The Silence of the Lambs Book: Written by Thomas Harris (Mandarin) £4.99 Film: Directed by Jonathan Demme American Psycho Written by Bret Easton Ellis (Picador) £6.99 Reviewed by Jodley Paton Silence of the Lambs and American Psycho form part of the most controversial trend in American literature and film of recent years, that of the slasher-killer thriller.
Silence of the Lambs is a battle of wits between Hannibal 'the Cannibal' Lecter (Anthony Hopkins), 'sociopathic' psychiatrist locked up in an insane asylum, and Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster) an FBI trained. She needs the information he can give her to catch another serial killer 'Buffalo Bill', before Bill kills again.
Not violent Therefore it is the relationship between the two central characters which gives the film its tension and pace, rather than resorting to the high speed car chases that usually dominate coo tnrulers The film is not violent. the three killings that we see are functional rather than sadistic, and filmed to show the minimum of gore.
Also, the acting of the main players is brilliant, the script well written and beautifully filmed, from the wide landscape shots to the close ups. All this would make Silence of the Lambs a film well worth seeing, but what takes it beyond that is the social questions woven into the main plot.
Sympathetic
Both book and film deal intelligently with the problems of women working in traditionally male environments. Starling challenges her boss, Crawford FBI Jodie Foster as Clarice and Anthony Hopkins as the muzzled cannibal in Silence of the Lambs (Scott Glen) over his sexist be haviour saying It matters... Cops look at you to see how to act:
Equally, the portrayal of Buffalo Bill's previous victims, using photographs and an autopsy scene, is sensitively never allowever the audiencent handled, never everalows me a verance reat them as anonymous Catherine Martin (Brooke Smith), Buffalo Bill's sixth victim, isn't a passive Hollywood stereotype either, overcoming fear and using her wits to try to save her own life. However, Clarice's compassion for, and anger on behalf of the victims is more c'eariv expressed in Thomas Harris's book.
In addition, the book deals with the hypocrisy of a 'system which cares little if working class women are killed, but jumps to attention when the woman in danger is a senator s daughter. Unfortunately, the film hardly touches on this aspect of the plot. Similarly, although the FBI and SWAT teams come out of the film with little credibility, the critique of their bureaucracy, made in the book, is not translated onto the screen.
Transvestites
Despite many positive aspects, anyone concerned about the presentation of op pressed and minority groups will be uncomfortable with the portrayal of Buffalo Bill as a gay, transvestite, pseudotransseyual.
The book puts forward a number of theories for Bill's be naviour. but never allows the reader to presume that it is connected with his sexuality. Unfortunately, the film reduces Bill's psyche to one scene in which the application of lipstick takes on chilling connotations and equating male sexuality outside of 'the norm' as dangerous. Transsexuas are very weakly defended by Starling's assertion that "Transsexuals are passive types!
Because psychopaths are outside society, beyond explanation or understanding, they are fascinating. Whereas more common violence is disturbing because its roots are more ob viously within society, psychopathy is comforting be cause it can be reduced to nature, god or innate evil.
fuen when looking at domestic violence, Hollywood portrays the violent husband as some kind of madman, as Sleeping with the Enemy, rather than admit that violence in the home is normality for large numbers of people.
Films about psychopaths tend not to throw up these contradictions and provide a scapegoat for everyone's tears and fantasies of violence.
What is interesting about American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis is that the position of the psychopath is used to analyse some of these contradictions.
Therefore, it caused a huge controversy when it came out in the US, with the scenes of violence, especially towards women being called pornographic.
Certainly, if those scenes alone were published they would be read by some for sexual gratification. This is not, though, the form in which they appear.
American Psycho is narrated by a yuppie (Patrick Baseman), giving a detailed description ol is life, where he eats, what he wears and how he kills. I would make no sense for the horrific killings to be glossed over when we are treated to everything else in such detail.
The horror American Psycho is that as long as Baseman kills prostitutes and tramps nobody cares. The closest he comes to being caught is when he kills some one of his own social status. But he avoids detection, showing that with charm, manners, and Jim Nelson (Michael Palin) gets class (as long as it's the right class) you can literally get away with murder.
This book has no hero. Baseman is not caught, and the author's voice doesn't intervene to explain Baseman's actions. But by putting Baseman in a real environment, Ellis for ces the reader to examine society's values - a rare thing in a book about a psychopath.
For instance, has yuppie hedonism led Baseman TO believe that killing is acceptable because he enjoys it? Are his killings of the destitute only an extreme version of the hatred his friends have for beggars who encroach on their 'perfect consumerist lifestyle?
American Psycho asks more questions than itanswers, but at least it asks the questions that other books and films don't touch. Party apparatus, who know of