Episode 61: Evil and Ecstasy: On 'The Silence of the Lambs'
The Welsh writer Arthur Machen defined good and evil as "ecstasies." Each one is a "withdrawal from the common life." On this view, any artistic investigation into the nature of good and evil can't remain safely ensconced our modern, common-life construal of thinigs. It must become fantastic and incorporate aspects of "nature" that feel "supernatural" from a modern standpoint. Jonathan Demme's screen adaptation of The Silence of the Lambs is a powerful example. The film oscillates undecidably between a straightforward crime story and a work of supernatural horror. In this episode, JF and Phil cast Hannibal Lecter and Clarice Starling as figures in a myth that pits the individual against the institution, the singular against the type, and the forces of light against the forces of darkness.
\n\nREFERENCES
\n\nJonathan Demme (dir.), The Silence of the Lambs
\nThomas Harris, The Silence of the Lambs (original novel)
\nCarl Jung on the doctrine of Privatio Boni
\nJohann Sebastian Bach, The Goldberg Variations
\nWilliam Gibson, Pattern Recognition
\nRolling Stones, "Sympathy for the Devil"
\nHoward Shore, Canadian composer
\nArthur Machen, The White People
\nWeird Studies, episode 3: Ecstasy, Sin, and "The White People"
\nMachen, The White People
\nMachen, Hieroglyphics: A Note Upon Ecstasy in Literature