The Silence Of The Lambs Theory That Changes Everything

In 1988, Thomas Harris unleashed his novel The Silence of the Lambs onto the world. Three years later, Jonathan Demme directed the film adaptation, which perfectly brought to life Clarice Starling, played by Jodie Foster, and Dr. Hannibal Lecter, played by Sir Anthony Hopkins.

Ever 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. While we usually hear analyses about the relationship between Starling and Lecter, people do spend some time talking about the film’s only active serial killer – Buffalo Bill, one of the most terrifying horror movie villains of all time.

Recently, a theory appeared on Reddit concerning the relationship between Lecter and Bill that could easily change a viewer's entire understanding of The Silence of the Lambs.

To quickly sum things up in case you haven't watched or thought about The Silence of the Lambs recently, Clarice Starling is an FBI trainee tasked with questioning a captured, homicidal cannibal and ex-psychiatrist named Hannibal Lecter. What she doesn't know is that she's actually building a relationship so that she can coax Lecter into helping the FBI capture a former patient of his: the at-large serial killer named Jame "Buffalo Bill" Gumb, played by Ted Levine.

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. When his grandparents finally adopt him at age 10, Gumb kills them two years later, and his homicidal tendencies never stop.

In the film, however, Gumb's backstory is glossed over, though his difficult past is hinted at. 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. 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. Keep watching the video to see the Silence of the Lambs theory that changes everything.

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