Media's Depiction of the Sociopath

The sociopathic character has been appearing in movies for many years, and this trend reflects a burgeoning public awareness of and fascination with murder, violence and crime. This paper will discuss Albert DeSalvo played by Tony Curtis in the movie "The Boston Strangler" (1968) and John Doe played by Kevin Spacey in the movie "Se7en" (1995). Both Albert DeSalvo and Jonathan Doe are sociopaths who commit serial murders. Albert DeSalvo murders women for sexual stimulation and Jonathan Doe kills men and women in order to spread a message. Though the two characters are assigned the same label given their criminal behavior and the lack of conscience that they seem to possess, they are two individuals existing within different contexts and motivated by different goals.

Sociopathy is characterized by egocentricity, impulsivity, grandiosity, recklessness, contentment with self, an ease with pathological lying, and most disturbing of all, a lack of conscience. Albert DeSalvo is driven by a desire for consumption, for pure enjoyment, and Jack Katz's theory on the recreational seductiveness of crime (moral seduction theory) is applicable to him. Katz's theory presents a phenomenological theory of the causes of crime, in that the perpetrator is often lured in by the appeal, thrills, and euphoria of committing crimes (Katz 1998). Jonathan Doe, on the other hand, is fanatically moralizing, but also has a gross disregard for human life. His reasons are empty rationalizations that stem from his inability to see fault in himself.

DeSalvo murders women by pretending to be a repairman. He is manipulative and uses his disguise to enter the homes of his victims. Once inside, he waits for his chance to kill the occupants by strangling them. His actions and method of communicating (using words and facial expressions to gain people's trust) are geared towards the ultimate goal of killing the victim.