Check in #3

Nick Davis

Check in #2

TO: Mikayla Beaudrie, Instructor of ENC 1101

FROM: Nick Davis, student in ENC 1101

DATE: July 25, 2014

SUBJECT:  Progress of Challenge, Gothic on the Tube

The film I chose for this challenge is the 1991 thriller, The Silence of the Lambs. One of the main characters is a psychopathic prisoner named Dr. Hannibal Lector. His role in this movie was to conference with a FBI agent who was trying to catch a serial killer by gaining insight into the mind of a criminal. The reason the agent is interviewing Dr. Lector is because he is in prison for not only killing but also eating his victims. This criminal profile matches the cannibalistic suspect that the FBI is after.

Cultural views of Cannibalism

The Gothic Hannibal Lector is considered to be horrific simply because our society today sees cannibalism as morally wrong and very gruesome. Although our culture sees this act as evil, there are many primitive cultures who have been practicing certain rituals for thousands of years that involve cannibalistic activities. The Amazonian tribes deep in the rainforests of South America, for example, have had little to no contact with more advanced civilizations and still continue to use cannibalism as a religious and spiritual experience, Many cultures believe that consuming the flesh or organs of a fallen enemy can give one the deceased’s strength or contain some healing powers. To these cultures, Cannibalism is a part of their way of life and do not see it as an evil act.

The Crime of Cannibalism

We can recollect some instances of cannibalism in which the people were forced to indulge in this brutal act for survival. In the story of the Donner Party during the 19^th century, this was exactly the case. The Donner Party was a group of American pioneers that became stranded in a blistering mountain snowstorm that forced them to do the unthinkable to survive. In the case of survival many have argued that cannibalism is not a crime. Although it is both a moral and legal issue, if there was no other way of finding some sort of food, it is human instinct to do what is necessary to ensure the continued existence of our species.

However, Dr. Lector isn’t in a life or death situation whenever he feels the impulse to indulge in his deadly habit. Furthermore, Lector was not raised in a culture where cannibalism is considered a natural habit. His dark curse was more than likely brought onto him at an early age after he witnessed something very traumatic and emotionally scarring. This character alone contains enough Gothic traits to be labeled as horrific or evil by a standard society.