In the movie, John Doe is a serial killer who believes that it is his responsibility to punish sinners for their transgressions. He murders his victims in symbolically brutal ways, and all his killings testify to his obsession with the seven deadly sins (lust, gluttony, pride, greed, envy, wrath and sloth).
Doe commits six main murders based on six of the deadly sins. Five of the victims were unconnected to any main character in the...
In the movie, John Doe is a serial killer who believes that it is his responsibility to punish sinners for their transgressions. He murders his victims in symbolically brutal ways, and all his killings testify to his obsession with the seven deadly sins (lust, gluttony, pride, greed, envy, wrath and sloth).
Doe commits six main murders based on six of the deadly sins. Five of the victims were unconnected to any main character in the movie, while the sixth is Detective Mill's wife, Tracy. The seventh murder, predicated on the sin of wrath, is executed by Detective Mills himself. He shoots John Doe for killing Tracy, who was pregnant at the time of her death (although Detective Mills doesn't know this until Doe reveals it to him).
Through John Doe, the movie portrays serial killers as diabolical geniuses, a mythical image that has been popularized by Hollywood. In reality, the majority of serial killers are of normal intelligence. They prefer to avoid situations that pit their mental acuity against that of the detectives on their trail. The typical serial killer would prefer not to be caught.
In the movie, however, John Doe enjoys playing mind games with Detectives Mills and Somerset. He goads Detective Mills into anger by confessing his envy of Mills' normal life and revealing Tracy's horrific death at his hands. In the end, Mills shoots Doe to death, a fate the psychopathic killer has anticipated. In Doe's perverted rationale, no one is above committing the seven deadly sins, not even detectives who are tasked with arresting serial killers. Through screen killers like John Doe, Hollywood has mythologized the killer mastermind who enjoys pitting his wits against law enforcement.
This leads us to an accurate portrayal of serial killers. Many of these killers know that their actions are morally reprehensible. However, they continue to kill because they believe in the rightness of their actions. John Doe represents the majority of serial killers who cannot be classed as criminally insane. In fact, John Doe can be said to be a visionary killer. It is common for these murderers to believe that either God or the Devil has commissioned them to destroy the guilty. In the movie, John Doe claims that society has turned a blind eye on crime and that sin has become commonplace in every facet of life. He sees himself as a judge and believes that he is setting a worthy example for society by his intolerance for sin.
It is common for these perverse killers to be psychopathic rather than psychotic. Here is the difference between psychopathic and psychotic. Psychopathic killers like John Doe tend to lack empathy; they are callous and often impulsive. Yet, they are in full control of their mental faculties.
On the other hand, psychotic killers are often schizophrenic and may experience episodes of madness, where they become wholly detached from reality. Many visionary killers fall into this class of psychotic killers. An example is Herbert William Mullin. However, not all visionary killers are psychotic: John Doe is one such example. He represents the class of psychopathic visionary killers who kill because they believe they have a responsibility to do so. These types of visionary killers overlap with what are called missionary killers, those who kill because they believe their victims are worthy of death. An example is Ted Kaczynski (the Unabomber), who killed because he believed that society was becoming too dependent on technology and that global corporate interests were threatening the stability of the world.
So, in the movie, John Doe is accurately portrayed as a psychopathic killer who harbors visionary/missionary killing instincts.
Source:
Serial Killers: The Method and Madness of Monsters by Peter Vronsky.
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