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Reading “Silence of the Lambs” as a farce, or sheltered, or as rotten to the core, or as the defining rom-com of the 90s, is the minimum political ask that I make of anyone who wants to talk about “Silence of the Lambs”. And I *do* want to talk about it. I’m unashamed
Most people have seen that movie, mostly they love it, it’s their most lasting impression of what a trans woman is. And even if their thoughts about it become slightly critical, that’s to defend it being “basically Good, but with political flaws”
“Buffalo Bill” is a trans woman, with a tiny caveat from the psychologist who is in prison for murdering and eating people: according to Psychology (TM), trans women don’t murder people, so Jame Gumb is merely *convinced* that she’s a woman.
(Several people always bring that up to dismiss criticism.)
What if “Silence of the Lambs” is an uncritically bigoted movie, which in fact, it is?
I imagine that would make it inconvenient for a lot of people to love.
What if “Silence of the Lambs” is an uncritically bigoted movie, which in fact, it is?
I imagine that would make it inconvenient for a lot of people to love.
What if Jonathan Demme was a normal guy who made something lazily bigoted and accidentally impactful? What if the director doesn’t even enter this conversation?
What if you begin by accepting that you love something that is bad for trans women?
What if you begin by accepting that you love something that is bad for trans women?
If you’re a trans woman then as far as I’m concerned what you do after that is up to you. Hate it actively, love it passively, get Buffalo Bill tattoos, go for it babe. You get to feel how you feel.
But the rest of you should probably leave the conversation on this to us.
But the rest of you should probably leave the conversation on this to us.
This isn’t me doing “slur discourse” or canceling anything, I just think that you’ve had vocal, mostly non-technical, mostly rude and obvious, opinions on that movie for too long already. And now you should stop and let trans women handle that conversation entirely.
I love that movie. I love making jokes about it. I love how comfortable most people are openly discussing their fear of an actor playing a character named Jame Gumb who kills fewer people than their favorite “sexy” character, a middle aged serial killer who’s in prison.
I love the deaths head moth. Moths are good and not creepy, actually. Even the Moth*man* doesn’t hurt anyone, he’s just unexpected and comes off as “sad”.
Death is a powerful symbol that’s mostly mishandled and literalized or threatens murder. Moths and butterflies are similarly powerful symbols that are mostly mishandled or reduced to “change” and also for teenage girls going through puberty while thin.
Liminal, outsider, boundary-crossing gods and figures in stories are our favorites. We like messengers and guides and having things delivered. We like weirdos. We like a god with a sense of humor, against all good reason. We like con artists and escapists. It’s relatable.
We can, do, and should reclaim our right to say what representations of us mean, to us first of all. And then, yeah, in fact, to other people too. We see everything they do, and everything else besides.
