Who Saves Who?
I remember watching Hannibal on DVD when it came out several years ago and not thinking much of it. It was well-made thriller but I didn’t give it a second thought when the film ended.
Several months ago, I rewatched both Silence of the Lambs and Hannibal again, and realized how just how feminist-driven both films were. In fact, I even wrote a paper for my “Monsters A-X” class about how both Clarice Starling and Hannibal Lector were viewed as monsters by the FBI – Starling was a monster because she was an ambitious, hard-working female agent with morals, and Lector was a monster because, well, he killed and ate people. There was almost no distinction between the two in the eyes of the FBI.
Clarice Starling - hard-working female FBI agent
Hannibal Lector - Philosophical Cannibal
Despite Starling’s allegiance to the FBI, the FBI doesn’t want her and in fact, finds her monstrous. As Lector tells Starling in the clip below (starting at 5:29), “You fell in love with the bureau, the institution, only to discover, after giving it everything that you’ve got, that it does not love you back. That it in fact resents you, resents you more than the husband and children you gave up to it. Why is that, do you think? Why are you so resented?…You serve the idea of order, they don’t. You believe in the oath you took, they don’t. You feel it’s your duty to protect the sheep, they don’t. They don’t like you because you’re not like them. They hate you and they envy you. They’re weak and unruly and believe in nothing….I want to know what it is you will do now that everything in the world you’ve cared about has been taken away from you…”
The fact that the FBI turned it’s back on Starling is interesting – gender bias clearly came into play, and that’s something a lot of women worry about, especially when it comes to promotions, raises, and equal pay. Despite the fact that we give it our all, we’re not always given what we deserve.
Silence of the Lambs ended on such a positive note – Starling single-handedly caught the serial killer Buffalo Bill and was praised as a rising star. But 10 years later, when Hannibal rolls around, we see that she still hasn’t moved her way up in the FBI and is still assigned work below her level. Lector is the only one who sees this and asks Starling why she puts up with it.
Hannibal and Starling Face/Off
I hope I never find myself in her position (not being chased by a cannibal, mind you, but being stuck in a dead-end job where I’m not appreciated). I better figure out what I’m worth and stick with it.
