Uncle Hu
Editor|Uncle Hu
prolegomenon
In the history of the American Oscars, "The Silence of the Lambs" won five major awards in one go, including "One Night Affair" in 1934, "One Night Affair" in 1975, and "Best Director", "Best Actor and Actress" and "Best Screenplay".
"The Silence of the Lambs" director Jonathan Demi, director, Anthony Hopkins, Jodie Foster and other well-known movie stars, in 1991, Foster played FBI intern agent Clarice, asking the ogre Hannibal for help to solve serial murders and capture perverted murderer "Bison Bill".
Director Jonathan avoided the pure sensory stimulation caused by too many bloody scenes as much as possible in the film, and bloody shots such as rotten corpses and gathered chrysalis became a means to assist the development of the film's theme.
The storyline of "The Silence of the Lambs" is very compact, there are many clues of reasoning, the lighting is also blurry, and the sound is rich, which can be said to be a very successful movie.
The interpretation of mad human nature
Mad people often exhibit behaviors and words that are inconsistent with the public under the rules of modern civilization, and as a result, mad people who deviate from social morality and codes of conduct are regarded as alternative and heretical.
Their "perverse" behavior is a rebellion against the "mainstream" of contemporary society, a rebellion against inherent authority and traditional forces, and a kind of loneliness.
The word "madness" has a long history in Western literature, but due to the limitations of traditional modes of thinking, people often describe it too simply and crudely.
In order to get rid of this embarrassment, it is necessary to break through the shackles of "domination" since the beginning of the Renaissance, as can be seen from Jonathan Demi's "The Silence of the Lambs".
At the beginning of the film, it is preset on the premise of the crazy behavior of the psychologically twisted murderer "Bison Bill".
In the city where Clarice lives, there is a murderous maniac named "Bison Bill", who chases the fat women in the size fourteen clothes, even cutting off their skin to show madness.
The film master has carefully designed the environment in which "Bison Bill" lives, from dark cellars to decaying corpses, to the breeding of moths, to crazy background music.
The whole scene is full of violence and weirdness, coupled with the feminine costumes and accessories on his body, making "Bison Bill" look like a crazy person.
The perverted murder case of "Bison Bill" led to the most important character in the film, Dr. Hannibal, whom Clarice turned to, in order to solve the serial murder case created by "Bison Bill" as soon as possible.
She is sent to a hospital to meet with Dr. Hannibal, hoping to get some information about "Bison Bill" that will help her better understand "Bison Bill's" motives.
With the help of Dr. Hannibal, Clarice finally uses the chrysalis as a clue to enter the home of "Bison Bill" and rescue Catherine, the daughter of a member of Parliament.
The film is based on the four meetings between Clarice and Hannibal, and on the basis of smoothly advancing the development of the plot, the portrayal of the characters is also of great significance.
The reason why "The Silence of the Lambs" can break the "fear" of ordinary movies is the scene where Clarice and Hannibal meet four times. The first time the two meet in a hospital, it is the first time this crazy monster appears, and the first time Hannibal appears in this world, he is the crazy monster.
Clarice enters a cell and sees door after door, as well as the threat of Chitton and the jailer to Hannibal, which makes Clarice and the audience outside the play feel a sense of psychological oppression, and in their minds, in their minds, in their minds, a man-eating demon emerges.
However, when Clarice walked to the end of the corridor and saw the cell where Hannibal was being held, Hannibal completely shattered everyone's impression of him and surprised everyone. That's where the success of the crazy characters in this movie lies.
The madness of "Bison Bill" to skin and make clothes is obvious, and Hannibal's crazy behavior that is both obvious and hidden is even more creepy.
On one side is Hannibal's madness, which manifests itself as brutal and bloodthirsty, and after entering the district court, Hannibal unshackles himself with a ballpoint pen in his hand, and then puts the bodies of the two jailers in his mouth.
He then hung a corpse on the cell where he was imprisoned, as if Jesus had been crucified, and with the fall of this corpse, his madness had penetrated deep into his soul.
Hannibal, on the other hand, is even more terrifying, although he is in prison, he can still see clearly, and he can see through the true face of "Bison Bill" with a single word.
He didn't have much contact with the outside world, but his mind was flexible, and in a brief conversation with Clarice, he could see Clarice's inner fear. It can be said that Hannibal's madness, his intelligence, his calmness, his sanity, are more dangerous and aggressive than anyone else.
In addition, the film highlights the image of Hannibal as a dangerous man, who is locked up in a special thickened glass cage in order to isolate himself from the outside world.
Hannibal whispered to prisoner Vance through the window for an afternoon, which eventually led to the suicide of prisoner Vance, etc., all because of the prisoner's humiliation of Clarice.
When he was sent to the local court, Hannibal received special treatment, such as wearing a metal mask, a restrained stretcher, and a vest specially designed to prevent Hannibal from eating people.
The reason why Hannibal was not sentenced to death by the FBI was because his mental state was so bad that some psychologists tried to start with his mental state, but found nothing.
On the contrary, Hannibal can use his wisdom to control Clarice and the others under his control. Although Clarice enlists Hannibal's help, she becomes a key figure in Hannibal's prison escape.
In just thirty minutes, he perfectly interprets Hannibal's high intelligence, schizophrenia and polite manners, which makes Hannibal both the most terrifying person in the history of the film and a charming madman.
Hopkins once said that my approach is very simple, after recording the dialogue, analyzing the characters, thinking, and accurately finding out the main theme of the characters, everything will fall into place.
Hopkins' deep experience in theater and superb acting skills allowed him to portray this monster character to the fullest, which was a key factor in his great success in the film "The Silence of the Lambs".
"The Silence of the Lambs" has a pivotal position in Hollywood horror movies, breaking the previous horror movie mode, using terrifying pictures, terrifying sound effects and eerie atmosphere to promote the development of the story and the portrayal of characters;
Ignoring some insignificant violent scenes, and instead focusing on the crazy psychology of the characters, which gives the film a deeper interpretation.
The reason why "Bison Bill" kills, strips, and makes clothes is due to his childhood encounters, in the case of being bullied by his stepmother, "Bison Bill" is disgusted by his sexuality and longs for more sexual orientation.
"Bison Bill" has repeatedly requested multiple hospitals for gender transition, but to no avail, so he pinned his "dream" on clothing sewn from women's skin.
The crazy characters in the movie come from three crazy killers in the United States, and Ed Gern is one of them, he likes to peel, so the madness of "Bison Bill" is not unreasonable.
Freud once said that childhood life plays a crucial role in a person's growth, and the "Bison Bill" and Ed Gern in the movie are crazy because of their childhood.
Like "Bison Bill", the crazy character Hannibal in the film has the same tragic childhood, and in "The Silence of the Lambs", no one can go deep into the spiritual depths of Hannibal to explore this secret, but in "Young Hannibal" of "The Silence of the Lambs", it tells why Hannibal became a monster.
Hannibal watched his parents die in World War II, but watched his sister Misha be eaten alive;
In the case of losing his mind, he was fed a bowl of Misha's broth, watching his family die, Hannibal's whole person fell into silence, he liked to eat human flesh, and when he grew up, in order to take revenge, the whole person fell into madness.
In this movie, although Clarice is a positive character, if you look closely, you will find that she has a terrible memory hidden in her heart.
Under Hannibal's pressure, Clarice told the tragic situation of witnessing the slaughter of a baby sheep when she was a child, and later when she grew up, she woke up from a nightmare because she could not save a little sheep, so Clarice risked her life to find Hannibal and "Bison Bill".
Unlike the other two protagonists, Clarice is liberated from madness and terror after rescuing Catherine.
The symbolic meaning of the deranged human beings in the film is not only a profound analysis of the attachment to insanity behavior, but also a manifestation of the "madness" rejected by society, thus making a criticism of modern civilization and society.
In the movie, Hannibal is both a murderer and a savior, he is the savior of Clarice and Catherine, but the scene of "madness" triumphing over "madness" is full of mockery and absurdity. Hannibal became a hero who saved the world because of his ingenuity and calm analytical skills.
In the character of Hannibal, he combines madness and reason, does this mean that people's fear of madness comes from themselves? The meaning of this sentence made everyone fall into deep thought.
epilogue
Jonathan's "The Silence of the Lambs", which won several awards in the nineties and caused a great sensation, is still a representative film, its profound interpretation of the word "madness", but also a skepticism of modern society, but also a work that makes people reflect on themselves.
In the Bible, everyone is seen as a sheep, and the name of the film comes from the biblical metaphor of the "lamb", where Catherine and Clarice are both in prison, locked up in "Bison Bill", and they are both spokespersons for the sheep.
Even if they are liberated physically and mindfully, it is not known whether they will remain silent forever. "Silent sheep" is not only found in drama, but also in real life as "silent sheep" in general.
Bibliography:
[1] [fr] Foucault, Madness and Civilization: A History of Madness in the Age of Reason, Liu Beicheng, Yang Yuanying, trans
[2] [Austrian] Freud's "Interpretation of Dreams" by Sun Mingzhi, trans
[3] Huntsman, ed., Bible Stories: Dorey's Illustrated Old Testament