Viewers can identify with anti-heroes as protagonists in popular television series. A serial killer is an anti-hero, whom viewers empathise for, root for and wish for him to avoid being caught by law enforcement. Through the process of moral disengagement, individuals reduce the seriousness of the protagonists’ actions and in some cases even justify them. Viewers therefore empathise with such characters and experience the story from their perspective as well. The focus group method was used to gain insight into the issue identified above and to answer the research question of what are the reasons for and mechanisms of identification with the protagonist in the series You, Joe Goldberg, and in the series Dexter, Dexter Morgan. The two series chosen are centred around a serial killer, an anti-hero. The questions for the focus groups were focused more on the series You, and insight into the series Dexter was received through literature. This thesis explores the mechanisms behind the identification with morally ambivalent characters and the reasons that make this possible.
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