Hannibal and the wily coyote

What is it about Hannibal Lecter that apparently fascinates us, to the point where Hannibal has become one of the biggest films in recent memory? The movie is not a horror movie in the traditional sense of, say, Nightmare on Elm Street or Dracula, or even Psycho or House on Haunted Hill. And it defies categorization in other categories as well. (You. Yeah, you. The one who just suggested "romantic comedy." You may leave the room while the adults talk.)

While Lecter does not victimize the innocent, in the sense that they are victimized in traditional horror flicks, I think we can all agree that he is not a nice person. However, we know this only on an intellectual level. We are told what he has done. We are shown photographs of his work and a snippet of video while he was in prison. When Lecter first meets the police inspector, who speaks to Lecter of the strange circumstances surrounding the disappearance of Lecter's predecessor at the museum, we are led to suspect that said predecessor may have had the good doctor's help "disappearing." However, this would fall into the category of "simple" murder for gain, which is, perhaps, more "rational," more acceptable to modern audiences than picking a citizen at random and whacking him or her solely for amusement, or for a midnight snack.

The fact is, Lecter is presented rather matter-of-factly when he does anything, whether it's to say something like "okey-dokey," or to slit open someone's belly. He is educated, erudite, and knows what wines to drink with dinner. One aspect seems consistent: he seems a likeable fellow, unless you rile him.

I think this is what makes Lecter fascinating to us (though I'm sure I wouldn't want to have him over for dinner). Most of us like to think of ourselves as likeable until riled. Lecter, though, is very good at actualizing the kinds of things that many of us, in some sort of not-thought-through way, from time to time think we would really like to be able to do, i.e., rid ourselves - violently - of people who annoy us.

How many people who have had their pockets picked haven't momentarily mused about having a magic button, by which the missing wallet might be made to explode while in the possession of the thief? Or what about our attitudes toward the idiots who persist in making our lives miserable on the road? Have you ever wished such people a messy, seemingly well-deserved comeuppance?

Such fantasies, of course, ignore the stark realities of life, such as: how suitable the punishment is to the "crime," not to mention what might happen to otherwise innocent bystanders who are near the scene of the "action," as well as other factors.

One factor that helps prevent us from realizing the enormity of such consequences is the subtle conditioning (or not so subtle, depending on your point of view) that most of us experience at the hands of cartoon animators. I speak here of the kind of real-world-deadly-violent activities that, in cartoon form, merely give their victims a five-second bad-hair day and, perhaps, soiled underwear.

The poster child for this phenomenon is Wile E. Coyote, a Looney Tunes cartoon character whose repeated attempts to capture the elusive Roadrunner invariably end in a series of mishaps that, in real life, would be immediately and incontrovertibly fatal.

When we think of the pickpocket with the exploding wallet, we imagine the consequences of the unlucky Coyote having lit off one of those large, economy-sized rockets from the Acme Corporation. (For those who have never seen the cartoon - you lucky people, you - the result is that the rocket inevitably explodes in the Coyote's face, leaving him blackened and smoking, and perhaps discombobulating into a neat, conical pile of ashes on the desert floor.) We don't - and probably can't - imagine anything else, certainly nothing like what would really happen, with a lot of blood and body parts flying about. Nor should we, really.

Failing to focus on the realities of life is something that we, as humans, are really good at. In some cases, the result is something good, such as polio vaccine, which enhances our civilization. In others, the results is something...else, like Hannibal.

Time for musing is later...lunch hour is almost over.

Cheers...