by Chelsea Ennen
Ah, February. A month usually reserved for television premieres the studio
didn’t think worthy of the fall lineup, this year it boasts cannibalistic
serial killer Hannibal Lecter’s return to NBC (those who find Dr. Lecter’s
cooking or plot spoilers unappetizing
should proceed with caution). For
those not familiar with Thomas Harris’ novels or the films based on them, Dr.
Lecter is a brilliant psychiatrist/deranged serial killer who is called on from
prison to help the FBI profile and catch killers. Hannibal the TV show, which premiered last year and
stars Hugh Dancy as Will Graham, expands on Harris’ novels to explore Lecter’s
work with the FBI before his
incarceration. The show is a
prequel to the first Lecter novel, Red Dragon, and focuses on special
investigator Will Graham as he works with FBI agent Jack Crawford and renowned
psychiatrist Dr. Hannibal Lecter to solve grisly murder cases. Mr. Fuller, creator of the criminally
short-lived series Pushing Daisies and Dead Like Me, certainly
went where no adaptation has gone before by expanding on Harris’ storyline, but
also went where mainstream media has never gone before by staying true to
protagonist Will Graham.
Adapting
a novel into a visual medium like film or TV is a notoriously tricky process
that often leaves important aspects of the book behind. Previous films primarily included the
horror Will feels when his profiling capabilities lead him to identify with
killers, but in the novel there’s much more going on. Part of Harris’ genius is his ability to make his audience
intimately understand vicious killers like Francis Dolarhyde but also well-meaning
FBI agents like Will Graham. It
would be unfair to such fine films to say they completely failed, but “Movie
Will” has been less complex than “Book Will” in the past. In order to distinguish his show from
other adaptations, Fuller needed to bring his audience closer to Will Graham than
ever before.
Fuller’s
Will Graham is an expansion of traits included in Red Dragon, and his
introduction in the pilot is an admirably insightful portrayal. After investigating a murder Will
explains the case to his class at the FBI academy. When the class leaves, Jack Crawford approaches him and Will
places his glasses on his nose with extra care. “I understand it’s difficult for you to be social,” says
Jack. Suddenly he gives Will a
knowing smile, asks, “May I?” and gently reaches out to adjust Will’s glasses:
glasses we now realize were carefully placed so Will could avoid holding eye
contact. When Jack asks Will where
he is “on the spectrum” Will replies that he is “closer to Aspergers and
Autistics than narcissists and sociopaths.” From here we get an explanation of Will’s extraordinary
imagination and on we go to the plot.
But
what a concept: a spectrum for
different mental states. This idea
of neurodiversity, of everyone being somewhere within a spectrum, is nothing
new. People all over the world
with various degrees and kinds of mental illness already understand that the binary
construction of “normal” people and “crazy” people is absurdly reductive. One can differ from the accepted
cultural norm in a myriad of ways without losing their humanity. While there certainly is a place for
stories like Silver Linings Playbook where a character has an explicit
diagnosis (in that case, Bipolar Disorder) that defines their development in
the plot, it is important that those aren’t the only stories being told. Throwing a label on a character often
separates them from the audience and prevents a story from being truly
accessible.
Relating to Will Graham is going to be
difficult for a general audience because he can’t be put in a box. His mental state is something he must
work to live with not work to overcome, which isn’t what we’re used to
seeing. We’ve seen Parenthood,
which tells us not to connect with Max as he grows up with Asperger’s Syndrome
but to feel sorry for his parents.
We’ve seen The Big Bang Theory, which treats Sheldon Cooper (who
is not labeled with a diagnosis but is clearly framed as a man with Asperger’s
Syndrome) like an annoying punch line.
But Will’s mental state, while an integral part of his character and his
abilities as a profiler, is not used to make the audience pity him. It is Lecter’s intervention and
manipulation that undoes Will throughout Hannibal’s first season, not
any perceived flaw in Will’s personality.
Previous adaptations touch on Will’s
social anxiety but Hannibal fully explores how he functions differently
from those around him. Fans of
Harris’ novels have reason to rejoice in this fresh and thoughtful series: finally,
mainstream media has a character whose mental state isn’t tragic or funny. Fuller makes us so invested in Will it
is all the more painful to watch Lecter destroy him, and downright excruciating
to wait for season two.
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