Analysis Of 'The Silence Of The Lambs'

For many years the genre of horror has provided entertainment to audiences through horrifying gore, monsters, violence, and the supernatural. The most frightening type of horror is demonic possession, which is why it forms such a fascination. It creates extreme suspense, curiosity, and relevance. Through the formalist and psychoanalytical approach in the film Annabelle directed by John R. Leonetti, the article “The Horrors of Witchcraft and Demonic Possession” by Brian P. Levack, and the short story “Devils Movie”, it is evident as to why individuals are so fascinated with the demonic side of horror. The film Annabelle, which is a movie filled with suspense, is about a demonic entity that takes over the doll Annabelle and later on is a threat

Stephen King wrote the short story “Why We Crave Horror Films” explaining why our mind gets so excited during horror movies. He continues to make the statement “the horror film has become the modern public lynching” (paragraph 6) showing that no matter what generation a person is in the excitement of gore will always exist. King proves this statement discussing emotions and psychiatric points in his work.

King, Stephen. "Stephen King -- Why We Crave Horror Movies." Scribd. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Nov.

The Silence of the lambs (1991) is in doubt a film which demonstrates a well-constructed horror film. The film, ranging with scenes, shots, and frames that were well constructed to be identified as horrific. The films cinematography shifts the films narrative and impacts the film, especially the film’s frames. It seems reasonable to suppose that from the film’s frames and of those of the characters expressions, they shape the film’s genre to be horrifying, psychological, and thrilling and they guide viewers towards where the film’s narrative will lead to. Therefore, even a single or series of frames in the film such as Hannibal Lecter’s evil smile, Buffalo Bill opening the door, Hannibal Lecter standing in his cell, and the dialogue between Agent Starling and Hannibal Lecter, act collectively to represent and symbolize claims about the film.

How horror legitimizes acts of violence in Goddard’s Cabin in the Woods and Neil Marshall’s The Descent

In Stephen King’s somewhat subjective essay in the 1984 Playboy magazine, Why We Crave Horror Movies, King describes his reasoning behind why so many people are fond of watching movies residing in the horror genre. The content of his essay, though inserted in an unconventional area for

All types of horror films are designed to unfold our most horrible fears and insecurities that lie deep within. It successfully focuses on the bizarre and illicit side of life that frights us by playing around our nightmares, vulnerability, and fears of the indefinite. However, despite how chaotic and terrifying these films are, the horror-genre still attracts and repel us. We crave to see the numerous film villains overtake our nightmares and then be defeated by a particular “Final Girl” who normally places society back to its stagnant normality.

This critique then develops into a standpoint with the emergence of the Final Girl trope, where a female character is shown to take characteristics which are typically masculine and makes them her own, becoming then a figure of empowerment. Just as society at large attempts to repress individuals into, as Wood explains it, “predetermined roles within that culture,” the horror film uses the killer to repress the final girl into a victimized, annihilated state. In Hooper’s The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, it was with the subversion of classical family values with the male-dominated, cannibalistic household who tried to objectify Sally. In Carpenter’s Halloween, repression of sexuality and bisexual characteristics in Laurie Strode by Michael Myers led her to become the Final Girl as the film world knows today. Finally in Demme’s The Silence of the Lambs, Clarice Starling takes a step further into the role of the Final Girl by facing head on the “wound culture” state while inhabiting the male-dominated world of law enforcement. With the role of the final girl as the self-empowered figure of the hero who pushes back against her oppressors and by the film’s end, defeats her oppressors, the horror film takes on a more feminist

As Cherry states ‘horror films are socially reflective’ (Cherry, 2010: 169) and the film comments on fears and anxieties of a contemporary British society, the three figures on the kill list, representing institutional

In his essay “Why We Crave Horror Movies”, Stephen King speculates the appeal of horror movies. Establishing the firm belief that everyone has insanity inside them, King explores the idea that this insanity sparks the desire to watch horror movies. Stating that the fears that live inside everyone and the psychological tendencies (otherwise known as undesirable habits) prove this insanity in King’s opinion. King’s speculation ventures to the point that the appeal of horror movies stems from one’s desire to prove that fears do not have the ultimate control. The natural desire to feel normal is satisfied by seeing horror movies.

In his whimsical article, “Why We Crave Horror Movies”, Stephen King observes that our “crave” of torment is often hidden when watching horror movies. He claims that everyone is considered mentally insane, but some people hide it better than others. As an example, King defines times when thrills and fond childhood memories bring us twisted enjoyment towards pain. To show that even the prettiest of people have an ugly side and seek the same emotion, King alludes to celebrities that prove even the best looking people have insecurities. King proceeds to suggest that the joy people associate with death can be considered just as bad as “lynching” someone.

According to Freud, as human beings we are driven by these two instincts, which balance each other out. Considering the fact that the life drive prevents humans from completely giving in to the death drive, other means of expression for this darkness is sought out in horror novels, games and films. Horror films are one of the most lucrative of all other genres and it is also the most difficult to succeed in mastering. One clear aspect of almost every early horror film is the guarantee of an over sexualized female character. According to Laura Mulvey in her essay “Visual Pleasure and Narrative cinema” this exploitation of the female form is something she refers to as the “Male Gaze.”

In his short essay “Why We Crave Horror Movies,” Stephen King reveals the truth behind why we enjoy watching horror films, the genre of fear, nightmare, and revulsion. Stephen King presumes that everyone has a mental illness of their own despite the people who are not in an insane asylum, they’re just more discreet with their disease. The tenth-row of any theater viewing a horror movie is a nightmare in itself King explains, but we still try to act intrepid. The purpose of watching a horror movie is “to show that we can that we are not afraid, that we can ride this roller coaster” without stopping to close our eyes or putting our hands down on the rail. King signifies that horror films have always been the responsibility of the young, they

“Hey, what movie do you want to watch tonight?” A common phrase spoken amongst most households on a Friday night; families getting ready to watch the newest animation, blockbuster, or even a romantic comedy. Yet, most individuals pass off the idea of watch a horrific, nightmarish movie before he or she falls asleep. Well, my mother and I do just that. We always bicker over what we want to watch, like an old married couple, but our fights are over a physical horror movie like Nightmare on Elm Street (her choice pick) and a psychological horror film such as Silence of the Lambs (my choice). These two movies, though within the same genre, are completely different. A Nightmare on Elm Street is simply. But, Silence of the Lambs, is always, rather quite frightening. The superiority of Silence of Lambs emerges when the lights in your room stay on till dawn.

“For the concept of the monstrous feminine, as constructed within/by a patriarchal and phallocentric ideology, is related intimately to the problem of sexual differences and castration.” (Creed, 1993, p.2) Creed takes an interesting approach to Kristeva theory of abjection and Freud’s theory of castration and applies it to horror film. Taking Kristeva’s theory of the abject and the archaic mother, she constructs monstrous representations of the abject woman. The monstrous womb which is the representation of mans fear of woman’s maternal functions. “Fear of the archaic mother turns out to be essentially fear of her generative power. It is this power, a dreaded one, that patrilineal filiation has the burden of subduing.” (Kristeva, 1982, p.77) Freud argued that woman terrifies because she is castrated. “Castration fear plays on a collapse of gender boundaries” (Creed, 1993, p.54) She suggests, that Freud misread Han’s fear in the Little Hans and that Han’s viewed his mothers as the castrator not his father, that his mother’s lack of phallus is seen not as a castrated organ but that of a castrating organ. The mother-child border is entangled in the complex and multi-faceted image of the castrating mother. According to Freud, man fears that of the mother as castrated and as that of the cannibalistic all devouring mother. “Construction of a patriarchal ideology unable to deal with the threat of sexual differences as it is embodied in the images of the feminine as archaic mother and is seen as the castrated mother.” (Creed, 1993, p.22) Kristeva suggests that the notion of the castrated women is to ease mans fear of woman, who has the power to psychologically and physically castrate him. The archaic mother as the monstrous womb and the castrating mother can be used as a way of understanding the work of Mona Hatoum and AIne Phillips, both