What is Hannibal? And why are we fascinated by him? This is a thought that has probably needled at fans of the movie or character over the years. And now here he is again, provoking in us a perhaps unwanted response: fascination, respect, desire, awe.

It's an interesting enough question for me to want to mention here. I did some trawling of the usenet newsgroups and found way more intelligent, articulate thoughts than I could come up with.

Here is the first, from Cecely Reardon:

"I think it has a lot to do with some of the reasons why readers have such visceral reactions to Camus' The Stranger. We fear/hate The Stranger because he is the everyman who falls over the edge. A 'there but for the grace of ... go I' metaphor, which for many is too difficult to consider. Hannibal is there in the car with you on that lonely night drive when your mind flashes for a moment on the tree ahead and how easy it would be to turn your wrists just a hair.

Hannibal is also brilliant, witty, charming confident; in short, he represents all that we are told we should aspire to, except that whole canibalism thing which allows us ultimately to dismiss any dangerous feelings of empathy we may have otherwise. I think that the canibalism piece is the doppelganger (sorry for the misspelling) of those aspirational characteristics. The flipside of charming and witty and confident is conceited, careless, exploitive. Think of it in terms of the characteristics we seemingly value in public figures -- the bold confidence and unwillingness to take no for an answer of the presidential candidate; consider the aggressiveness and singlemindedness of the war hero. They all leave destruction in their wakes. The very characteristics that appeal to us in the context of the public figure's public work are the very same that we take him/her to task for in his/her private lives. Do I dare mention Bill Clinton?"

Share your thoughts...

Back to main page