The Lobster Dance

As much as I wanted Season 4 of NBC Hannibal, I was terrified about how the character of “Buffalo Bill” would be treated–I can’t conceive of a way to use that character without transphobia. Best case scenario, the showrunners could have just removed the whole “woman suit” aspect and made it a people suit, gender removed from the equation. (Or, just vacation in Rio with Will and Hannibal. Forever.)

Part of the issue with discussing Silence of the Lambs as a feminist piece is that the film and book–and critics–champion a great cis woman character but don’t speak up enough about the history of medical and social transphobia. Jos Truit wrote an in-depth article for Feministing this March about not just her own experiences watching the film as a queer trans woman but also about relationship between the DSM, abuse, and access to medical resources for trans women.

The [Bitch Media] article argues that Clarice is fundamentally good, in addition to her heroism being linked to traditional femininity. Clarice Starling has indeed had an undeniable influence on female heroes in pop culture in general. But this cannot be divorced from the fact that one of the two primary examples of male violence this impactful hero stands against is a trans woman. Clarice does in fact follow the mythological hero’s journey in fairly traditional ways, though it is a woman here descending into hell – Bill’s basement – to rescue the damsel in distress. Clarice defeats Bill, who crumples to the ground, curled into a shaking form clearly meant to convey (an ableist vision of) monstrousness. And Clarice rescues femininity from the darkest depths of male violence: the lair of a trans woman.

Incidentally, if you were to write a feminist examination of Clarice, there’s a pitch for you: what does it mean that the story of this hero who is lauded as feminist is about cis feminist triumph over the perverse, sexualized violence supposedly inherent in trans women?

(I really just want to quote the whole thing here, honestly.) Because I’ve written about the Hannibal series as well as Clarice here before, I want to share this article, especially since Lecter’s claim that Bill isn’t trans doesn’t erase the effects of the transphobia in the book and film. Read the full post on Feministing.

Related: “The Not-So-Hidden Transphobia in Silence of the Lambs.”