Hannibal's Popularity

In the novel, The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris, Harris develops the role of serial killer Hannibal Lecter into an unforgettable, forever popular character through Lecter’s attention grabbing, repulsive acts. The popularity began when the genre of horror fiction was created, and a cult-like following developed. As the attraction and popularity grew, the following grew, and the violent serial killers turned into celebrities. The serial killers began to take over American entertainment in movies, books, and TV; American’s couldn’t get enough of them.

A horrific character had been changed into an idol, and the following hasn’t stopped growing, as more and more people are drawn to learning about serial killers. It can be seen, that throughout the history of American Literature, serial killers have transformed from gruesome characters into icons of popular culture and celebrated figures.

The author of The Silence of the Lambs, Thomas Harris, was born in Tennessee in 1940, the son of an electrical engineer and high school teacher (Overview 1).

Harris grew up in the small town of Rich, Mississippi, living a rather secluded life. He was treated poorly in school by the other kids, causing him to become an outcast. It is believed that Harris’ early life has influenced many of his storylines and characterizations, but the majority of his ideas came from his later life. Harris graduated from Baylor University with a major in English language, and slowly his career took off.

After graduating, Harris took a job as a police night reporter, starting his interest in investigative journalism and the minds of serial killers.

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An opportunity came up to advance his career in journalism, and Harris moved to New York City and got a job with the Associated Press as an assistant editor working with crime stories. Slowly, Harris became obsessive about his research into serial killers, and he began to work on his first novel, Black Sunday. As the novel transformed into a movie, Harris made the choice to become a full time writer. He began to study the tendencies of serial killers, learning how and why they kill. He did extensive research through attending conferences, interviewing law enforcement, and even going to what was called the ‘Body Farm’, a place where humans could decompose naturally outdoors for the purpose of research.

Harris gained an amazing amount of knowledge after years of research, and it became evident in his next two novels, Red Dragon, and The Silence of the Lambs. With everything having pinpoint accuracy, it is easy to see that Harris’ books almost merge the line between real life and fiction, a big step for the horror fiction genre (Harris Newsmakers 1-2).

Harris is known for taking his novels into new areas of horror fiction that hadn’t been touched on before. Harris’ addition of psychodrama into many of his novels started the trend that many authors began to follow. In all of his books he makes a connection between an insane character and a sane character, causing the sane character, as well as the reader, to question what sanity is. Harris focuses less on the killings in his novels and more on what drives the serial killers to do what they do; the biggest draw to Harris’ fans. Harris leaves questions unanswered, causing the reader to look further into the topics brought up, causing them to come back for more and more of Harris’ unreal writing (Harris Newsmakers 2-3). Although Harris has written many books, the book where Serial Killer Hannibal Lecter fully comes out, and Harris’ writing arguably peaks, is in The Silence of the Lambs.

In The Silence of the Lambs, Harris not only looks into his usual themes and ideas of psychological insight, how serial killers work, and good versus evil, he also introduces the idea of a major feminist role in Clarice Starling. Throughout the book, Starling has to battle with her own sanity in order to get information from Doctor Lecter, who feeds off of personal information. A strong feminine role in the investigative world was largely unheard of until The Silence of the Lambs, adding to the popularity of the book. Starling’s role as an investigator in the novel, again, is a major step in the genre of horror fiction, for Starling doesn’t focus on the serial killer, but instead on the victims, which ultimately helps her to solve the case (Beetz 3864-67).

For the readers, this brings the book around to a real life perspective, causing them to see that it could happen to them, adding to the excitement and draw of reading about these topics for many (Sharp 715). The changes Harris made in the book to revolutionize the horror fiction genre not only added to the popularity of the book, but also changed the genre as a whole.

Over the years, the genre of horror fiction has evolved into countless forms. Horror can be anything from ghosts and aliens, to serial killers, or anything that elicits the emotions of fear and dread. Trying to figure out how to define the genre of horror fiction is difficult, but the way that author Douglas Winter puts it, it shows how broad the genre really is. As Winter said: Horror is not a genre, like the mystery or science fiction or the western. It is not a kind of fiction, meant to be confined to the ghetto of a special shelf in libraries or bookstores. Horror in an emotion. (What is 1)

It is popularly said that the genre was created when Stephen King came out with the novel Carrie, and after that, horror books began to follow a strict formula of how they were written, to the extent where they were all similar. The formula of horror books gave the reader a sense of self assurance and allowed the reader to become fully engaged in the novel because they knew what was going to happen. As writers slowly began to become frustrated with this same monotonous writing, many began to camouflage the horror parts of their books into different genres. Once again, horror books became about the emotion they elicit from their readers. They became stronger pieces of writing, and more people were drawn to them.

The novels became more personal, almost intruding into the reader’s comfort levels, yet people continued to read them. They were drawn in by the unknown and the need to confront the unknown; horror books let the reader grasp how little they understand, and for some, that’s the draw (What is 1-2). More and more people continually turn to the mixed genre of horror fiction as their choice reads, making the genre more popular every day, and slowly making the characters that people once feared into international icons.

The addition of a serial killer in a novel changes the book in many ways. The tendencies of serial killers create never ending plot twists, so the readers are always on the edge of their seats throughout the novel. Although many people are drawn for that reason of uncertainty, many are drawn for the sole reason that they don’t understand, and they yearn for more information (Lindsay 1-3). The reader continues to read, because they will continually reassure themselves that they will not develop those tendencies.

The reader begins to fictionalize the serial killer as a member of outside the human community, and the serial killer evolves into a sort of inhuman monster, and the reader can better come to terms with the abnormal way the serial killer is going about his life. With this the serial killer is only seen as a character, and the reader can relax and enjoy the book. As the knowledge continues to grow, serial killers begin to be grouped in a broader mythology; that of werewolves and vampires. This is an attempt to make the serial killer familiar and consumable, because if the reader thinks of the serial killer in real world context, then the books themselves begin to become too real.

Doing this causes the fears of the reader to never actually have to be faced, and the serial killer becomes disarmed and grouped with other familiar characters (Gilbert 1- 3). As the serial killer becomes more consumable, it makes its way into popular culture, and they become even less threatening.

Even the earliest serial killers attracted a cult like following. Serial killers such as Jack the Ripper, Vlad the Impaler, and Hannibal “The Cannibal” Lecter, have been turned into modern legends, and their acts get turned into mythical stories. Again, this helps to reassure the reader that it could never happen in real life.

The serial killers are introduced to every level of entertainment, and in every level of audience (Schmid 4-5). It even starts at a young age, such as on the show ‘Sesame Street’, which features ‘The Count’, a counting vampire that attracts toddlers and young kids. It continues as children mature, with countless books being written about vampires, which are being turned into movies as well as TV shows. The once violent and terrifying serial killer converts to being fun and relatable, and they become celebrated. We are taught by the entertainment industry to consume the serial killers and reaffirm these ideas in our mind on who the serial killer actually is (Grixti 4-6).

The entertainment industry, especially the TV and movie companies, are seeing this extreme growth in the yearning for knowledge of the serial killer, and countless shows are being created every year. On April 4th, 2013, “Hannibal” aired on NBC, a show about Hannibal the Cannibal, based on Harris’ novel (What Makes Serial 1-2). The show involves the gruesome brutalization of the human body countless times through the first five episodes, yet the popularity of the show continues to increase. People are curious to see the tendencies and actions of the serial killer, and their minds need to continue to see, otherwise the serial killer will no longer be a fictionalization in their mind.

The horror entertainment industry depends on the serial killer celebrity culture to survive, and with continued fictionalization of these characters, that will never be a problem for the entertainment industry (Schmid 9). The boundary between fact and fiction has become blurred as serial killers have continued to make a strong impression in today’s modern popular culture, and people continue to buy it, and the serial killer becomes the celebrity.

The modern day serial killer has evolved into a character that has been widely fictionalized into an inhuman creature. Popularity around the presence of serial killers has increased, and the serial killer has turned into a multilayered entertainment industry. The works of Thomas Harris, especially in his novel The Silence of the Lambs, shows this transformation of the serial killer into a known idol, and more and more people are drawn to learning how serial killers work. Although the draw of serial killers may never be fully understood, the breakthrough of these characters into our everyday world definitely helps too see them as characters instead of real life human beings.