Hannibal | A Macabre Miracle
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 4 ก.ค. 2024
- (SPOILERS: Hannibal (2013) & all 5 films and 4 novels in the Hannibal Lecter franchise)
This video will serve as a complete analysis of Bryan Fuller's 2013 television series Hannibal, beginning with a review of each of the five film adaptations of the four novels that feature Hannibal Lecter, followed by a breakdown of all three seasons, and ending with a conclusion where I outline the absolute sh*t show that was the conception of the source material, thus giving deeper context as to what the show was up against when it set out to translate it to the screen. Let's dig in...
Main: / macabrestorytelling
Live: / @macabrelive8266
Podcast: / @nocritic
[00:00:00] - Shout-outs/Introduction
[00:03:59] - The "Lecter"-Verse
[00:04:31] - Manhunter (1986)
[00:10:15] - The Silence Of The Lambs (1991)
[00:11:23] - Hannibal (2001)
[00:23:36] - Red Dragon (2002)
[00:26:23] - Hannibal Rising (2007)
[00:27:49] - Season 1
[00:32:25] - Will Graham
[00:39:31] - Hannibal Lecter
[00:45:15] - Jack Crawford
[00:51:21] - Alana Bloom
[00:52:03] - Frederick Chilton
[00:53:12] - Freddie Lounds
[00:54:26] - Abel Gideon
[00:56:16] - Abigail Hobbs
[00:57:45] - Bedelia De Maurier
[01:00:07] - Back To Season 1
[01:04:54] - Season 2 (Introduction)
[01:05:33] - Season 2 (First Arc)
[01:13:42] - Season 2 (Second Arc)
[01:34:17] - Season 3 (Introduction)
[01:37:42] - Season 3 (First Arc)
[01:50:28] - Season 3 (Second Arc)
[02:04:44] - Conclusion
[02:06:09] - Go F*ck Yourself, Dino De Laurentiis
[02:20:10] - Outro/Patrons
SOURCES:
Hannibal: How Bryan Fuller Approached the Iconic Character (IGN): www.ign.com/articles/2013/04/...
'But Dino, I don't want to make a film about elephants...' (The Guardian): www.theguardian.com/film/2001...
Marquee names serve up another helping of Hannibal (USA Today): usatoday30.usatoday.com/life/...
Scout’s report: 3 pix poised for multiplexes (Variety): variety.com/2005/film/awards/...
Hannibal Lecter meets his end (Entertainment Weekly): ew.com/article/2007/02/16/han...
VIDEO:
Conversation w/ Thomas Harris (LTV East Hampton): • Conversations - Thomas...
'The Silence Of The Lambs' Wins Best Picture (64th Academy Awards): • The Silence of the Lam...
Jodie Foster Wins Best Actress (64th Academy Awards): • Jodie Foster Wins Best...
Anthony Hopkins Wins Best Actor (64th Academy Awards): • Anthony Hopkins Wins B...
Jonathan Demme Wins Best Director (64th Academy Awards): • Jonathan Demme Wins Be...
Ted Tally Wins Best Adapted Screenplay (64th Academy Awards): • The Silence of the Lam...
Steven Zaillian accepts Screen Laurel Award (2011 WGA Awards): • 2011 WGA Awards: Steve...
David Mamet accepts Screen Laurel Award (2005 WGA Awards): • William H. Macy presen...
Hannibal & Will's "Platonic" Relationship (2014 PaleyFest Panel): • Hannibal at PaleyFest ...
"Round 2... FIGHT!" (Green Screen VFX): • Street Fighter Round 2...
Dino de Laurentiis recieves Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award (73rd Academy Awards): • Dino de Laurentiis rec...
Breaking The Silence: The Making of 'Hannibal': • Hannibal 2001 Making o...
'La Strada' Wins Best Foreign Language Film (29th Academy Awards): • "La Strada" Wins Forei...
Inside Red Dragon | Behind The Screams: • Inside Red Dragon | Be...
MUSIC:
"Goldberg Variations, BWV 988" by Johann Sebastian Bach: • Goldberg Variations Co...
"1812 Overture (Finale)" by Piotr Ilich Tchaikovsky: • Piotr Ilich Tchaikovsk...
"Anguish" by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. creativecommons.org/licenses/...
"Jingle Bell"s by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. creativecommons.org/licenses/... - ภาพยนตร์และแอนิเมชัน
I have your mom for gym class and she told us all to watch your videos LOL
Sorry if there is too much swearing 🤬
Tell her I love her!
Omg this is hilarious 😂
Figure I would let you know. I just stumbled across another video about a horror game where the creature they are battling is a wendigo ( a supernatural creature that results from a man who has eaten a fellow man based on native American folklore)
While describing the creature they touched upon a version of the wendigo depicted as a a gaunt human with staghorn made by a British retelling of the myth.
That's the figure will sees hanibal as. The staghorns erupting from his head in the asylum is marker of his transformation into a killer too.
I just thought it was neat.@@MacabreStorytelling
My favourite thing about recommending Hannibal to friends is that they assume it’s a by-the-numbers police procedural only to discover it’s essentially a 39-hour art film.
And also that it is pretty gay.
I was honestly super surprised by the horror elements. Obv when dealing with cannibalism it kind of automatically falls into the role of “horror” but I always thought they were gonna make it more like a drama. Certain jumpscares or scenes genuinely frightened me like nothing else has and then immediately afterwards was always a feeling of “I can’t believe this show just did that”
Came for the investigation, then came to Mads Milkensen.
@@Ozloz This is where being a network show helped them. Who knows if we would have gotten more season out of it had it aired on something like Showtime, considering how desperate they were to have something replace Dexter you would have thought it would have been a natural fit. But I genuinely don't know if this show would have been able to work properly if they also didn't have to censor themselves, getting away with more than any network show ever has or ever will again. Seeing most of the violence through Will's imagination gives them a lot of leeway. And the acts in some case being impossible and only works because you don't think about in reality but in terms of dream logic. If they could have done whatever they wanted and shown what Hannibal does when he commits his acts as the Chesapeake Ripper. Imagine them starting in the pilot with what he does to Cassie Boyle while she is still alive. It's like surgical Jigsaw meets Hostel. Will established correctly that Hannibal does it partly because he is a sadist when talking about the copycat. The other which is never brought up because it would alienate but heavily implied is his insane curiosity of wanting to see just how much damage and suffering the human body and mind can endure before a person breaks and then dies. Giving him future insight into how he can possibly break people and build them up in his image.
The times he does kill quickly it's because he's out of time, self defense, or if he really respects a person like Beverly Katz who he understands was just doing her job and who he considered to be a courteous professional person. In his own sick way he "honored" her with the display cases. But they were careful to let you know he had her knocked out and didn't make her suffer. And it's clear Fuller wrote it that way because he knew it would already be a big blow. Had Hannibal killed her like he does in Ripper mode the audience would feel betrayed and that Hannibal wasn't playing fair. Even though he does it to innocent people all the time. By not seeing it, Fuller can try to make you the viewer complicit much in the same way Bedelia is fully aware what will happen when she didn't shoot Hannibal after she caught him in her shower. But for reasons that are not fully clear to even herself she decides she wants to observe him in his natural habitat.
Remove the post credit scene and the show does actually have a perfect ending. Should they manage to get to revive the show one day I won't be able to stay away. I do want to know what Fullers original 5-6 season plan was where it would go if they could get the rights to use Clarice, and if they didn't what he wanted to do then. At the same time, surviving that fall could be a real shark jumper and with the ending we got and with the deleted ending we know either way that Will joined Hannibal. Likely justifying it in his mind doing what they do from now on. Because the last thing that was good in Will died trying to take them out having failed he's now following Hannibal no matter what. Without it becoming a different show and without Clarice who would need to be drastically different in terms of capability to stand up to both of them. Possibly being able to turn will back in the last season. I don't see here the show could go. So I'd rather Fuller do some fun sitdown with the cast outlining his plans the way he would do them if there was no camera. Or do it in a book. So if he does jump the shark it's easier to ignore.
"it's actually pretty romantic if you ignore the coercive undertones" is a wonderful one sentence recap of the show
tbh this is a great way to summarize the entire subgenre of like, queer romance but make it toxic and homicidal
Hannibal did nothing wrong and is misunderstood. He was just hungry.
“ Whenever possible, one should always *eat the rude.* ”
Have a Snickers
he's literally just a girl
"Shit, even the writers do".
My dude, Bryan Fuller is THE biggest hannigram shipper there is lol The guy literally buys fan merch with the characters and is a very appreciated figure in the community. He is not just playing the couple for the shit and giggles, he is literally making you see his own Hannigram fanfiction. The only difference is that his fanfiction is canon.
"This is my design"
he is also a gay man
I love Mikkelson's Hannibal. Unlike the previous theatrical incarnations, Mikkelsen is just imposing. He always appears calm but can snap to 100 at any point, then back to 0 without breaking stride. Like when he attacked Beverly in his basement, or when he had Jack cornered in the pantry.
He's utterly terrifying, and you never know what he's going to do or say. He's an enigma, and a captivating one to witness.
That shot of Jack opening the door only to see Hannibal sprint at him while dual wielding blades was sick as hell
@@MacabreStorytelling Yes and can you believe that NBC was able to air this gorefest with just an TV-14 rating instead of an MA?
@@paintingcube3853really? O_O it must be the only case of a channel really underrating the violence of a show, usually it's the opposite (especially in US)
On Valhalla Rising the scene where Mads calmly disemboweled a guy with no emotion was perfect prelude to being Hannibal
There is a moment where NBC Will is (hilariously, aptly) described as a "pathetic, twitchy little man" and I think that best sums up my love for Hugh Dancy's portrayal of him.
I never thought he was pathetic, I had a crush on him at the time. I just thought he was an introvert that did better with animas and nature.
It's actually "righteous, reckless, twitchy little man", he was never described as pathetic since that would be a very unfair characterization of him. But the way Bedelia says it definitely screams "you pathetic petty dumb boy"
I'm not sure you mentioned this but I have to shout out the INSANE script this show has. Nobody has a normal conversation the entire time, even outside of Will and Hannibal being extra with it. Talking to shadows suspended on dust, the mongoose under the house when the snake slithers by, Nietzschean fish. Wonderful.
Season 3 was especially crazy 💀 they were answering questions with questions, philosophizing constantly, speaking in symbols... my brain sighed with relief when Jimmy and Brian appeared and just talked normally!
The dialogue is completely unbelievable, but it's consistently impossible to believe and that kinda loops it back around into being credible. Like that's just how they talk in Hannibalworld, I guess.
I'm still awestruck that NBC not only greenlit this thing but, after deciding it was a ratings disappointment, still gave Fuller another full season so he could properly finish the story.
“Season 3 of Hannibal is a loose adaptation of Hannibal” while accurate and makes complete sense, is really funny to hear
Yeah should have been more specific lol
It’s also a loose adaptation of Red Dragon, which is also true of the whole series. Bryan Fuller was fucking with us.
So glad people are starting to talk about how BATSHIT crazy the Hanibal books are
I know, although the pig baby thing from the show might have it all topped tbh
@@rhiannongreen2642 Since it didn't live I buy that more than Clarice falling for Lecter.
We know that he was told if he didn't write Hannibal Rising someone else would. But I do wonder if he had similar pressures for getting Hannibal done. Hannibal himself doesn't act particularly out of character. And you can explain Clarice behaving the way she does by how Hannibal's particular way of healing her wound broke her. Had it been Hannibal getting what he wanted and him giving Clarice a "happy" life until he had molded her brain to the point where he didn't need to use any manipulation anymore. That would be a terrifying ending but one that would make sense for Hannibal to do to someone he feels like he loves and wants to keep. Harris wanting it to be clear that he did heal her trauma, in the middle is lucid enough to realize what is going on and not even resisting the idea of Hannibal turning half of her into Micha just as long as she gets to be herself partly. Could work if there was a sense that Clarice understood she was helpless and this was her way of being able to somewhat survive. But he goes out of his way to make it clear that Clarice decides to share the rest of her life with him willingly and happily.
Hannibal came out in 2013 and True detective came out in 2014. I think if Hannibal had aired on HBO instead of NBC, it really could have skyrocketed into the cultural zeitgeist the way TD S1 did
This is, this is so true. They are two best series, so much substance
I agree! It should have been a prime time HBO show. It’s definitely popular right now but it would’ve been even more so
If memory serves me, despite its low ratings on NBC it was one the most heavily torrented series at the time.
With that in mind I think it was good choice to cast Glen Fleshler as a twisted version of Cordell since we just saw him in True Detective s1 play the serial killer Errol Childress/Yellow King
But it wouldn’t have been as good
Having limitations made them be creative
Mikkelsen’s ability to use micro-expressions while acting made his portrayal even more fun to watch.
I think that the purpose of Bedelia (and to a lesser extent, Chiyoh) was to contrast Will’s relationship with Hannibal. Bedelia was another person whom Hannibal attempted to manipulate, but to also show his true self, and Bedelia was repulsed by him. She went along with his schemes solely out of self-preservation, but she never got any pleasure from it in the same way that Will does, nor does she ever fully accept or understand Hannibal, unlike Will
If we got bodybuilder Margot in this show, her and Allana would be 'Love Lies Bleeding' 9 years before the actual movie.
BASED
Hannibal the show leans hard into the absurdity and comedy, while maintaining an 80s art house film aesthetic (per Fuller's words). There are smash cuts of a forensic team member going "well, what is he doing with these intestines then? Making sausages? hardihar!" to Hannibal cooking said sausages with said intestine, or when Hannibal flips through his recipe cards, and his list of contacts and combines the two in a sort of "grocery shopping" montage, or the numerous cannibal puns, it's basically a romcom after watching it a few times.
or the maybe that rabbit should have ran faster scene. Or the way Will looks at Hannibal throughout season 1 I SWEAR
Nothing will top Mason theatrically flopping onto Hannibal's sofa and exclaiming "I WANT TO TALK ABOUT CAMP!"
I was really undecided about Mason, but then I knew exactly what the writer's were doing with him
@KurtVonRockin every time mason opens his mouth hannibal just looks at him like "could you not". Or when mason stabs the chair, or the whole dinner scene in season 3, there was a youtube video where someone edited a laugh track under it and it was hilarious. Just mason in general is so funny to me.
it is so funny! and i didn't notice the humour almost at all until my rewatch! the show is incredible and upon every watch i find something new in it.
Bedelia's purpose to show how the closest to 'being seen' by an equal Hannibal can get is still ultimately disatisfying, highlighting how important Will is to Hannibal.
Also she's there for Hannibal to use to make Will jealous. lol. That man is pettier than a scorned teenage mean girl.
Brian Fuller is an underrated genius, a truly innovative weirdo who unfortunately has never reached his full potential because studios keep cancelling his shows and putting restrictions on him. Wonderfalls is great as well, one of my favourite sitcoms ever, even though it only lasted one season.
American Gods is my favorite thing he's worked on because of how much I loved the book and how much material there was for Fuller to go buckwild with, and it breaks my heart that it got kneecapped in every way
@@skyr5247HE did american gods?? okay should i go watch more of it ? idk why but i tapped out after like a few episodes i don’t remember shit lol
@@angiebangie6372 I think you should watch it, even if it suffers from executive meddling as the seasons go on bc it's still a fun watch and has all the Fuller-isms like surreal scenes and gorgeous visuals!
@@angiebangie6372he only did one season though. He quit the show while writing for season two due to budget issues.
"i do think its a.... Platonic love...."
Madds' little head nod says more than any words could, lol
I think that Bedelia is also another stand in for Clarice in the show, with Hannibal fucking with her head, her having to develop another personality, partaking in cannibalism and running away with Lecter abroad.
She follows along with a similar fate to Clarice but manages to retain her sanity. It's an homage to Clarice's ending but fixes it.
I also love Gillian Anderson, I'd watch anything she acted in so I may be a bit biased in my love for Bedelia. But she does represent ny favourite thing about Hannibal, the ability to carry over most of the story and characters of the whole franchise, and mush them together in a complete reimagining that maintains the soul of the original and adds its own distinctive stylistic flare. It's the best kind of adaptation, it loves the source material and is faithful to its soul but transforming it into something new and different.
This is a great take on Bedelia, I would've never thought about that
I thought the same thing too. She even refers to herself as "Bluebeard's wife" or something at some point, so I thought it was pretty clear what her role was.
@@maggiemcfly5267 I hadn't immediately made the connection but with the proximity of the two concepts in this video it did make it a bit more clear.
At some point in my second watch through is when I noticed the parallels more clearly at one of the dinner scenes in Florence.
You can’t possibly understand how elated I am to have a 2 and a half hour video about my favorite tv show oh my god by brain is buzzing. This show is so special.
Don't judge me, but watching Hannibal makes me hungry
That means you've got good taste. :-)
@@SSJ3Mewtwo To clarify, not a taste for longpig 😂
@@qjames0077 Never much cared for it myself.
Oh nah
I mean, the dude can cook. If I were gonna be eaten, I think I'd prefer to be turned into the absolutely heinously pretentious shit Hannibal makes.
This is such a small thing, but even the title of the show employs one of my favorite tropes: It promises to be centered on a particular character, but it was really about someone else the whole time
I interpreted the Bedelia/Hannibal dynamic as a foil to (or substitute of) the Hannibal/Will dynamic once the two of them start having "relationship problems" (to put it lightly).
Hannibal searches her out after the two not seeing each other for some time, to ask her to be his therapist and friend, with Hannibal exploring Will's role in the dynamic. She rejects this friendship, but he's now tested the control he has over her.
At the end of season 2, when Hannibal doesn't get Will to run away with him, he takes Bedelia instead. He's got much more control over her, so he's able to live out that escape fantasy, while also setting up an appetizing trail for Will to follow.
Hannibal uses people, sets them up as pawns to be used now, or a later time. Bedelia is a very useful pawn for Hannibal. She's an intellectual peer, a beautiful and sophisticated woman that reflects Hannibal's own tastes; both of which makes her an attractive and pliable housemate. But most importantly, she has a skeleton in her closet that only Hannibal knows about, and the psychological manipulation he used on her was very successful.
It might just be that I'm a Gillian Anderson fan, but I enjoyed her presence in the show. Her character gives Hannibal some more backstory, and we get to see some of Hannibal's own psychology through their conversations. We get to see someone who is Hannibal's colleague and peer, even more so than Alana. And, we get to see this strange psycho-sexual tension thing that Hannibal and Will have going on as something that Hannibal has done before, but that she wasn't willing to go as far, and Hannibal is much less interested in her than he is in Will.
Great video!
I completely agree… god… I felt tears in my eyes seeing how badly my man was hating on her 💔
"He's supposed to be a f_ck up little freak" and that is Hugh's Will Graham! Thank you for this video essay, as a new Hannibal fan I really appreciate it. Will Graham is my favorite character and I feel that the series gives more depth to his character
The season 2 finale is one of the finest hours of television I've ever seen. **That** reveal was one of the times, I could count on one hand in my life, I screamed at the screen
Man, Hannibal is something else. Highly artistic batshit insane series I still cannot believe it was aired. Just the cooking scenes are 10/10(everytime I see Hannibal cooking I must remind myself the meat is people )
I have no evidence for this theory but I think that when the books were written, psychology was still only peripherally understood by popular culture. People knew it existed as a clinical practice but an audience wouldn't know much about how it actually worked or what it could do in real life. No criminal psychologist would need to go to another convicted serial killer for insight on one they were investigating, for example. If they did, they would get nothing meaningfully useful out of it. The books also just generally have a terrible understanding of criminal psychology in general. Anyway, all this is to say that in the Hannibal-verse psychology really is basically magic. Leaning into the magical realism aspect of the concept really plays a huge part in making the TV series work. Trying to play the same thing in a straight up, grounded way would immediately tear a modern audience out of the story just because of how absurd it all was.
The books have a bad understanding?
...Uh, just based off of what I (vaguely) remember, the books are pretty--outdated. Like there's some pretty bad transphobia in there, complete lack of understanding of LGBT+ stuff. Bryan Fuller's team did a lot to change it and honestly I'm surprised this wasn't even addressed in the characters section.
Most underrated and low key apex of television show ever
The Hannibal TV show definitely portrays psycho/sociopathy as basically superpowers, and Bryan Fuller's shows always have elements of magical realism to various degrees. The idea that the show has an "evil hivemind" that Will taps into isn't completely off base with the mechanics that are directly shown throughout the series.
I accepted very early on that the plot only made sense-any sense at all-if Hannibal Lecter was some kind of supernatural entity, and Will Graham had some kind of psychic power.
Yeah, I ended up seeing Hannibal as mor of a devil figure rather than a normal psychopath
i thought he was just reconstructing the event by timeline and understanding each events intent to get the full mind of the murder, and end up being able to think like him so can predict what is his next move will be. i don’t feel like it is superpower… hannibal being so perfect that could be superpower lol
@@AppleFrogTomatoFace Will can regularly just know what people with mind-altering brain tumors or literal manic schizophrenia are thinking with almost exact correctness, and at the end of the day that's basically being psychic.
@@escalatingbarbarism5096 idk the show tells us him being very intelligent, so maybe he has some knowledge of medical effects. he just couldn't properly recall and tell it like his intuition or something. idk he feels like the tv show sherlock holmes or mentalist patrick jane, bit less organized in his knowledge and more empathetic, i guess. and there are real ppl who can do these things, but obviously less accurate. but since it is a show, and the main characters are suppose to be world's best or something so i could see it as reality.
I'm so glad to see that at least one youtuber who made a video essay about this show agrees they shouldn't make more. Because, honestly, if they do end up making a season 4, I don't think I'll watch it. I just love this ending for the series so much, I don't think I can bare to have there be more. Besides, my interpretation of that ending means there can't be more, because I will forever interpret that final fall over the cliff of a perfect empath and perfect psychopath as love ultimately conquering over evil. Cuz while Will has many reasons to pull them both over the edge (which you eluded to brilliantly in this video essay btw), Hannibal only has one reason to LET him. And I don't care what anyone says, Hannibal LET Will pull him over the edge. And that's so beautiful, I just can't imagine the show just picking back up with them both alive. An excellent essay. Highly recommend.
This is really great. I'm only 45 minutes into it but I'm very glad to hear that you're focusing on the nature of Hannibal as "pure evil" or whatever, not just the product of negative influences. That's the only reason the character is interesting to me, and I suspect for a lot of people. I loved the Hannibal show because I think it was true to this idea, and actually deepened it. I think Hannibal in the show isn't just a mystery to others, including Will. He's also a mystery to himself, and in part, his friendship with Will is a surprise to him as well. Pursuing a kind of love for Will is an act of self-knowledge for Hannibal.
he feels very much like the devil incarnate. curious about how far he can corrupt people’s minds and motives, loves to hang death over whomever he can at a whim, repeatedly refers to god as if he wants to be god or emulate god’s power over the lives of others. i feel like there’s actually quite a lot of religious subtext if you look at it from a certain lens. will feels close to being jesus; extremely empathetic and a martyr figure who seems set up to suffer in order to save people because it’s put on his shoulders as a responsibility. but what would happen if these two figures became inextricably intimate and codependent? idk maybe that’s a stretch on my part 😂
Mads absolutely ate the role up, but the character of Will and Hugh’s performance are definitely my favorite parts of the show.
Hannibal is extravagant, pretentious, pretty schlock. And, once I saw that Hannibal fight scene in the first season, I was convinced the creative forces behind the show were happy to indulge in it. I was just along for the ride after that.
Hell yeah.
Broke my heart when they cancelled it. It was Shakespearean tragedy for the modern world.
Can i just say that the one storyline that stuck with me is how Hannibal dealt with Jack Crawford's Young Protege that stumbled upon him at Jack's prodding.
Miriam Lass 😢 poor lady
@@Royal_Chief_Architect yea,Miriam Lass. I couldn't place her name at the time I I commented.
Her ordeal was so heartbreaking and I think the most depressing part is the fact that We,the audience,kinda were in Jack's shoes and gave up believing she was dead. And then the guilt as it's revealed she was alive the whole time. 😪
39:50 Each of the three actors tasked with portraying Hannibal Lecter puts their own spin on the character, but they also represent the character at different phases of his life. Mads Mikkelsen's Hannibal is Hannibal at his apex, hence the physicality. His true nature is still unknown to the public. Thus, he is more diligent about cultivating a persona and charming people to avoid suspicion. Lastly, because Hannibal is young, he is much more curious about the world and less world-weary.
TLDR, Mads Mikkelsen is the definitive *young* Hannibal and Ser Anthony Hopkins is the definitive *old* Hannibal Lecter.
I love how Fuller really leaned into this quote about Lecter, “Nothing happened to me, I happened.”
I agree that the more you leave to the imagination and the less you explain, the more exciting! Our imaginations are often better than the best of writers or actors. Seems like these days too many movies want to just hand over to audiences exactly what they want and over explain everything. Takes the fun out of it.
For the whole thing of the ambigous dynamic between Hannibal and other characters repeating itself in Bedelia, Chiho, maybe even Randall Tier - I think Bedelia gives us the answer to why they exist. They are all Bluebeards wives. And Will gets to be the last. Also for me they serve a purpose to highlight why the relationship between Will and Hannibal is so special, because in comparison it only becomes clear just how vulnerable Hannibal is to Will, that even though he cruelly manipulates him like the others, he also treats him so differently.
Brian Fuller had the artistic vision and audacity to take one of the most iconic horror villains of all time and ask the bold question: “what if he was a dilf?” And I respect and appreciate him deeply for doing it.
Loved the video, really does a great job of summarizing all of the source material and the genius of Hannibal. Watching Season 2 for the first time was just as exciting and nail biting as you described.
Another thing I want to add is that I think the show is more explicit in their romance than you give it credit for lol, particularly in Season 3. Freddie ends up calling them Murder Husband in one of her publications. Immediately after their reunion, Hannibal expresses his feelings about seeing Will again to Bedelia, repeatedly using the word love and saying, “You cannot control whom you love”. Hannibal and Will continue to share some of the most intimate lines throughout the season, like when Hannibal tells Will in Italy, “If I were to see you every day, forever Will, I would remember this time.” Along with Hannibal’s reasoning for turning himself in, we get multiple conversations relating to their “family” and domesticity of them, like when Hannibal senses that Will is raising a child and says “I gave you a child, Will. Do you remember?” Beyond all of that, Will literally asks Bedelia, “Is Hannibal in love with me?” and she confirms this and asks if he yearns for him in turn.
I absolutely agree that their relationship shouldn’t be simplified to just romance or kinship or a cat and mouse game, but I think it’s worth making a distinction in this case that the shippers aren’t just pulling it out of their ass like with other media.
Definitely a fan now, I’ll be checking out other videos now. Hope you do a video on Black Sails. Its like if Game of Thrones did everything right but with Pirates. It’s a prequel to Treasure Island and one of the best but underrated shows of all time. Plenty of “Macambreness” to dissect there lol.
I agree with everything you wrote & definitely second doing a video on Black sails!! Amazing series, so many complex characters with compelling relationships (the relationship between Anne Bonnie and Calico Jack is unlike anything I’ve ever seen depicted before, and that’s without adding Max to the mix)… I wish more people knew about it
Gotta say, I kinda understand the idea of Hannibal seeing Clarice as a proxy for his sister because it helps explain why he would give any amount of shit about her - and especially enough not to murder her as soon as she got in his way, unlike how he was willing to kill Will Graham despite their relationship being far more fleshed out. Like why was *she* so special? I mean, I don't *love* it; I agree with the idea of Hannibal having no real "reason" for his behavior making his character far more interesting and disturbing - like I got the impression he looks down on the killers with sorta textbook backgrounds explaining their whole "deal". Like they're beneath him *because* they're psychopathy or whathaveyou can be "explained"/traced back to past trauma, etc. But at least the sister angle helps explain something I found difficult to understand: that he was willing to kill someone like Will cause he got too close but then would mutilate himself (the only person he truly cares about) instead of hurting Clarice.
...But then I got to the part explaining what actually happened at the end of the book and I'm like, "Look, Harris, I was trying to throw you a bone here - benefit of the doubt - and THIS is how you repay me? LITERAL character assassination? Yeah, there's no defense for that, I can no longer represent you as my client."
Between Loundes and Chiltern, Thomas Harris clearly has beef with someone named Fred.
Hopkins' performances got campier and campier. It was ludicrous.
The TV series is sublime. Mulitiple viewings deliver augmenting returns.
I’m a photographer so the visuals by James Hawkinson is what pulled me in at first, but Bryan Fuller might have pulled what Chernobyl did. A beautifully written show and grade S acting.
Also, I don’t usually watch 2 hours video but man you did it!
1:28:43 If I remember correctly, at the end of season 2, Jack who has been put on leave by the FBI and learning the FBI doesn't plan to arrest Hannibal but Will, goes to Hannibal's home with unclear intentions but probably with the urge to kill him, so I think the fact Will warns Hannibal is still very ambiguous: he wants Hannibal to run away, but it may be to protect Hannibal from being killed by Jack, it may also be to protect Jack from being killed by Hannibal, or it may be both if he has still not been able to choose sides.
I forgot about that moment of pure idiocy from the FBI lol, but I guess for the FBI it's on brand
Will explained his intentions in s3, he directly admits to jack that he called hannibal to warn him so he can escape, and that he wanted to run away with him.
@@l_745 Indeed, I forgot this part
OH FUCK YEAH. literally LAST NIGHT i was in a fever delirium lamenting how tragic it is that i haven't seen more video essays about this, my favourite show, considering... everything about it. and today this just falls on my lap?! really gonna enjoy the next 2 hours.
One of my favorite fun facts about the show is that they often had to put more blood on the dead bodies to cover up the nudity of them being naked. Gotta love American network tv censorship.
AMERICA… FUCK YEAH!
about your question for how some scenes were shown on NBC, Fuller actually credits the network guideline staff for being very accomadating and giving ways they could pull it off. like 'you can show this but cut it by 2 sec' or 'cover this scene with more blood so it hides some stuff you can't show'.
i give NBC some credit despite my frustrations about how the show was handled in other areas (looking at you marketing)
I see Bedelia as a call to the Clarice that ran away with him in a romantic twist and also a cautionary tale about what can happen if you repeatedly escape and rejoin Hannibal. I also agree about the ending of the show. It was perfect and I want more but that's how you know it was so good!!
My favorite tv series of all time. I absolutely adore it. The fact that it got canceled is a crime against humanity.
Thank you for finally using that "it's macabre" clip. I can now finally start to recommend your videos to people.
No I'm just goofing, I actually linked to your Shield retrospective to people before, it's just about the only review of the series I've ever seen, great show and video about it too.
The tv show is a love story. A total sociopath and a total empath connecting. The last scene of them falling over the cliff is a little cheesy but it’s a perfect ending. It’s one of the best tv series ever. Season 2 finale was brilliant.
Made it to the end and love the idea that Harris included the brain scene as a metaphor. Video definitely did not disappoint!
Babe, wake up, new Macabre Storytelling just dropped.
Came out of the hyperbolic time chamber for this one
1:55:20 Ooh, peep that split diopter shot - Hannibal, you spoil us.
So kinda fun story about Eddie Izzard (since I just finished the little bit about Abel Gideon): My mom loved the show Hannibal and especially Eddie Izzard's performance (we've been fans since I was little - I have Dress to Kill almost completely memorized lawl). Well me, my mom and a friend all went to see Eddie Izzard perform stand-up and this was after they'd already been in the show. After the performance, Eddie Izzard did a bit of a Q&A with the crowd that stuck around. Now, my mom is quite tall and she was wearing this large ring (kind of like a piece of costume jewelry) and she turned it around in her hand so it faced out from her palm when she raised her hand to ask a question and boy howdy, it worked. Eddie Izzard immediately called on her and she asked them how they liked playing the role of Abel Gideon. I swear I don't remember what they said because I was struck by how slick my mom was to get their attention and get her question answered.
1:08:24 i’m so glad ur bringing up the strange presentation of death in this show. i hate gore and horror, i often have to close my eyes. but in this show i found myself unable to draw my eyes off the screen (except when mason cut his face off oh god). i always describe the whole thing as horrific yet hypnotic. horrifying in how hypnotic it is and hypnotic in how horrifying it is. the crime scenes are often put together like art projects in one way or another and in a literal sense that lacks comprehension skills, yes it’s “bad” to romanticize murdering (i’m looking at the serial killer fan clubs) but it makes sense as a symbolic (?) device. we, like will, are slowly being seduced by violence and death. hannibal sees death as beautiful i think, and us seeing that is bringing us into his fucked up little opera listening killer cannibalism chef mind. as a video essay i watched a while ago said, we begin to feel in collusion with him at times.
I can rest peacefully now that you have blessed us with that Steve Rambo clip in one of your videos
It's too bad Hannibal was a little early for youtibe essays and also not as popular. Your video was a treat! And your little psychoanalysis at the end actually gripped me. You might have cooked something there lol!
I wasn't aware of the pressure put on the author to write the (third and) fourth book, which explains a lot regarding the drop in quality...
Also, I heard that a season 4 might eventually be produced, but after all this time I hope it won't happen because as you said 1) this ending is perfect : open but not too much, with some ambiguities/interpretations left to the audience's choice, 2) the source material after the red dragon could be to the detriment of a future season, and 3) I'm afraid of the syndrom of "the awful last season ruining an entire great show" (poke GoT, and some others)
On another subject, I personnally think that one of the main reason of the "low" ratings during the airing of this series, is simply that it's very particular in its intrigue, with a slow pacing, quite "grey" morally, plus horrific and very violent, both graphically and psychologically, with a constant "unhealthy" atmosphere. This just can't / won't keep as many viewers as a regular tv show. And I speak by experience, I struggled to watch Hannibal up to the end, because of this combinaison (even GoT, which is very violent, for me is way below Hannibal on this point) but I don't regret it because the writing, the characters, the dialogues, the main theme... are just brilliant.
He probably would've been too young to play Will Graham at the time, but I can see Jake Gyllenhaal doing very well as the guy who's always on rhe verge of s breakdown. But I guess that's just what he did in Prisoners .
I'm in the middle of exam hell and it is so tempting to indulge myself in this but no, I'm gonna wait I'm sure this will be a great gift to myself once i have the time until then, take this like and keep them coming
On the production of season 3, I’m not totally sure when they found out that NBC wasn’t renewing the show, but they 100% knew before the filming of season 3 began and it may have been as early as the end of the production of season 2. IIRC this is the reason the show ends how it does, they ended up combining the plans for season 3 and 4 resulting in the first half of season 3 being the original season 3 plan and the red dragon plot from the second half being the original plan for season 4. With the reasoning for the ending being that it was a satisfying ending for the story, but the ambiguity of their survival meant that the show could continue if another network picked it up.
Also I think Chiyoh's role in the story makes more sense when you know that she was not the character originally intended to fill this role. Originally the role was supposed to be introduced earlier and filled by Hannibals uncle but the actor they wanted declined because of scheduling conflicts, but asked them to reach out again if the role was still open in later seasons.* I think the devotion and sense of responsibility makes more sense with that more immediate familial connection and the fact that his uncle was his guardian for at least some of his childhood. So if you need a character from Hannibals past that has some sort of familial obligation to him and you don’t want to cast someone else as his uncle, you’re left with Lady Murasaki or Chiyoh and tbh I think Chiyoh was the correct choice because I don’t see a way of having it be lady Murasaki without having to at least acknowledge the weird pseudo-incest thing from the book/movie.
*The actor they wanted for his uncle was actually David Bowie, who declined at the time saying that he was busy with music but with his death in 2016 it's likely he declined because he was ill.
Starting the video and hearing that you say you're throwing in a free analysis/review of the movies?? I gotta say you know how to go above and beyond
MORE THAN TWO HOURS OF MY BOI MACABRE?! Sorry, guys, no Tarkov today, I am watching this here and now and then again a couple of times.
Glad you pointed out how awful hannibal was. I was willing to go with it, because I actually was into the Mason revenge storyline. But pazzi subplot was, as you put it, pointless and could've been removed. The Margo stuff was weird, but I was trying to go with it. I think the anticipation of their reuniting was done better in the book, but I was literally shouting NO NO NO NO with the Three months later...
I couldn't believe wtf I just read and was so upset I had to find a new book immediately. I watched the movie after, and couldn't believe it could get any worse. The ending in the movie is better, but a retread so idk. Red dragon was bad. And Edward Norton was a bad Graham. I haven't seen the series. Manhunter is a classic.
I feel like the biggest difference between Will and Bedelia's relationships with Hannibal is that, while both of them love, and are to some extent in love, with Hannibal, only Will's love is returned. But, while Will doesn't fully understand that he loves Hannibal, Bedelia is completely aware of her own love for him, and it's what's making her so inconsistent. She's aware that Hannibal doesn't love her back, and at her core she doesn't want to love Hannibal, but he has played with her mind too much for her to feel like she can get over him, so instead she's constantly flipping between trying to leave him, and playing along with him as to try and convince him that he can love her back. The entire dynamic works between Will and Hannibal, both because whatever they have is mutual, but also because they are the main characters we follow, so we actually get some of what's going on from both sides. With someone like Bedelia who's a smaller side character, we don't really get enough substance from her to understand her relationship with Hannibal, we only get to understand Hannibal's relationship with her, which is that of a bored man and his psychiatrist turned play thing. He doesn't really care for Bedelia, but she's convenient to have around; and if he can't have his favourite person/play thing, he might as well bring along his second best play thing since it's already so attached, and he likes company.
I'm only 10 minutes into this video, but I'm hoping the book "Becoming genre, queerness, and transformation in NBC's Hannibal" is mentioned. it's probably only tangently related, but whenever I see people include this book in deconstructions l'm always amazed
This is so detailed and was very helpful in understanding the Hannibal verse thank you so much for making this video! It's so crazy to see the fandom thrive even after more than a decade since its inception.
This is so incredible.
I tried to watch Hannibal when it was on T.V but couldn't stomach the torture and tension. Summaries like this are so appreciated! THANK YOU!!
I had to watch like 3 or 4 TH-camrs' reactions of the series before I could watch the series itself. It's a good halfway point to get into this amazing show.
Calling hannigram bloody boyfriends!!!!! How have I never heard that before. I love it
Bedelia serves three purposes
-give incite into Hannibal
-mystery and show that Hannibal has been torturing his patients for a long time
-showing what would have happened had Clarice run off with Hannibal
There's no way, I watched Hannibal years ago and just finished a rewatch so my partner could watch it too, we finished it 2 DAYS AGO! Perfect timing for this so thank you so much
One of my favorite shows of all time, alongside True Detective. I'm so happy to see you post about this. Thank you!
Idk why but your referring to Dino and Martha as “the DeLaurentii” like they’re some exotic species of cactus is hilarious.
I stole it from The Social Network where Mark calls the Winkelvoss twins the “Wilkelvi”
Great work! Man, Hannibal is such an extraordinary show. I also cannot believe this shit aired on NBC! It's easily the most disturbing, and the most alienatingly artful, drama to air on network TV since the original Twin Peaks.
Agree with you on the Verger arc, and Mason specifically. Pitt is just a bit too over-the-top-evil and the whole plot feels too cartoonish even for a show like Hannibal. It kind of grinds the momentum of S2 to a halt, at least to an extent, because tonally it feels like such an odd intrusion. Other than that and the episode in S3 with Hannibal's childhood home or whatever, I find the show to be surprisingly consistent. Although S3 is divisive it's almost my favorite in certain ways - love the atmosphere of Italy, it fits the Gothic nightmare of the show perfectly. S2 is probably still better overall though, although the Verger arc again drags it down a bit (I don't mind Mason quite as much in S3, maybe due to the actor switch toning down Mason's silliness). Anyway, all three seasons are masterful really. It's such a unique series. Visually stunning - maybe the most beautifully-shot show of the decade, or at least tied with Mad Men, True Detective and Better Call Saul.
Now THIS is the good stuff. Forgive the saying but,we eatin good on this one.
Amazing recap! 3rd time watching already. Thank you
I watched this whole show live when it aired, and the NBC thing still amazes me to this day.
It would be like, The Voice, then Hannibal.
1:07:56 I love how the show was monetized just fine when it was on NBC but this video *about* the show risks being demonetized if Mac uses any of the more gruesome scenes.
Honestly, I am not sure if YT would be all that strict with it, but didn't want to risk it.
Dude inna gadda da vida was on, any one of us would've jumped through the window.
You only have one shot at life after all.
This series is so good! It’s a shame there’s not too many videos on it but this one is very definitive in my eyes
In regards to Hannibal (both novel and 2001 film), you should've mentioned that it's revealed that Lector got plastic surgery while before hiding out in Florence which explains why nobody hasn't found him, let alone recognized him sooner. Honestly, not it would've done much as you mentioned (13:47 - 14:13) with the recasting of Julianne Moore for Clarice, but I'd have paid just to see the creators bring back Brian Cox to play Lecter just so they can justify why he looks different now.
ALSO, if I'm being honest, and please don't come after me for saying this, but I actually didn't mind the dynamic between Lecter and Pazzi. Probably due to he film version placing two acting legends like Anthony Hopkins and Giancarlo Giannini together, with their chemistry working surprising well, it's probably why I was somewhat invested in the story. As you watch Lecter pushing Pazzi's patience while playing naive, compared to Pazzi's shaky nerves and grouchy demeanor. Both trying to play each other and always give the impression they know far less than they really do. With that said though, because you have Clarice and Mason Verger plotlines going on, they really ruin the story in general. As the 2nd half has nothing to do with Florence, Pazzi's never brought up again, leading to many arguing on why cutting out almost everything from Florence should've happened and not impacting the story at all.
Which as many stated, probably explains why the film failed in general. As the story Hannibal just didn't seem to know what the movie was suppose to be about in general. Because not only does the story show very little interaction between Hannibal and Clarice, or Hannibal and Verger, but the guy he's had the most interaction and chemistry with is dead around the middle of the story. Hannibal doesn't even watch Clarice throughout most of the story let alone mentions her, the more you think about it. He sends her a few letters (one in the movie) and that's it.
So if I was to fix the story of Hannibal to be a more readable novel or watchable movie, here's TWO CHOICES:
1. Do the series more like a collection series where a different main character is confronted by Hannibal Lecter. Red Dragon had Will, Silence had Clarice, and Hannibal could have had Pazzi. Show how he impacted, even scared them into realizing what each may become, while going through an arc to become better or worse than they already are. Heck, I could see this version of the Hannibal story being a more twisted version of Heat (1995), where even though they barely talked to each other there's a connection through how much they watch one another.
2. If you are going to continue with Clarice hunting down Lecter, then stick to that, and that only. Now you can add in some new elements. One that always bugged me was why wasn't Will Graham brought back in to help? In fact, the novel never even mentions this. Like imagine Will's reaction to realizing just when he thinks that he's left his old life behind, the man that he thought was captured has escaped. And with the FBI having no way to find him, he's brought back in to capture him, being forced to come back to a life he's been trying to leave. Leading to Clarice and Will teaming up to take Lector down, and they're dynamic being very interesting as Clarice has a little more idealistic view of her job, compared to Will wishing to get out.
Either way, as long as the story keeps Lecter within that peripheral characterization and being a manifestation of evil, then possibly the story of Hannibal would have been something worthwhile to read or watch.
I really like your first option! It sounds very interesting, same evil villain, different takes and states of the agents trying to catch him and different outcomes for each one.
Hannibal and Jack's fight in the series is absolutely diesel. Just wanted to let everyone know I really like that fight.
Been waiting for this one since that poll went out! Keep up the great work man!
44:34 someone who can match his freak if u will
i was so hoping someone to do in depth analysis of the tv show, since the tv show was bit out early for whole youtubers review wasn’t that deep at the time. now i just need a decent reaction channel to react to the whole show so i can relive the moment when i was watching it for the first time. lol
anyway thanks for the brilliant in depth analysis of the show! even incorporating the movie and the books and whole backstory of the writer and producer!
I felt like Bedelia was there as a shadow of Will, warning him about what to expect the closer he lets Hannibal get. They're both hubristic characters who think they can touch a fire without getting burned. Bride of Bluebeard is an insult they both lob at each other, but Will can't (or won't) see himself in Bedelia.
I absolutely love this video and the time you put into it. Wow! It's just great. I'm a huge fan of the Hannibal show, and I watch it regularly. I must say, I hold a completely different position on the characterization of Mason. I think Pitt's performance deviated from Oldman's in almost every way, even with his pretty wacky persona, while Joe Anderson channels Oldman's performance specifically, even down to the accent. While he may seem less like a cartoon than Pitt's Mason, he is way more of a carbon copy of Oldman's version. Pitt was actively doing something different with the character, and that's why I tend to enjoy his scenes more than Joe Anderson's. Every time Pitt was on the screen there was something just off the map going on with Mason. Joe is fine as Mason but not particularly memorable for me because I see so much of Oldman in his performance, while Pitt is definitely memorable.
I haven’t watched yet but commenting to say I’m so excited!!! Hannibal is one of my fave series, especially the show, and I’m reading the OG books rn, plus I love your channel. Needless to say I’m going to savour every bite of this upload. 🖤
Hey, found your channel like 3 weeks ago, slowly have watched basically everything you’ve made on here so far. The final bit of this video was my favorite thing you’ve done in any video yet, speculating and lightly investigating about something like this. Also, as a psychotherapist, your little bit of psychoanalyzing there was certainly cooking.
Finished the final hannibal novel yesterday so this video literslly could not be timed better lol. Excited to see your thoughts on this very weird franschise. Hannibal is one of my favorite shows ever
started watching the video like a week ago, after 30 min decided i need to watch the show and now i'm back
My 1st and only live-in girlfriend and I watched this entire series on a smartphone together. Best. Show. Ever.
This is an amazing video! Love Hannibal the show. Rewatching it is always a treat. I appreciate you going so in depth about the adaptations vs books. It's hard not to get angry about the revelation regarding the author and DeLaurentiis. I had no idea!
I hope you’re happy Macabre because now Hannibal is back at the top of my watch list I’ve been slacking on
I remember watching the season 2 finale and being shook af. My 14 year old mind couldn’t fathom how exhilarating the writing was. And 10 years later… nothing has changed. I really wished the show never got cancelled.
Damn...
Just finished watching all 3 seasons a month ago.
What a coincidence.
Was wondering why it seemed so underrated.
I could have easily missed it.
2:02:43 I'm getting very strong "Reichenbach Falls" here.
Damn I remember watching season 1 as it aired and LOVING it, but totally fkn forgot to keep going (think I never heard about season 2 til I was hooked on a bunch of other shows at the time). This has definitely made me want to watch it all despite spoilers. Great video mate! Love your deep dives