I’m in the middle of writing a chapter for Eating the Rude. I’m
broadly exploring the ways in which the show positions the audience to form an allegiance
with Hannibal. I want to examine the fantastic fannibal response to the show and wondered if
any of you would be happy to discuss your responses to the character with me on
here? And in doing so, would you be happy to have some of your responses
published? Anonymity can be arranged, if needed.Below is a list of questions which I would be
grateful for some responses to. Feel free to inbox me or re-blog with responses to
which ever take your fancy. In either case, an indication of how you define
your gender would be useful, as I’m exploring how gender affects responses. I’m
happy to answer questions about what I’m doing, if you want clarification
and/or reassurance.How have you participated in the fandom?
How would you describe Hannibal Lecter?
How would you describe your relationship or
response to him?Is Hannibal attractive?
Do you think Hannibal has been woobified? Have you woobified him? How? Why?
What’s a hannipologist? Are you one? If so, why?
Do you ship Hannibal with anyone? If so, who?
Do you think that Hannibal loves Will?
Is there anything else you want to say which isn’t covered by the above questions?
I would be very grateful for a signal boost from @the-winnowing-wind, @existingcharactersdiehorribly, @bonearenaofmyskull, @idontfindyouthatinteresting
Massive thanks in advance for your time in reading this. 🙂
My answers below the cut.
How have you participated in the fandom?
I’ve been a consumer, mainly–fanfic, fanart, meta. I’ve tried to encourage creators. Threw in on the #savehannibal campaign. It’s been an odd beastie because despite the deliberately camp nature of the series underneath the oceans of fake blood and fancy fabric textures, it turns out to carry a hell of a lot of complexity. The meta for this series in particular has been on a really substantial level of literary analysis, and it has helped me a lot in sorting out a lot of moments that seemed powerful but hard for me to parse on viewing.
How would you describe Hannibal Lecter?
Compelling, tempting, otherworldly, satanic. He hews close to Milton’s Lucifer in the way he uses trappings of beauty to prey on his victims and tempt those he chooses. There’s even evil-food-eating involved.
And he’s a magical figure. Whether or not you go with the interpretation that he actually is Lucifer or something like him, the show–and the character-makes use of the trappings and symbols of magic. Eating his food traps you in his world. The power of crossing thresholds, both literal and figurative. Shapeshifting. They’re symbols that are powerful psychologically (which of course is his specialty) as well as in magical folklore, so they preserve that ambiguity, or maybe even force you to ask whether there’s any difference between the two. @22drunkb had an amazing meta series about Hannibal as fairy queen that really captured all this.
But the other thing about him is the question of amorality vs. evil, which might fit better under the next question, because maybe it’s a me-thing.
How would you describe your relationship or
response to him?
I find him an ambiguous, compelling, troubling figure that leads to a lot of self-division. Then again, I think he’s supposed to be. Also then again, I’ve liked this kind of story for a long time so I’d already done a lot of self-reflection on the kinds of interior issues he tends to bring up, so he doesn’t disturb me quite as much as he might. He’s fascinating to me conceptually, but I reject most of what he stands for. I’ve also occasionally been a bit concerned about how some people might respond to him. Not that I think anybody is going to decide cannibalism is fine, but his character deliberately challenges concepts of morality in a complicated, messy, weighted way that I worry about occasionally. Mainly I think this is probably a rather fussy and condescending side to me, but I mention it here for purposes of completion.
I feel like Hannibal positions himself as an alternative to the status quo. An alternative morality, an alternative way of living. Maybe he envisions, or is an envisioning of, how human psychology and sociology might develop if we were natural predators. But he totally lies while doing it. He frames it as amoral, as freedom from the moral and cognitive restraints we unthinkingly, even unknowingly put on ourselves. So far as it goes, that’s true, and one of the jobs of a good therapist can be breaking through to recognize and shrug off those assumptions when they trap and harm us.
But Hannibal is never really objective. He has an agenda. He preys on people who don’t fit HIS standards of right behavior, and he singles out those he believes are, in their hearts, predators like him and just need to be unchained from whatever restrains them from that kind of behavior. Whether or not he’s right about their inner nature is beside the point, compared to the fact that as we see with Will, he doesn’t give a damn whether they consent to becoming what he means to turn them into.
But on a more academic note, I do have a long-standing fascination with…you know, I’m going to go for it and call him a non-human psychology. The show takes pains to draw a distinction between neurodivergence–even when it’s at violent odds with society–vs whatever Hannibal is. Assuming an interpretation where he is not in fact a fallen angel or something, even if he’s human, he’s someone who has worked to understand his own divergent psychology, grappled with it, and instead of seeking healing or at least some kind of livable compromise, actively and consciously CHOSEN to use it to shape himself into a monster. It’s interesting to watch how the show convincingly draws him, and interesting to get an insight into such a different way of seeing the world. Even if it’s not one I can agree with, alternative perspectives can still be educational.
Is Hannibal attractive?
Oh, sure. Hannibal being attractive is a necessary foundation for the show. I have a theory that one of the major predictors for whether someone becomes a fan of the show is whether or not they can cope with finding something awful appealing. There’s a powerful imperative in Western society to reject even the desire for something bad–that even to feel an attraction toward something that’s wrong signifies that you’re a terrible person,
even if everything else in you would never actually choose to follow through. A lot of people can’t get past their discomfort with that. A lot of people have never even questioned it. But one of the themes of Hannibal, both the show and the character, is to force the viewer–that’s Will, Alanna, everyone else on the show and all the audience–to confront that inner conflict and think about what they’d actually choose.
So! I can’t speak to sexual attraction (ace here), but he’s certainly attractive in the sense of making his lifestyle seem desirable. I mean, the glamour and wealth are obviously appealing. Being super-intelligent and hyper-competent at seemingly every task he puts his mind to–hell, I’d pick that as a superpower. I don’t find eating people the least bit attractive, but the sense of freedom in transgression he creates is attractive. And on a very surface level, Hannibal lives a closeted lifestyle, and I can see how other people who have a significant part of their self they can’t trust the world with might connect with him a little bit, just on that level. He makes living a secret life look doable, maybe even potentially pleasant. (Although considering his way of clandestinely indoctrinating his friends is by feeding them bits of people, so maybe that’s not such a great association to make.)
But most importantly, the idea of being beyond answering to any power but his own…
So you know about Freud’s concept of the id, right? The part of our subconscious that’s focused on self-absorption, desire for indulgence, instant gratification, etc. The part we normally repress to some greater or lesser degree, so that we can play nice in a social world. The lizard-brain. There’s a concept called ‘id-fic,’ which is basically a story where a writer lets loose with all that nasty self-indulgence in a story. Hannibal is the embodiment of this. And there is, by definition, an appeal in that.
But on the other hand, he’s also a manipulative, murderous, torturing, cannibalistic horrible dick, which does wonders for killing the appeal.
Do you think Hannibal has been woobified? Have you woobified him? How? Why?
On the level of a fandom movement, no. I’ve seen some fans do it. And it’s kind of a hobby, even with writers who distinctly don’t woobify his canonical version, to occasionally explore the question of ‘what if he were a good/redeemed Hannibal?” I think that considering what we’ve been given, it’s a natural curiosity to wonder if/how that could happen, and what it might look like.
What’s a hannipologist? Are you one? If so, why?
I have no idea. I hadn’t heard the term before. If it’s the Hannibal fandom’s version of stanning, then hell no I’m not. Dude is evil and he enjoys it.
Do you ship Hannibal with anyone? If so, who?
Will Graham. 😀 This is not to say I think it’s a healthy relationship (they would tear each other apart), but then this is not a show where lifestyle decisions are based on what is good or prudent.
Do you think that Hannibal loves Will?
I surely do! Did you see the last episode? Again,
this is not a show where lifestyle decisions are based on what is good or prudent.
And there is a very old strain of passionate, chivalric love that is concerned with the idea of romantic love as a destructive, consuming force. If you’ve never read Love in the Western World, by Denis de Rougemont, I cannot recommend it highly enough. I think it could give you some interesting perspectives on the show, the characters and fan response to them. It’s a lit-crit book, but it’s such captivating reading that I chewed through it in an afternoon.
Is there anything else you want to say which isn’t covered by the above questions?
I’m a cis girl. It may be relevant to note that I have a background in English and comparative literature. You have permission to publish my responses in part or whole, either using my Tumblr username or ‘anonymous.’
from Tumblr http://ift.tt/294oWSS