{"id":813,"date":"2011-06-14T20:37:29","date_gmt":"2011-06-14T14:37:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/williamjcobb.com\/blog\/?p=813"},"modified":"2011-06-14T20:37:29","modified_gmt":"2011-06-14T14:37:29","slug":"the-silence-of-the-swedish-lambs-the-girl-with-the-dragon-tattoo-or-our-misbegottten-love-of-serial-killers-stories","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/williamjcobb.com\/blog\/index.php\/2011\/06\/14\/the-silence-of-the-swedish-lambs-the-girl-with-the-dragon-tattoo-or-our-misbegottten-love-of-serial-killers-stories\/","title":{"rendered":"The Silence of the Swedish Lambs: \u201cThe Girl With the Dragon Tattoo,\u201d or Our Misbegottten Love of Serial Killers (Stories)"},"content":{"rendered":"

So a year ago I picked up the Stieg Larsson’s The Girl With the\u00a0Dragon Tattoo<\/em> novel in paperback just to see what all the fuss was about, and I couldn\u2019t really get into it and become a fan, mainly because the style\/story seemed pretty ordinary killer\/suspense stuff, rather flatly written. (I know, I know: Everyone else loves it. Good for them.) But I\u2019ve just watched the Swedish film version, and it\u2019s one of those rare cases where the film works in ways the novel didn\u2019t for me: For one thing, it portrays a gorgeous vision of the world, all snow and glossy urban scenes and forests, moody, well-dressed people, much mystery about everything. But I was struck at its similarities to The Silence of the Lambs\u00a0<\/span>(1991),<\/span><\/em>\u00a0all these years later. Lisbeth is the haunted, victimized Agent Starling, a great character to watch. The framed flowers are a natural-world metaphor that compares to the exotic moths in <\/span>Silence. The serial killer confession (I won\u2019t name names, for those who still haven\u2019t seen it) out-creeps Hannibal Lecter\u2019s articulate musings. But the film is hypnotic with images, painterly and beautiful, even when it\u2019s showing horror.<\/span><\/em>
\nAs I\u2019ve taught Gothic Lit for years, I\u2019ve often been struck at how much the reading public loves serial killer stories. Why? We don\u2019t want to be the victim, but we like to imagine others as the victim, as the killer. To revel in the dark side? For catharsis? A fascination with the gruesome? All of the above? Probably so. And many more oddities of human nature. Acting out murder fantasies via fiction. It\u2019s probably healthier than tweeting pictures of your organs to anonymous strangers, esp if you\u2019re a politician.\u00a0\u00a0
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So a year ago I picked up the Stieg Larsson’s The Girl With the\u00a0Dragon Tattoo novel in paperback just to see what all the fuss was about, and I couldn\u2019t really get into it and become a fan, mainly because … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-813","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-booksfilm"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t