SILENCE OF THE LAMBS - Buffalo Bill and the pathology of identity transformation 

Lecter doesn't seem to want to turn into someone else, it's more like he wants to turn other people into himself.

I just like girls

"The Silence of the Lambs" is one of those brilliant, all-time great movies that would not be made today.

“It rubs the lotion on it’s skin or else it gets the hose again.”

“Are u about a size 14???”

Interesting points, also I noticed a couple of things in the movie, by the end of the movie Clarice in a way evolves from her cocoon, as she kills buffalo, we see after a scene where the girl who was abducted is holding the little white dog (her lamb) and after that we see Clarice is like the girl represents Clarice's innocence who is no longer there. Also It makes a lot of sense what you say about Buffalo's mom, in the scene where he refers to the girl as it, when he asked her it should put the lotion in the basket the girl says multiple times " I miss my mommy " that triggered him, is almost as if that hole where he keeps those girls is his inner subconscious or his deeper self.

Holy shit, the crossfade at 6:03, Lecter's face lines up perfectly with the stain in the cover art.

I saw this movie when I was 10 years old and I've loved it ever since.

This movie was genius. A rare perfect movie.

Fine line between transformation and self improvement .

Your analysis is absolutely fantastic! I wouldn’t have made those connections in a million years, and now have a whole new appreciation for this movie.

I get so tired of people saying this movie/story is transphobic. It’s made clear that gumb is not a real transexual and spoiler alert...in the book he killed his own grandparents. He’s just a deeply disturbed individual

I've who is clung to The Silence of the Lambs series as one of the most collectively intricate and evocative series of movies ever made My Commendation on your notification of hidden elements

There's a great line in the book after Starling kills Gumb in the basement; "He'd put on some of his things from the armoire, and she couldn't look at him long." Must've gone shopping at Geins N Things

At 2:20, that is not how the music should falter in a music box. It would slow down, but not normally drop in pitch. This was an added effect.

Pilcher apparently also means a scabbard or covering. So, a noble covering? hiding something underneath?

In the novel Jame Gumb is a extreme version of Norman Bates. He watches home movies of his mother and says to his dog "precious" Mommy is good to be so beautiful. So it's obvious Jame Gumb wants to be his mother. The difference between Buffalo Bill and Norman Bates is Buffalo Bill only has one personality possessing his mind

is there any Twin Peaks analysis by Rob Ager here on youtube ? I would like so much to see it

Transformation

Fantastic analysis, great video. As a huge fan of the novel and film I’m amazed I didn’t pick up on some of these details. Jame’s obsession with transformation always seemed a singular theme but this sheds a lot of light.

"Accepts her offer to a date?" Is that in the novel?

In the Hannibal novel, Thomas Harris writes: "There Is a witchy beauty about Muskrat Farm, the Verger family's mansion near the Susquehanna River in northern Maryland." I think the author and the producers of the film connote different things from this word: the cliché witch usually has one eye that's turned inward, like the movie version of Pilcher; but I think Harris means it more like there's something otherworldly about its appearance... I'm new to your videos and they're great...

The movie is about project monarch which is a CIA mk ultra program hence the butterfly!!

i don't know if anyone noticed this but it mirrors lecters opinion of buffalo bill... he clearly isn't gay or transsexual... i don't even wanna say trans cuz he is psychotic which is why he is denied surgery... theres a scene when jodi enters the room u can see polaroids of him getting freaky with nude women and many are sitting on his lap. I think he was sexually abused to the point where he hated himself and his gender and the part where in the dark he admires starlings beauty and was tempted to touch her face...then the scene of him mimicking katherine but not just mocking her he does it differently at the beginning.. he envied them/wanted to be them to escape his body thinking he'd be happy

Could never make this movie now.

The transphobia in the comment section is... heavy, albeit obviously expected.

The desire to replicate is no understandable urge to those who desire to duplicate...nah mean...

Nice, don't know why but I've been binging on interviews related to this movie lately. Happy to see a new Rob Ager breakdown of it in my sidebar.

You're almost there. The idea of the film is that Starling will transform into a serial killer and, like the others, she will be used by Crawford to kill for the FBI.

Can't wait to download it this evening

Some bugs don't cocoon. Cocoon was a shithouse rat crazy movie btw.

Do an analysis on Manhunter

There is a pathological difference between self improvement and self deciete to run away from oneself. One revolves becoming a superior person and the other a distracting illusion to run away from inadequacy. This is a common human issue and its not surprising to see it as a central theme in horror.

A couple of thoughts. One, regarding Dr Pilcher, you are right to say that the film is clearly trying to make the audience uncomfortable with him. When it comes down to it, he is odd and cock-eyed. Yet, Starling is clearly amused by him and appears to be rather comfortable with him. She sees something in Dr Pilcher the audience cannot while the audience misreads him based solely on his superficial qualities. This says something about how the average person sees someone who is different from them compared to someone who is looking beyond the superficial and into the human psyche. It is a wonderful and uplifting scene in the midst of a very dark movie- perhaps the only uplifting or the most light-hearted scene in the entire film. And, in the novel, Starling and Dr Pilcher do have a romantic connection- I don't think it's ambiguous at all. They have a connection, pure and simple. Second, there is a fascinating scene in the movie that no one has seemed to touch on. I've researched criticism of the film and I have not found any reference to the following. During the scene when Starling is pursuing Gumb in his home, Gumb stalks Starling in his basement and the audience observes him watching her with green-eyed lenses. Do I really need to expand on the last three words of the previous sentence? Buffalo Bill is the green-eyed monster who covets Starling's clear and obvious feminine qualities. He is reaching out to her with his hands- he sees this specimen, if you will, of femininity who he wants to become. It is a brilliant piece of filmmaking that highlights exactly and in dramatic fasion the topic of your analysis- the theme of personal transformation - and the motive behind the murders committed by Buffalo Bill: he covets.

This movie was amazing... I'd totally f me.. lmao.. this movie will always and forever be a classic

Your videos are gold man. Love them!

I really need to read the novel is apparently longer with more content than the movie which I’ve watched several times.

everyone has secrets. deep lightness to darkness.

Interesting when he says something like "our stomachs want to change too".

This was an awesome analysis, u've always wondered about this movie it's a true classic.

Where you from rob? South Liverpool?

Ill try get my friend to comment. He says there are lots of holes in the film. It was one of the pieces of media he had to dissect when he was doing his psychology degree.

Gum must of taken those photos

The actress who plays Frederica's friend looks just like Rachel McAdams

I just bought a lamb. Today!

sorry but your analysis falters a little, because you've missed details from the book. For example, Gumb worked at that store, not a butterfly specific store, years before Ohio (so its just placement by the director) and the polaroids of Catherine had no faces of either the she or her partner, probably because she was a senators daughter, and class is one theme which is dealt with a lot in the book, but not really touched on in the film.

"Bird or Animal furs..." Your city boy is showing! Birds don't have fur.

9:04 Doctor Pilcher was played by Paul Lazar, who also was the US Doctor in the Korean film "The Host" (2006)

your urge toward narrative closure is, ostensibly admirable.

By now I count 2 vids being suddenly removed -Vertigo film analysis -Colonel Upham: Saving Private Ryan's weak intellectual strawman Anyone got any more?

Blondie is the name of the band. Debbie Harry is the singer.

Katherine is what I want to name my daughter. I hope she's just as strong and brave and as much of a fighter as Katherine

Sewing skin ain't easy, gets creases.

What's up with lecter and gay men

I never realized this before, but it's pretty wild that the actor who hooked Travis Bickle up with his guns to wage war in Jodi Foster's honor is also F. Bimmel's father...

The first two videos I saw were "Abuse Themes in The Excorcist" and "Danny's Ordeal." I was hoping this would be a channel dedicated to proving why every character in a horror film was molested. Even though that isn't the case I am loving the content and how you completely change the way I view these movies. Thanks for the fantastic videos.

Mariposas

I think Starling was wrong about Lecter. A combination of his whole experience and his IQ which is blatantly in the 200s gives him a God complex. In his opinion, he knows better and if people say he's wrong then that just shows their ignorance it shows that they're just pissants. Imagine being accomplished at everything that you do. You would feel contempt for incompetent peers after a while. And then come to the conclusion that you have no peers(that's why he's fascinated with Will Graham, he can actually keep up with Hannibal despite being left in his wake). As far as Lecter's concerned, we're not much more than animals.

His belief is not an exaggerated version of change, he is mentally ill.

I didn’t rlly like the movie at all

Jesus whom is the one and only true God and Creator came to earth 2000+ years ago to go to the cross to pay our sin debt in full. His sacrifice was sufficient to pay the penalty for the sins of the world (1 John 2:2). A created being could not pay the infinite penalty required for sin against an infinite God. Only God could pay such an infinite penalty. Only God could take on the sins of the world (2 Corinthians 5:21), die, and be resurrected, proving His victory over sin and death and that true and only God is JESUS! And He did all that because He loves us and wants to save us and have a relationship with us. Jesus is waiting for you to come to Him, He won't cast you away from Himself if you come to Him. He calls us all to repentance, He loves us and wants to save us. believe and have faith in God then the Holy Spirit will come in and lead you to repent of your sins and God will forgive you of your sins and cleanse you by the blood of Jesus and you'll get born again by His Holy Spirit and have His salvation, you will become a new creation (John 3:3-19). God bless

Goddamn you are so fucking good at this... Do you teach film theory or film as literature or literature analysis or something like that?

I think the part about Pilcher was edited out of the Audible recording. I remember it as Pilch's colleague Roden pestered her the most and she made a comment to Maps that "the wrong one always calls"

4:30 You are really reaching with this bit. The novel and the film make emphasise that Starling idolized her father and wishes she could achieve something which would have made him proud, but are clear to draw a distinction between this personal motivation and that of Jame Gumb's twisted obsession. Also, there is no hint that her trying to be a good agent is akin to changing her sex in psychological terms, I think you are seeing your own feelings in the material where they do not exist, I don't think that intepretation of yours is reflective of the original works. 5:32 I think you are also doing that here: I've seen you comment in videos before that you've had negative experiences on account of your own Liverpudlian accent, that the accent is not associated with academia or intellectual pursuit in our zeigeist, and been conscious of that while making no effort to change or adapt it. I think, therefore, that your pretty harsh connection of the recruits' (of which Starling is an exemplar) efforts to improve themselves and become agents with Starling's surface-level effort to shed her accent and even with Jame Gumb's fantasy of change is a parallel you've forced into the narrative with considerable reaching, motivated by your own sore feelings about surface change. Also, 5:52 what? A "social justice god"? He is, in the film and source mterial, a hero who worked himself terribly to advance understanding of serial killers to stop them. That's "social justice"?

What a fantastic analysis!

Well your analysis seems very in-depth and quite accurate to the movie, you're leaving how the movie combined many of the characters. Such as the fact that in the book it was not part of Federico's jewelry box that contained the pictures. So basically you're doing a brilliant analysis of a film that departs dramatically from The Source material

I enjoyed this and will try the entire video, consider the cognitive dissonance between human predation and the killing and eating of animals and crafting their skins into clothing and shoes, Hannibal orders lamb chops after hearing Clarice's story, where Clarice describes the horror of witnessing how 'food' is acquired, admits that she is exhilarated by her work; she must transform herself into a predator to apprehend Bill

The film Zodiac hints at a possible snuff movie distribution among the elite. That Zodiac was killing to entertain the wealthy.

MK-ultra project Monarch butterfly control or Iron Man MK42 model Elon Musk or Monarch control of sex slave (gimp) in show business like Madonna. Or Clockwork orange Alex old fashioned MK-ultra(violence). Even Pulp Fiction Butch in golden watch story have butterfly painting and story about noble profession of soldier have very creepy mind control vibe (OK Chrisopher Walken is very creepy guy in all his movies), and butch is boxer fly like butterfly sting like a bee :) And just Hannibal Lecter we only character even counting extras feels good in his skin (no reference to Buffalo Bill LoL)

That written part is very important.. when faced with reality.. there's a fine line between wanting to find the good and the the potential.. and embellishing the truth in a more fantastical way. For those for example who may have been adopted and found out or in an orphanage.. the imagining of who the family could be or the belief of what family is can be created in a non realistic way. There's nothing wrong with desiring and imagining.. to think about something and then work towards it... The danger though is the expectations of a perfect world rather than a realistic one. There is a much needed balance between the two. Being that people come from different backgrounds etc means that the baseline for reality differs even within the home. What's normal for me may be very unnormal for another. Working out what defines a word is helpful. Then making sure both are understanding what that baseline is. You can have people go through a similar experience yet due to age or nationality, gender, personality, life experience in general will all play a part in how they interpret and then begin to work through their issues or needs.. there are a lot of varying factors. This was what I found so disturbing with mental health. I'm not a stupid person but was clearly being affected by something in the negative. Yet pretty much entering the doors saying a few words that they decided were of concern began to try and diagnose me. I was stunned. If this has happened on me then how many others have been treated in the same way.

Manhunter is more interesting though.

Jonathan Demme’s style of often filming his actors speaking directly into the camera always was always unsettling to me.

From the novel I gathered that Jame's transvestite pursuits would be appreciated in certain circles, non murder tho. I will double check.

I assume your using PAL versions of films when you use clips?

System produced drivel. It'd be funny, but people will nod and buy anything nowadays. I weep for the future.

Hey Rob. Remember when Manson told his minions to murder, all he admits to is telling them to, "Do something witchy." Make what you will of that. Any time I hear the word "witchy" I think of Manson, and those horrible murders.

You’re are genius Rob

the book and the movie itself, is about the transformation of who we are. To be better or worse people. It is ultimately about the fear of being able to be something "good or bad" of being "worse or better" of being "Heroes or beasts"..

hey rob love your channels. was watching this and noticed, is that the reflection of the hostage in the reflection of the ballerina music box mirror?

Isn't he pretty!

Awesome analysis!!! Brilliant !

Wait, you DON'T want people to share your video? Wut?

awesome man great analysis!!

So, in the book, Catherine’s boyfriend is more of a presence- there’s the scene where we “meet” her and they’re discussing getting popcorn and she volunteers goes to do that rather than him. He’s mentioned a bit more, but the elements you’re talking about with her are only present in the movie. I would say if you’re using the book for her, her transformation is stereotypical of authority figures’ children: she’s introduced as being stoned in the scene with the popcorn, and painted as kind of slumming it with the boyfriend in the apartment later on. So, she’s pulling kind of a reverse Clarice ala Pulp’s “Common People”, which the new tv series actually touches on wonderfully. The white trash mountain kid who ran away to be a sophisticated authority, and the kid who ran away from sophistication and authority to be kinda trashy. Very cool video, great theses!

It's been so long since I have seen the movie or read the novels, but I did watch the TV-show when it aired.....but can't recall if they got to Buffalo Bill? Odd. Anyhow, wasn't Buffalo Bill's persona(s) all made up, not what he really desired and wanted but a sort of copying of other people?

Remember when this was creepy and not mainstream culture in America lol

Great dissection and analysis of the movie and characters.

Put the Fuckin lotion in the basket.

illuminati pyramid in the jewelry box

That bug guy looked like Gumb’s brother

Buffalo bill is the representation of buffalo bill personality.

When Sterling saw Frederique's dress with the diamonds on the back, why did she translate the dress to Bill being gifted in sewing? Furthermore, I didn't quite follow how this led Sterling to his house.

Love ya, Rob. Brilliant stuff, I have not found better film analyses.

Maybe he picked up the motif from her. He wanted something of her. Maybe he wanted to be her dream.

Shawcross@ whiter eye see retin

She´s not can change of sex.

Sweet sweet city woman

I consider the work of Rob Ager as, nootropic. When I feel this impulse to stimulate my neuroplasticity, I simply watch one of Rob's superb presentations.

Promises posted

I love this book n movie