

The novel and the movie both depict Gumb as wanting to be a woman, or at least believing he wants to be a woman, but being psychologically unfit to qualify for gender reassignment surgery.
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It's detailed that Gumb skins his victims, all women, because he's trying to make a skin suit for himself to wear so that he can become a woman.

In the film, however, Gumb's backstory is glossed over, though his difficult past is hinted at. When his grandparents finally adopt him at age 10, Gumb kills them two years later, and his murderous tendencies never stop. Readers learn through Harris' novel that Gumb had a traumatic childhood and was placed in a foster home after his aspiring actress mother spiraled into alcoholism and could no longer properly care for him.

Recently, a theory appeared on Reddit concerning the relationship between Lecter and Bill that could easily change a viewer's entire read on The Silence of the Lambs. While we usually hear analyses about the relationship between Starling and Lecter, people do spend some time talking about the primary killer in The Silence of the Lambs – Buffalo Bill, one of the most terrifying horror movie villains of all time. Hannibal Lecter (Sir Anthony Hopkins) to life. The film's depiction of procedural investigation helped inspire the glut of cop and lawyer shows we've been collectively watching for decades since.Įver since the Criterion Collection released a pristine restoration of The Silence of the Lambs back in February 2018, it feels like we've been thinking and talking about this classic crime thriller more and more. Three years later, Jonathan Demme directed the film adaptation, which perfectly brought Clarice Starling ( Jodie Foster) and Dr. In 1988, Thomas Harris unleashed his novel The Silence of the Lambs onto the world.
