In the most common interpretation, the focus of attention is basically the relationship between Chris and Hannibal, from the relationship between the intern agent and the prisoner, the relationship between the visitor and the analyst, and the process of similar empathy. The relationship between his daughter and the lost father, or even a compensatory lover relationship. The boss, Crawford, who is the opposite mirror image of Hannibal, is often overlooked. In fact, to truly understand this movie, we must have a full understanding of the complexity of the relationships between the characters involved.
Of course, the interaction between the characters is inseparable from the real space field, but in the film, the space is not only a real place, but also a symbol of the realm of different levels of consciousness. Using the simplest dichotomy, it can be considered that there are two levels: one level is the subconscious level, it is first the dense forest where Chris is struggling to run at the beginning of the film, then the mental hospital where Chris visits Hannibal, and also the Buffalo Bill. The place where the victim is imprisoned; another level is the level of consciousness, which is first the FBI building, then the room where Hannibal expects to see the scenery, and finally the place where Buffalo Bill abandons the body. The subconscious desire to relieve repression emerges to the level of consciousness, just as the characters in the film desire to enter another space and gain recognition.
But this kind of effort must involve the interaction with the relationship between others.
For Chris, his father's death undoubtedly constitutes a picture of trauma. She applied for the FBI, just trying to replace her father's position with herself, so her success is also her frustration, because this position should belong to another person. She needs to complete her own transformation. For her, this is to identify with another person as her father, so as to save herself. This person could be the boss Crawford or Hannibal. Hannibal and Crawford have two sides: one side is the bright side of his father, which is Crawford; the other side is the dark side of his father, which is Hannibal. She seems to have to choose between the two.
But traumatic events earlier than his father's death have been inadvertently obscured. It was her mother's death. This was mentioned in an understatement by the way when she met Hannibal for the second time. If you think that the importance of this incident can be obliterated, you are wrong. Because, when Buffalo Bill kidnapped Catherine, the daughter of Congressman Martin, the relationship between the mother and daughter appeared as the counterpart of Chris's obscured mother-daughter relationship.
We can find this clue in the dialogue between Hannibal and Congressman Martin. When Hannibal confronted Senator Martin’s question, he seemed to question the relationship between the Senator and her daughter extremely abruptly. Although there are only a few sentences in total, its significance cannot be underestimated. "Did you feed your daughter yourself?" "When you breastfeed, did your nipples become firm as a result?" "If your little daughter is killed, which part of your body will be excited about it?" This question directly raises the parenting relationship and sexual interaction between mother and daughter.
So far, the relationship between Chris and his father and the relationship between Congressman Martin and his daughter Catherine have become a set of opposite mirror images. One is the father and the daughter, the mother is missing, and the father is killed; the other is the mother and the daughter, the father is missing, and the daughter is killed.
The question is, when Chris tried to save Catherine, where did she put herself in? Where did she put Catherine in?
Go back to the morning incident where Chris lived in his cousin's house after his father died. The lamb can be regarded as a symbol of herself, and when she rescued the lamb, where was she in? The answer to this question may be found in Hannibal's paintings. In the painting, the image of Chris is similar to the Virgin Mary in the biblical story, which is the image of a mother. In fact, in her subconscious, the identity of her mother has been suppressed, showing a simple and strong identity of her father. Her recurring nightmares about that scene meant nothing more than her identification with her mother and the huge resistance that this identification encountered. Through the rescue of Catherine, she tried to overcome resistance to complete the process of identification.
The above is just an interpretation of the film from the perspective of Chris. However, in her encounter with Hannibal, they stand on the other side of each other's imaginary relationship. If for Chris, Hannibal stood in the position of her father, then for Hannibal, Chris must occupy the position of his mother. This is the secret that Hannibal suddenly called her "mom" at the end of the conversation with Senator Martin. If Chris completed his identification with his mother and occupied the position of his mother in the process of saving Catherine, then Hannibal's calling Congressman Martin "mom" was actually secretly identifying Chris as his mother, and at this time He also occupies the position of the savior. In fact, how similar he and Catherine are, both of them losing their freedom in the underground space. So when Chris mentioned "tern", he deliberately said the word "turns" in a homophonic way. If you only think that this means that he has a chance to escape, it is only a superficial view. In fact, because this opportunity was inadvertently given to him by Chris, what is more important is that he can identify with the image of a mother as a savior. Through this image, he reversely identifies himself as a weak child to be saved. This is what his subconscious has to say. This is what Hannibal meant by "turns".
When Chris identifies with her mother, she must also recognize the dark side of her father at the same time, which is why the balance of feelings between Crawford and Hannibal always seems to be subtly inclined to Hannibal. .
On the surface, both Chris and Hannibal had completed their transformation at the end of the film, while Buffalo Bill failed. However, the truth is by no means that simple. The failure of Buffalo Bill is not so much an accident, but it undoubtedly reveals a deeper truth: the transformation of self is never ending, until death. Because as long as we survive, we will be driven by the original trauma, but every transformation will inevitably encounter frustration on the boundary, which is manifested in the symptoms themselves. Because the position we are trying to occupy is originally nothing, and our ego will always be the field where others struggle. In the film, Hannibal finally posed the question to Chris again: "Did the Lamb stop screaming?" Chris did not answer. And Hannibal once said to her before: "When the lamb stops screaming, please tell me." The
lamb never stops screaming because the lamb has been silent.
2011/10/1
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