To the editors:
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The reason why people want to see this movie is revealed when Clarice makes a confession after she discovers a severed head belonging to one of Lecter’s victims. She felt fear, then excitement. I didn’t. The reason I went to see this movie was because it was a cut above most slasher movies. It wasn’t.
There is a tradition in American cinema that has defined the ideal of masculinity. This ideal seems to be loosely based on initiation rites that redefine a boy into a man. Most of these characters are loners, if there is a romantic interest it’s used as a subplot. These men are isolated and get no support from male authority. They reassert themselves by defying authority and destroy some evil against enormous odds.
The main difference between Lecter and George Bush is that Bush is civilized because he has moral and legal justifications for engaging in a war. Lecter has no rationalizations and kills for the sake of killing. The similarity is that both believe it’s OK to impose their standard of morality over others who are weaker than themselves.
