Lamb To The Slaughter Movie Analysis

     Critics of Kurt Vonnegut’s are unable to agree on what the main theme of his novel Slaughterhouse Five may be. Although Vonnegut’s novels are satirical, ironical, and extremely wise, they have almost no plot structure, so it is hard to find a constant theme. From the many people that the main character Billy Pilgrim meets, and the places that he takes us, readers are able to discern that Vonnegut is trying to send the message that there will always be death, there will always be war, and humans have no control over their own lives.

Murder, one of the worst crimes a human could commit, is not taken lightly and most times the primary suspect is a male. In the 2 stories, “Lamb of the Slaughter”, and “The Landlady”, the reader learns just how murderous man’s counterpart can be. Roald Dahl, the author of these 2 stories, wrote “Lamb of the Slaughter” from the perspective of Mary Malony a loving housewife who gets terrible news, and wrote“The Landlady” from the perspective of Billy Weaver, a 17 year old businessman who stumbles across a Bed and Breakfast run by our next “Mistress of Death”. The reader will learn that even though these 2 stories are different in many ways, they still have plenty of similarities.

The American public's fascination with serial murders has not only continuously kept these violent men and women in the public eye, but has also inspired the creation of films that demonstrate and dramatize the heinous crimes committed by these people. One such film program that adapts crimes committed by serial murderers, and the murderers themselves, is The Silence of the Lambs (1991). Through a combination of criminology, psychology, and sociology, The Silence of the Lambs is able to not only inform audiences of the dangerous types of people that currently inhabit society, but also of the individuals who study serial murderers with the intent of apprehending them before they commit any more crimes and to help identify these murderers victims.

Silence of the Lambs focuses on two main characters with problematic mental disorders: Hannibal Lector and “Buffalo Bill.” Both of these characters appear to have anti-social personality disorder (ASPD). Based on diagnostic criteria from the DSM 5, significant impairments must be present in personality functioning as well as interpersonal functioning. This can be present in either identity or self-direction. These ideas of self-functioning are focused on personal gratification from goals and self-esteem, and result from personal gain, power, or pleasure. This characteristic is present in both characters, as they feel a sense of pleasure and gain from killing their victims. Hannibal Lector would eat body parts of his victims, and Buffalo Bill would collect the skin of his victims. This also demonstrates the characters failing to conform to lawful, ethical behavior. Next, interpersonal functioning impairments are present in empathy or intimacy. Empathy is the lack of feelings or remorse for others, which is vividly seen in Hannibal Lector’s scenes throughout the movie. For example, after Lector has killed the police officers in his cell, he stands around, swaying as music plays, content with what he has just done, instead of feeling bad or guilty about the murders. In Buffalo Bill’s home, the senator’s daughter is seen trapped a well-like structure, screaming for help. Meanwhile, Buffalo Bill acts oblivious to her suffering and is not affected or remorseful about it. The DSM 5 also describes those affected by antisocial personality disorder as having pathological personality traits in antagonism and disinhibition. While antagonism has several defining characteristics, callousness and hostility are present throughout the movie, as well as disinhibition characterized by risk-taking behaviors. The other evident qualifications include these expressions not understood as being normative, not due to the effects of substance or medications, and the characters being over eighteen years old.

Requiem for Detroit? is a historical documentary, released in 2010 and directed by Julien Temple, about the decline and collapse of Detroit, one of America’s largest cities. It chronicles Detroit’s journey through its success in the automobile industry all the way through its urban decay and industrial collapse to the present day. As the film draws a close, Temple also suggests some ways forward for Detroit. He presents possibilities and clearly shows which he thinks is most likely through his use of interviews with subjects and visual representations of these offered opinions. The intended reading that Temple offers viewers is a complex one, with many anti-consumerist and anti-corporate ideas and leanings. Despite the ‘doom-laden’ feel of much of the text, Temple paints optimism for the potential for a progressive and productive future for Detroit. Throughout the documentary he clearly expresses this intended reading through effective use of motifs, shown by visual and sound techniques, music and interviews with both privileged and non-privileged characters.

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.

From the very beginning of Slaughterhouse Five the biggest question is: is it real or delusion? Throughout the book, Billy pilgrim claims to travel through time and be abducted by aliens, but until the later chapters, there is no solid evidence as to whether it is real or just delusion. The truth about Billy’s tale is concealed until near the end of the book when he meets Kilgore Trout and finally some solid evidence shows that Billy’s unusual adventures are just delusions and insanity.

going to leave her but Dahl does not make it clear what the bad news

War is a tragic experience that can motivate people to do many things. Many people have been inspired to write stories, poems, or songs about war. Many of these examples tend to reflect feelings against war. Kurt Vonnegut is no different and his experience with war inspired him to write a series of novels starting with Slaughter-House Five. It is a unique novel expressing Vonnegut's feelings about war. These strong feeling can be seen in the similarities between characters, information about the Tralfamadorians, dark humor, and the structure of the novel.

Billy Pilgrim is born in 1922 and grows up in Ilium, New York. A funny-looking, weak youth, he does well in high school, then he enrolls in night classes at the Ilium School of Optometry, and is soon drafted into the army. He serves as a chaplain's assistant, is sent into the Battle of the Bulge, and almost gets taken prisoner by the Germans. Just before being captured he first becomes unstuck in time. He sees the entirety of his life in one sweep. Billy is transported with other privates to the beautiful city of Dresden. There the prisoners are made to work for their keep. They are kept in a former slaughterhouse. Billy and his fellow POWs survive in an airtight meat locker. They emerge to find a moonscape of

This kind-of off the wall opinion can be interpreted as people being physically stuck in this world, that people don't have any choice over what mankind as a whole, do and what people head for. The only thing one can do is think about everything, but it won't affect anything. This idea appears many times throughout the novel. This is one of the examples, when Billy proposes marriage to Valencia:

The conflict in “Lamb to the Slaughter” is, that Mary. Maloney, a devoted housewife, six months pregnant, kills her husband with a leg of lamb after he tells her that he is planning on leaving her. In the very beginning, the atmosphere is very calm. Mary Maloney is peacefully sewing in her living room waiting for her husband, a police officer, to come home from work. After his arrival, they silently sit in the living room drinking whisky. Mrs. Maloney watches her husband very carefully but after he swallows his whisky very quickly and gets another stronger drink, the reader notices that something is unusual. Before she wants to fix something for supper, her husband stops her and tells her, even though it isn’t exactly conveyed to the reader, that he

In “Natural Born Celebrities: Serial Killers in American Culture,” serial killers are defined as clean cut, normal, All-American people. Some interviewees shared in chapter five state that the reason why it takes so long for the culprits to be apprehended is attributed to the ability to carry on with a normal life. One even offered that in one instance, his victim actually thought he was joking when he kidnapped her to eventually murder her. In “Mr. Brooks,” Earl again is a very successful person. He is an ordinary, suit wearing, clean shaven, clean cut, successful Portland, Oregon businessman. I imagine that his killing addiction would shock even his closest, everyday coworkers. Hannibal Lecter is a former psychiatrist. I can’t even begin to imagine the amount of schooling that he endured and numerous certifications, both federal and state, that he must have attained. Yet, he did not like arrogant and obnoxious people, therefore, he murdered them.

When watching The Hateful Eight it’s clear that Quentin Tarantino was inspired by John Carpenter’s The Thing. There are quite a few subtle nods to the classic horror film as well as some not so subtle similarities. One could watch one right after the other and immediately see the similarities between the two films. While most people would not consider The Hateful Eight a horror film it takes the greatest horror aspects of The Thing and uses them to its advantage. Quentin Tarantino took quite a few ideas from John Carpenter’s The Thing and modified them so they fit seamlessly in to his western film, including actors, characters, and even some music that was originally written for Carpenter’s film but was never used.

The following essay examines the characteristics of the aestheticisation of abjection by analysing Jonathan Demme’s, The Silence of The Lambs (1991) to better understand what pleasure we, as a culture, find in consuming horror films. The Silence of the Lambs shows women being tortured, sexually assaulted and murdered yet is still a widely popular film that serves to entertain a seemingly sane society.