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Hannibal
‘Every time I think it couldn’t get any more extraordinary it surprises me. It’s impossible, I hate it, it’s evil, it’s astonishing… I want to kiss it to death!’
The Doctor, S9.03 (Under the Lake)
My friends have been telling me to watch Hannibal since forever, and this year I finally did it. The outcome is that not only do I have my Ineffable Husbands, I now also have Murder Husbands.
This is an attempt at writing out my thoughts without any (overt) spoilers. I presume they will show up in comments. But if you’re curious, this is the post for you.
First of all — the show is gory and sadistic and horrific. If you dislike physical violence and torture and people being carved up in ways you cannot imagine… stay away. The horror is real, and it’s ridiculously inventive. (Suspend all disbelief before you even start.) The body horror is literally something else. Trust me.
(Sidebar: Other shows will seem very tame and… one dimensional in comparison. The first time I watched a regular episode of a regular crime drama after starting Hannibal I was concerned that the murderer just killed the victim, and did not construct an elaborate metaphor out of the body. Like, what even is that? Does no one have any standards anymore? What even is the point of murder if there are no metaphors? <- Proof of how this show warps you)
So why did I watch? (Because I… am not really very good with body horror and goriness and I watched huge chunks of this through my fingers.)
Well, the characters: Rich, well-crafted, deeply layered, complex characters. They get broken (some of them literally, remember about all the violence?) and put back together and grow and change and… *chef’s kiss* It’s all exquisite.
However, it’s impossible to talk about the characters without talking about the mirrors and the metaphors. When I’d finished the final episode I went straight back to the first. I remember thinking (when I first watched it) that the show seemed… well, nice enough and fairly standard for a crime drama type thing. Re-watching, it was incredible to see the sheer amount of information and basic construction that was being laid down. The basic imagery is being established, the first few mirrors set up — the show takes the viewer by the hand and very very gently starts leading them down the path (to damnation).
It’s also one of the only shows where (as time goes on) you never know if what you are seeing is the truth, or a fantasy, or a dream. Did this character really die? Are they actually there? Are they a mirage? Is this a flashback? The truth is a mosaic that you have to piece together over time.
I can’t think of a show like it, although Moffat Who comes closest. To quote Liz Sandifer on The Beast Below:
“As above, so below,” the injunction goes - a declaration that manipulating symbols and manipulating objects is, in some sense, the same thing. That a symbol and a thing are in some sense interchangeable.
This is the at heart of how Hannibal functions as a show. The process is slow, the creators take their time in teaching the viewers to become familiar with the symbolism and the imagery and the way it works, but what it means is that the texture of the show is so rich it’s almost impossible to describe:
It’s poetry.
(By Season 3 this is quite simply the standard format, and you know that the important thing is what happens between the characters, the setting is (almost) incidental.)
But that’s only half the story.
“As above, so below,” I quoted above, except here the opposite is also true:
‘As below, so above.’
Many shows have characters being undone mentally. But on this show, it becomes physical. It's not enough to have the imagery: it manifests, people are cut open and violated — everyone who comes into contact with Hannibal is warped and undone by him; mentally, emotionally, metaphorically and bodily. Not that he, personally, hurts/kills/eats everyone (… well, not quite everyone), but that’s how the show works. Mental anguish is also physical destruction.
Which brings me to my icon and alllll the Angelus parallels:
“It was art. The destruction of a human being.”
This is Hannibal’s MO in a nutshell. He is an artist. An aesthete. A sensualist. A monster.
And in the dance of him and Will Graham, this exchange could serve as the leitmotif:
Spike: You made me a monster.
Angel: I didn't make you, Spike. I just opened up the door and let the real you out.
Forget Spike’s reply to that statement. Will Graham is no Spike — if he had to be projected onto AtS he’d be an amalgamation of William and Drusilla. And I say that, and immediately I want to add that no, Abigail is Dru. (Gillian Anderson’s character is basically Darla, and equally magnificent.) But then Abigail and Will are mirrored, except of course Hannibal and Graham are mirrored, and goodness, so is every other person. The mirrors never stop. I could make a case for (almost) every character being a mirror for every other character.
I just realised I haven’t even mentioned Jack so far, and ye gods, this is the show that Jack built (that’s built around Jack), he’s at the nexus of them all.
Hannibal is a monster, and knows that about himself, embraces it. Can not be anything other.
But is Will? Is Hannibal’s fascination with Will due to sensing a kindred spirit, or because he hopes to fashion himself a playmate? Who is the real Will Graham? (And now that is a Pandora’s Box of a question that could have endless answers…) ETA: There's a reason they're known as 'Murder Husbands'. The subtext is... painted all over everything in very large letters and exquisitely homoerotic. Also, it's a show that very much considers men as things to be looked at. (I.e. you don't spend three seasons fighting with The Male Gaze, the focus is elsewhere.)
What the show does excessively well is that it makes the viewer complicit. It invites us to take a seat at the table, to watch the monster smile and serve up a dinner that will make you want to choose the vegetarian option (seriously, watching Hannibal prepare meat must have made a good few viewers vegetarian), to urge the monster onwards, even as he destroys everything he touches. (But oh, so beautifully.)
We are all Will Graham.
Overall, I don’t know that this is a show I want to take apart (the above ramblings aside) — it’s just a place I like to sit? And everything is beautiful (and terrible) and exists entirely in metaphor about 75% of the time.
But look how beautiful it is (and yes, that is Gina Torres, yet another outstanding character). How peaceful. The symmetry is another through-thread of the show, like the mirroring reaching out and encompassing the very world it inhabits.
There are very few perfect shows in the world. This is one of them.
The Doctor, S9.03 (Under the Lake)
My friends have been telling me to watch Hannibal since forever, and this year I finally did it. The outcome is that not only do I have my Ineffable Husbands, I now also have Murder Husbands.
This is an attempt at writing out my thoughts without any (overt) spoilers. I presume they will show up in comments. But if you’re curious, this is the post for you.
First of all — the show is gory and sadistic and horrific. If you dislike physical violence and torture and people being carved up in ways you cannot imagine… stay away. The horror is real, and it’s ridiculously inventive. (Suspend all disbelief before you even start.) The body horror is literally something else. Trust me.
(Sidebar: Other shows will seem very tame and… one dimensional in comparison. The first time I watched a regular episode of a regular crime drama after starting Hannibal I was concerned that the murderer just killed the victim, and did not construct an elaborate metaphor out of the body. Like, what even is that? Does no one have any standards anymore? What even is the point of murder if there are no metaphors? <- Proof of how this show warps you)
So why did I watch? (Because I… am not really very good with body horror and goriness and I watched huge chunks of this through my fingers.)
Well, the characters: Rich, well-crafted, deeply layered, complex characters. They get broken (some of them literally, remember about all the violence?) and put back together and grow and change and… *chef’s kiss* It’s all exquisite.
However, it’s impossible to talk about the characters without talking about the mirrors and the metaphors. When I’d finished the final episode I went straight back to the first. I remember thinking (when I first watched it) that the show seemed… well, nice enough and fairly standard for a crime drama type thing. Re-watching, it was incredible to see the sheer amount of information and basic construction that was being laid down. The basic imagery is being established, the first few mirrors set up — the show takes the viewer by the hand and very very gently starts leading them down the path (to damnation).
It’s also one of the only shows where (as time goes on) you never know if what you are seeing is the truth, or a fantasy, or a dream. Did this character really die? Are they actually there? Are they a mirage? Is this a flashback? The truth is a mosaic that you have to piece together over time.
I can’t think of a show like it, although Moffat Who comes closest. To quote Liz Sandifer on The Beast Below:
“As above, so below,” the injunction goes - a declaration that manipulating symbols and manipulating objects is, in some sense, the same thing. That a symbol and a thing are in some sense interchangeable.
This is the at heart of how Hannibal functions as a show. The process is slow, the creators take their time in teaching the viewers to become familiar with the symbolism and the imagery and the way it works, but what it means is that the texture of the show is so rich it’s almost impossible to describe:
We’re in a church — in Hannibal’s office — in a prison — in a field.
The characters change; they are in darkness; in light; bleeding, broken, dying; alive.
Flowers blossom. A river, ever restless and peaceful. A stag shakes its head. A snail moves, slowly, slowly. The moon wheels across the sky, is hidden by a cloud. A tree in snow. A drop of blood. A match is lit and burns through the screen.
It’s poetry.
(By Season 3 this is quite simply the standard format, and you know that the important thing is what happens between the characters, the setting is (almost) incidental.)
But that’s only half the story.
“As above, so below,” I quoted above, except here the opposite is also true:
‘As below, so above.’
Many shows have characters being undone mentally. But on this show, it becomes physical. It's not enough to have the imagery: it manifests, people are cut open and violated — everyone who comes into contact with Hannibal is warped and undone by him; mentally, emotionally, metaphorically and bodily. Not that he, personally, hurts/kills/eats everyone (… well, not quite everyone), but that’s how the show works. Mental anguish is also physical destruction.
Which brings me to my icon and alllll the Angelus parallels:
“It was art. The destruction of a human being.”
This is Hannibal’s MO in a nutshell. He is an artist. An aesthete. A sensualist. A monster.
And in the dance of him and Will Graham, this exchange could serve as the leitmotif:
Spike: You made me a monster.
Angel: I didn't make you, Spike. I just opened up the door and let the real you out.
Forget Spike’s reply to that statement. Will Graham is no Spike — if he had to be projected onto AtS he’d be an amalgamation of William and Drusilla. And I say that, and immediately I want to add that no, Abigail is Dru. (Gillian Anderson’s character is basically Darla, and equally magnificent.) But then Abigail and Will are mirrored, except of course Hannibal and Graham are mirrored, and goodness, so is every other person. The mirrors never stop. I could make a case for (almost) every character being a mirror for every other character.
I just realised I haven’t even mentioned Jack so far, and ye gods, this is the show that Jack built (that’s built around Jack), he’s at the nexus of them all.
Hannibal is a monster, and knows that about himself, embraces it. Can not be anything other.
But is Will? Is Hannibal’s fascination with Will due to sensing a kindred spirit, or because he hopes to fashion himself a playmate? Who is the real Will Graham? (And now that is a Pandora’s Box of a question that could have endless answers…) ETA: There's a reason they're known as 'Murder Husbands'. The subtext is... painted all over everything in very large letters and exquisitely homoerotic. Also, it's a show that very much considers men as things to be looked at. (I.e. you don't spend three seasons fighting with The Male Gaze, the focus is elsewhere.)
What the show does excessively well is that it makes the viewer complicit. It invites us to take a seat at the table, to watch the monster smile and serve up a dinner that will make you want to choose the vegetarian option (seriously, watching Hannibal prepare meat must have made a good few viewers vegetarian), to urge the monster onwards, even as he destroys everything he touches. (But oh, so beautifully.)
We are all Will Graham.
Overall, I don’t know that this is a show I want to take apart (the above ramblings aside) — it’s just a place I like to sit? And everything is beautiful (and terrible) and exists entirely in metaphor about 75% of the time.
But look how beautiful it is (and yes, that is Gina Torres, yet another outstanding character). How peaceful. The symmetry is another through-thread of the show, like the mirroring reaching out and encompassing the very world it inhabits.
There are very few perfect shows in the world. This is one of them.
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