Few films
hold the established title of earning the Big Five Oscars; Best Picture, Best
Director, Best Actress, Best Actor and Best Adapted Screenplay and when it
comes to films which earn these accolades, they are very few and far in
between. Jonathan Demme's skin-crawling depth charge of a film The Silence of
the Lambs, based on the best-selling tome by the same name by Thomas Harris is
one of those films which have not only earned those coveted golden statuettes
but also to this day, 25 years on, upholds its reputation for its' seemingly
elegant simplicity without sacrificing one shred of its compelling, insidious
and intelligent narrative which bubbles underneath.
Jodie Foster
plays gutsy FBI cadet Clarice Starling, who is approached by her superior Jack
Crawford (Scott Glenn) for an errand to interview the infamous serial killer
Hannibal Lecter (a magisterial Anthony Hopkins) in order to capture a madman
known as Buffalo Bill (Ted Levine) who not only has a penchant for skinning his
female victims but has far more insidious plans in his demented mind.
The most
difficult thing about composing a review for this film is that practically
anything one could say about this film from a critical and academic standpoint
has already been stated time and again. This is a film which is studied in film
school, analysed and deconstructed by the academic alumni for various studies
and still remains a key artistic inspiration by writers of thrillers and
horrors across the globe. A procedural crime drama, a tensile cat gut of a thriller and a
satisfying blood chiller are but several adjectives which have been used by
countless viewers when they discuss The Silence of the Lambs.
However, in
the interest of having something of relevance to say, I would like to discuss a
particular concept about this film which resonates most with me, and that being
the combined elements of sex, identity and transformation.
First
things' first, let’s have a butchers' at that poster all of us know so well;
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| Closer, please. |
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| Cloooooseeerrrr.... |
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| Bingo |
Some of you
may know where this image comes from, but for those of you who don't, it's
actually a rendition of Salvador Dalis' famous piece known commonly as 'In
Voluptas Mors', or 'Voluptuous Death' picturing six naked women forming the
shape of a human skull, which in a sense, could be construed as a perversion of
divine symbology or even, say, a representation of the suffering and transformation into and of womanhood.
You can
probably figure out where I'm going with this. Given this design is artfully
placed on the moth, its' fairly clear it is not only a metaphor for the transformative
process, but also how it relates to the character of Clarice Starling, who is a
woman, and Buffalo Bill, who aspires to be his interpretation of a woman.
Throughout
the film, Clarice grows and learns how to be a competent field agent while
trying to keep up with Bill, her successes and failures are ones of which we
see through her eyes, her experiences are ours. She is not a flawless
individual; she makes errors and flubs her investigation, but her persistence,
intelligence and accountability are what makes her stronger, her nerves give
way to a resolve to not only combat the dominating evil of Buffalo Bill, but
also her own past traumas and her professional reputation in what the film
clearly shows is a male-dominated environment. Whenever Clarice shares a scene
with a male character, she feels the need to prove herself despite the fact she
is clearly competent as what could be a prospective field agent. Given the
various dire situations she finds herself plunged in, it's little wonder she ultimately transforms into a formidable FBI agent; the grounded caterpillar
becomes a soaring butterfly (which is fascinating given her surname is that of a diminutive bird) through her concrete will and drive.
On the other
side of the coin, Buffalo Bill is a dark reflection to Clarice, a creature who
thinks himself above the gradual law of evolution and aims to reach the next
level without putting in the true work it requires to be more than the sum of
his parts. Given his clear background of abuse, displacement of identity and
misinformation about humanity, he wants to become a woman without even so much
considering what it truly takes to BE a woman.
Gender and sex are facts of
life; we can be born a male or a female, that is the biological lotto many of
us are given (I didn't say all because there are a small percent of people who
are born with male and female genitalia which is a completely different kettle
of fish I'm not competent to dive into on a whim). However, gender is where
things get notably more interesting. Many of you have most likely heard the
concept of 'Nature vs. Nurture', a very popular discussion given that term by Francis Galton, about whether human
behaviour is determined by the environment, either prenatal or during a
person's life, or by a person's genes. Nature is what we think of as
preordaining and is influenced by genetic inheritance and other biological factors. In simple terms, there is little doubt Clarice is indeed female through her appearance and how she is perceived by her peers. Bill, despite notable effeminate leanings and personal desires, is biologically built like and sounds like a male because he IS male.
Both are what they are due to genetic design.
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| I just added this still because this scene was scary AF. |
Meanwhile,
the idea of Nurture is generally taken as the influence of external factors
after conception; this being the product of exposure, experience and learning on an
individual. While Clarice effectively became an orphan from a young age and had that harrowing experience of witnessing the spring lambs being slaughtered one night and not even being able to save the one she impulsively fled with, she did not lose herself in her pain. Instead, she worked through it by following her departed father's example and became a hopeful upholder of the law her father valiantly fought for. Granted, the ordeal with Buffalo Bill did summon those long-suppressed pains of helplessness, but she continued to fight because of those values that had been long ingrained into her sense of morality and ethics.
In Bill's case, given his tragic history, it’s clear that
his relationship with women was mainly negative, and the reason why HE wants to
adopt the physique of a woman is to not only escape his history, but also to
mock those who tainted it. Bill is a confused, bitter and entitled misogynist
through and though who doesn't so much want to become a woman as they are
generally seen by those with a lick of sanity and social decency, but his toxic, warped perception of one;
deadly, dangerous and devoid of the laws of God and man, hence his entire
behavioural patterns and means of killing his victims.
Both Clarice and Bill undergo a startling transformation, but The Silence of the Lambs clearly and rightly favors the evolution of Clarice Starling given she is a whole and functional person who has been able to not only endure the traumas of her past, but has managed to overcome them using a healthy means of self-reflection and exorcising her demons. Bill meanwhile was unable to surpass his demons and thus become one instead.
