silence of the lambs

Silence of the lambs 

A variety of semiotics was used through-out the film which relates to the horror genre and the narrative. Firstly, a lot of action was taken place to solve the case of Buffalo Bill. It was a murder investigation which means objects and props were being used such as guns, handcuffs, particular costumes and other weapons. Mysterious sound/music was being played in the background to build suspense when the investigation was getting more intense when the security guards were getting killed by the prisoner who then escaped.  The characters language and words used were very formal which shows that they are professionals at their own jobs though-out the film.

The genre was being communicated in the opening scene by how there was a young woman running in the misty woods which makes you think that the girl is getting chased. Women are usually portrayed in horror films as always being frightened, vulnerable and weak. You hear a man call her name which makes you think that she isn’t getting chased and that the girl isn’t so incapable. Some horror films men usually take advantage of the fact that women are being portrayed as this but in this case, it’s not.

The main female character in the film is very brave and strong. The female is an FBI which shows that she can look after herself and fight and battle anybody. This relates to feminist film theory as women are usually portrayed as being very weak. For example, the brunette girls are the clever ones and the blonde girls are the dumb ones.  In the silence of the lambs, the female character is mentally and physically capable to investigate the case of Buffalo bill and because the character is blonde, she is far from dumb. She is surrounded by loads of males in a male environment to show that she can be very out-going and professional as men. She comes across very intelligent.

Queer theory is used how the murderer ‘Buffalo bill’ kills innocent women for their clothes and then wears them afterwards. This shows that he is cross dresser and could come across gay as Buffalo bill does not do anything sexual to them. He keeps wigs and make-up and has his own closet of woman’s clothes to try on.

The most memorable scene for me is when the 2 security guards are killed whilst they are going to feed Hannibal (prisoner). Hannibal swallow’s up the hand cuff keys and unlocks them. I like how everybody in the building is looking for the Hannibal and how they think Hannibal is hiding above the lift as blood is dripping. Eventually it turns out that it is the security guards body. I like how Hannibal uses the dead security guard’s face to disguise himself. This worked really well and was very clever thinking.