anton Chigurh in No Country for Old Men and Patrick Bateman in American Psycho did not evoke the same emotion. I wondered why.
At first glance, there is no reasonable explanation as to why we are drawn to some killers while others only strike fear in our hearts. Although some of their characteristics may differ in each representation, they still share a lack of empathy and feel no remorse for the harm they cause. Yet, despite being incredibly dangerous, they can be fun to watch.
This might be due to the murky line between psychopathy and sociopathy. When Anderson accused Sherlock Holmes (the series) of being a psychopath, Sherlock stated that he is “not a psychopath, Anderson; I’m a high-functioning sociopath; do your research.”
Both are on the same side of the spectrum of antisocial personality disorder. The distinctions between them could be a bit blurry, especially in fictional characters who often show characteristics of both. However, there are still several differences between a murderer we fear and one we may find charming.
Some argue that psychopaths are born, whereas sociopaths are made. This may change and affect how we feel about them on screen. The likable sociopaths often suffer from childhood trauma that’s represented to us as a few cutbacks to their childhood story.
Born amidst the stench of Paris in a street that “stank of manure, the stench of caustic lyes from the tanneries” Grenouille is rejected by his mother at birth. By cutting off the “umbilical cord with her gutting knife,” she disassociated and distanced herself from him forever.
Grenouille survived his sickening neighborhood and the orphanage, but evolved into a serial killer. This abandonment, abuse, and the cruel way the mother left Grenouille, somehow evokes our pity and sympathy towards him.
The TV show Dexter also plays the same trick on us by having Dexter suffer childhood trauma. When he was two years old, he witnessed his mother’s brutal murder at the hands of drug dealers. For two days, Dexter was left in a crate, sitting in a pool of blood in front of his mother’s lifeless body.
Similarly in 2019’s Joker representation, where we got a few glimpses into this character’s past, and the trauma that made him the way he is. He’s not only a victim of childhood abuse, but he’s also an outcast constructed against Bruce Wayne’s inordinate wealth and Gotham City that’s deeply divided by class.
Other cinematic psychopaths like Anton Chigurh or Patrick Bateman have some sort of disconnect. They show no emotions and offer no glimpses of humanity leaving us with nothing to relate to.
Likable sociopaths also tend to operate by some moral principle or compass to justify their actions in a way that sometimes sound reasonable and persuasive.
They do have a sense of what is right or wrong regardless of whether they follow through on it. Yet, something about the sociopath’s black-and-white morality and lack of remorse about holding others to it, is appealing and even darkly admirable to the viewer.
Joe Goldberg on You views himself as the protector of the women in his life, and he only pursues people who could harm them or deserve retribution. As we are given a lot of insight into Joe’s thoughts, that makes us feel him rather than develop a discord.
He desperately wants to be viewed as a good person and believes he’s doing the right thing, which places him in the sub-trope of the moral sociopath, characters who usually find themselves placed against antagonists who are clearly more reprehensible.
Dexter Morgan, an avenger who targets anyone who violates his code of ethics, also falls into this category. He controls his compulsion to kill by only targeting victims who cause harm to others.
The famous psychiatrist who is secretly a cannibalistic serial killer, Hannibal, surprisingly enough is a killer with a moral code, who prefers to “eat the rude.” Though we find ourselves sickened by his actions yet, we are morbidly fascinated by his acute love for fine arts, literature, food, and music. He is depicted as a man of taste and detail, a man who is a nearly-obsessive perfectionist.
There is no denying their geniuses and narcissism, and it’s mostly portrayed with an overlap between sociopathy and narcissistic personality disorder. They're always one step ahead of those around them, an intellect that’s often so prolific that they get frustrated with the rest of the world.
Depending on the character in question, whether their geniuses can be used for good or evil, in Sherlock we get to see both sides of the coin played by Sherlock Holmes and his nemesis Jim Moriarty.
Sherlock’s sociopathic tendencies are crucial to his analytical abilities. By lacking sympathy and having difficulty making connections, he is able to devote his entire focus to solving mysteries resulting in helping people, unlike Moriarty who uses his to thrive on chaos.
Characters such as Sherlock and the famous Dr. Gregory House are their own archetype. They’re typified as intellects, posses a derived combination of fear and respect while treating those around them with ridicule and mockery. Despite that, we end up liking them, perhaps because they appeal to the cocky side of us that thinks we are smarter and better than everyone else too.
In the realm of narcissists, we can’t overlook the most lethal genius sociopath of all — Rick Sanchez — whose nihilism and lack of compassion stem from his innate understanding of how the universe functions. He believes he can overcome anything with his superior intellect, but we all know he has deep-rooted issues surrounding neglect. This includes being suicidal and an alcoholic, which further alienates him from his family.
Idolizing any of these sociopaths’ codes or principles doesn’t change the reality — that life isn’t black and white; people can’t be absolutely good or evil. There’s a gray area in between where ‘the likable sociopaths’ exist. They may be hollow on the inside and incapable of change. Yet, they offer audiences the fantasy of setting up ourselves apart from everyone else, fulfilling the yearning to be different, while simultaneously making us realize how miserable that can be.
