The Silence of the Lambs (BFI Modern Classics) [Paperback]

There is a reason why both the book and the movie THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS are so popular. Gripping, exciting, and, jeez, talk about villains that can keep you up at night. This BFI book explores the movie in a bit more detail, tapping into the novel only to flesh out or explore the movie a little bit more.

Yvonne Tasker explores several themes here. One reason for the success of the flick is because it synthesized several genres of film into one, and did so seamlessly. Part detective story, yes. But the detection work we see is mostly of the gumshoe variety, with Starling doing the legwork, leaving the high tech to others. Of course, as we know, it was this low tech, woman on the street, detection that leads Clarice Starling into the home of brutal serial killer Jame Gumb/Buffalo Bill, while her FBI cohorts storm the wrong house two states away.

But this detective thriller is combined with both more modern trappings, such as the presence of the pathologist as detective (heroine of modern day detective novels), as well as older genres such as horror and psychological drama.

Tasker takes us back to the women's movies of decades gone by and places The Silence of the Lambs into its framework. Often involving solitary women placed in situations in which they feel overwhelmed and confused and are often the object of psychological games of a dominant man, the parallels between such movies and Silence are clear. But Silence is more modern. Starling demonstrates time and again that she is not some helpless waif, but has what it takes to maintain control and get the job done, even in the face of ambiguity and with many false paths laid before her.

The author also explores the concept of transformation in the movie. Of course, the clearest transformation is the explicit one of Jame Gumb trying to transform into something other than what he really is. The moths and butterflies he uses are symbols of this desire. Yet the transformation of Starling is also important. From naive but ambitious and smart FBI trainee ('not real FBI') to full-fledged Special Agent, The Silence of the Lambs is her own journey in which childhood ghosts are to a large extent exorcised.

Further, our cultural fascination with serial killers is explored a bit. Released around the same time as Bret Easton Ellis' fantastic, but fantastically misunderstood, novel, AMERICAN PSYCHO, the film version of The Silence of the Lambs tapped into this fascination, but did so in a more intelligent manner than the low-brow presentation which serial killer fiction is often presented.

To be blunt, I found some of Tasker's explorations of these issues a bit hollow and superficial. True, there is only so much one can do given the constraints of the BFI publications. Nonetheless, some of the issues and ideas here could have been delved into more deeply with some economical writing. Yet I gave the BFI book Se7en (BFI Modern Classics), by Richard Dyer, three stars and criticized it for its ridiculous exploration of racial and gender themes presented along the truly laughable lines, immediately recognizable to those of us looking in from the outside, of one suffering a bad case of either a non-white male victimization complex or white male guilt. (As I do not know Dyer's race, I cannot say which it is.) Although Tasker cites to Dyer's book a few times here, and although Tasker drops just a hint or two that makes me suspect our cultural politics do not mesh, she is not heavy handed about it. I had to give her the fourth star for that.

Just kidding, this book and movie share a common deliciousness. Very little can be said, that hasn't been said already, other than if you have seen the movie, you should by all means, read the book!

› Go to Amazon U.S. to see both reviews  4.0 out of 5 stars