More Like Sterile-ing!: Detective Starling in Silence of the Lambs

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Recommended: Analysis of one character from the lamb to the slaughter

Silence of the Lambs can be placed within many genres. One of which is the “Thriller” genre. A huge contribution to why Silence of the Lambs is a thriller film is the character of deranged genius Hannibal Lecter. Played by Anthony Hopkins whom won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance, Lecter holds the key to the case Detective Clarice Starling, played by Jodie Foster whom also won the Academy Award for Best Actress, is determined to solve. With such a situation, interrogation is essential as many other films within the thriller subgenre of Crime Thriller also show. By comparing Clarice Starling’s behavior within the interrogation setting to other detectives and women of thriller films, it is revealed that although Lecter may captivate the audience as well as Starling herself, it is Starling that makes the film so interesting in all of its genre-bending glory.

“Thriller” is a film, literary, and television genre that contains elements of suspense, anxiety and excitement. Within the thriller genre, there are multiple subgenres such as the mystery thriller, crime thriller, horror thriller, erotic thriller, psychological thriller, and the list still grows today. Many thriller films contain elements from multiple subgenres, which in turn helps to create the core elements with more potency and variety. Silence of the Lambs is undoubtedly within the thriller genre and moreover can be placed into several of its numerous subgenres. However, there are two thriller subgenres that Silence fits into like a perfectly tailored suit of human skin: crime thriller and psychological thriller.

The crime thriller genre is known for devices such as heists, kidnappings, interrogations, captivities, and ransoms. Famous crime thrill...

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... Academy Award for Best Actress, and the captivating dynamic between the sterile Starling and male anti-hero of Lecter, it is peculiar that the thriller genre has not seen more characters in the vein of Detective Starling. What can be acknowledged is that the character of the female within the thriller genre need not masculinize or sexualize herself to be a success.

Clarice Starling in The Silence of the Lambs is an illustration of an interesting character that is entirely believable within the thriller genre. Author Yvonne Tasker claims that when comparing Silence to other thrillers such as Manhunter or Se7en, “only Silence full mobilizes the compelling figure of the female investigator”. Tasker goes on to celebrate the character of Starling for her paradox: both “ordinary” and “extraordinary”, “gifted” and “inexperienced”, “poor” but “stunning” (Tasker 24-25).

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