# Hannibal - read or watch? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 24, 2005, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hannibal-read-or-watch/286339 "2005-01-24T01:20:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Agrippina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8797f3/32.png) [@Agrippina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agrippina)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2005, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hannibal-read-or-watch/286339/21 "2005-01-24T14:50:43Z")
> [@todd33rpm](#): > > I’m hoping the book is better, because I felt the film was handled pretty clumsily…even minus the technical gaffe, I couldn’t quite buy into it. Could be that I really never completely accepted Julianne Moore in her role (and I like her work, FWIW). Gillian Anderson was up for the role of Clarice, but didn’t get it. Now everytime I see “The X-Files” I think about how perfect she would have been in the role. The only actress that could place Clarice after Jodie Foster. I actually liked the movie better than the book. But yeah, it was disapointing that they didn’t film the original ending. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2005, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hannibal-read-or-watch/286339/22 "2005-01-24T15:46:05Z")
The book is better, because of the ending. ---
**Author:** ![Snickers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Snickers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snickers)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2005, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hannibal-read-or-watch/286339/23 "2005-01-24T20:24:55Z")
Ugh. The book is awful, the movie is tolerable. I guess. I wouldn’t waste my time again with either one. ---
**Author:** ![ianzin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ed655f/32.png) [@ianzin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ianzin)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2005, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hannibal-read-or-watch/286339/24 "2005-01-24T20:44:30Z")
Both are a waste of time, but if you _have_ to choose then I’d say watch the movie. It takes less time. ---
**Author:** ![CynicalGabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@CynicalGabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CynicalGabe)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2005, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hannibal-read-or-watch/286339/25 "2005-01-24T21:16:08Z")
> [@Snickers](#): > > Ugh. The book is awful, the movie is tolerable. I guess. I wouldn’t waste my time again with either one. **Blasphemer!** ---
**Author:** ![Saltire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saltire/32/553_2.png) [@Saltire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saltire)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2005, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hannibal-read-or-watch/286339/26 "2005-01-24T22:17:57Z")
Personally, I hated the end of the book. I was glad of the changed ending in the movie, though that ending only looked good when comparing it to the book. I know I’m in the minority here, but I tend to think of Dr. Lecter as the bad guy. _Hannibal_ was carefully filled up with other people for each reader/viewer to dislike even more, so that they’ll be sympathetic enough to Lecter. I wish that Harris would have written the book I’d like to read, in which Will Graham comes out of retirement again in order to catch Lecter again. But it’ll never happen, because too many people (Harris included) have started to see Hannibal Lecter as some sort of hero. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2005, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hannibal-read-or-watch/286339/27 "2005-01-24T23:51:46Z")
> [@Saltire](#): > > Personally, I hated the end of the book. Oh, I have a list of people…🙂 > [@Saltire](#): > > I know I’m in the minority here, but I tend to think of Dr. Lecter as the bad guy. There is a novel from the turn of the century called _Penrod_. The kid writes stories immitating detective stories (“it is only a fletch would and it will heel soon” but I digress) and turns the bad guy into the protagonist. In a new introduction to _Red Dragon_ Harris seems to indicate things just happen of themselves. > [@Saltire](#): > > Will Graham comes out of retirement again in order to catch Lecter again. I was initially dissapointed too. BTW ignore the references to his becoming a drunk. Will doesn’t catch them. He gets into their head and figures how or why they did it; discovering that the Dragon saw home movies of all the victims for example. They already know who Lecter is; Will’s talent would not it any any easier to recapture Lecter. ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2005, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hannibal-read-or-watch/286339/28 "2005-01-25T01:08:53Z")
I respectfully disagree that Harris and others are viewing Lecter as any kind of a hero. Rather, it’s an issue of whether his monstrousness is controlling him, or vice versa. How you view Lecter depends a lot on whether you believe monsters are made or born. Also, the institutional corruption in _Hannibal_ is contrasted with the individual acts of Lecter. In SOTL and _Red Dragon_, there was no hint of Lecter being any kind of a victim. But in _Hannibal_ (not to go into spoiler territory), we find out some things that make it look like maybe he wasn’t born a monster. We also get a glimpse of Mason Verger, who so far looks like a born monster. (Time will tell). Lecter himself chided Clarice for assuming his psychopathology was caused by the events of his life. “Nothing ‘happened’ to me, Agent Starling”, he said to her in the asylum. “Can you bear to look at me and say that I’m evil? You’ve got everyone dressed up in moral dignity pants”. Also, the similarity between Lecter and Clarice Starling was alluded to repeatedly in the novel SOTL. Two instances: when she first sees him in the asylum, she notes “a wiry strength not unlike her own”. And, in the note that he sends her after his escape, in which he claims that there are similarities in their stars. (The movie omitted any such references – hurray for Hollywood). The similarity between Lecter and Will Graham (it was the reason Graham caught him) was also a recurring theme in _Red Dragon._ ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2005, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hannibal-read-or-watch/286339/29 "2005-01-25T01:13:37Z")
Good points, F.U. I had not considered the contents of your spoiler box. I’ve wondered if anything happened between Harris and someone at the F.B.I. to cause him to show some characters that way. ---
**Author:** ![Odinoneeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/97f17d/32.png) [@Odinoneeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odinoneeye)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2005, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hannibal-read-or-watch/286339/30 "2005-01-25T01:51:49Z")
> [@](#): > > I must admit that I didn’t like the book any better. Then again, I read it after seeing the movie, so maybe I was biased. Funny, I was going to say almost the same thing but reversed. I read the book first. To me the book was really contrived. It seemed like he wanted the ending and built the story backwards to get to that ending. (ok lots of writers do that, but a good one comes up with a better story). I went into the movie knowing I didn’t like the book and got pretty much what I expected. ---
**Author:** ![CynicalGabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@CynicalGabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CynicalGabe)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2005, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hannibal-read-or-watch/286339/31 "2005-01-25T02:03:02Z")
[QUOTE=F. U. Shakespeare] How you view Lecter depends a lot on whether you believe monsters are made or born… we find out some things that make it look like maybe he wasn’t born a monster. QUOTE] Who is? Regarding your Mason Verger comment: I don’t remember Harris going into any detail of Mason’s past, beyond his time as a patient. Correct me if I’m wrong, but theres plenty of possibility there for a traumatic childhood. ---
**Author:** ![pesch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pesch/32/4925_2.png) [@pesch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pesch)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2005, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hannibal-read-or-watch/286339/32 "2005-01-25T02:59:02Z")
> [@Aesiron](#): > > When is the movie ever better than the book? “Legally Blonde.” The book didn’t even come out until after the movie, and it’s very different, not nearly as funny, and not as well constructed as the movie. ---
**Author:** ![pesch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pesch/32/4925_2.png) [@pesch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pesch)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2005, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hannibal-read-or-watch/286339/33 "2005-01-25T03:05:58Z")
Now, as far as the book/movie is concerned, would someone spoil it for me? What’s in the book that’s not in the movie? As I misremember from the stories that came out at the time: The book ended with a banquet in which Hannible and Clairce ate Will Graham’s brain while he was still alive. ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2005, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hannibal-read-or-watch/286339/34 "2005-01-25T03:09:28Z")
> [@](#): > > Who is? Whether Hannibal Lecter was born a monster. The novel _Hannibal_ shows the early life of Lecter, before WW II destroys his parents’ estate in Lithuania (killing both his parents) and Nazi deserters eat his beloved younger sister Mischa. There are some sensitive scenes of him helping Mischa. We also learn about Mason Verger: Mason Verger is revealed to have beaten up smaller children, raped his sister Margot and broken her arm, and masturbated in class, all probably taking advantage of his rich-kid status. If you saw the movie and didn’t read the novel, you didn’t know this. I repeat, hurray for Hollywood. > [@CynicalGabe](#): > > > [@F. U. Shakespeare](#): > > > > How you view Lecter depends a lot on whether you believe monsters are made or born… > > we find out some things that make it look like maybe he wasn’t born a monster. > > Who is? > > Regarding your Mason Verger comment: I don’t remember Harris going into any detail of Mason’s past, beyond his time as a patient. Correct me if I’m wrong, but theres plenty of possibility there for a traumatic childhood. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2005, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hannibal-read-or-watch/286339/35 "2005-01-25T03:46:29Z")
It was someone else’s brain. Mason didn’t just beat up smaller kids, he molested them- tho now being crippled, he uses his children’s home to mess with kids heads & flavor his cocktails with their tears. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2005, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hannibal-read-or-watch/286339/36 "2005-01-25T04:18:03Z")
Funny the book’s getting so much praise. I thought it was the worst book I have ever read, by a wide margin. Of the hundreds and hundreds and thousands of books I’ve read, “Hannibal” was easily, far and away the worst. An absolute waste of paper. A self-parody at best. The movie can’t possibly be as bad. ---
**Author:** ![CynicalGabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@CynicalGabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CynicalGabe)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2005, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hannibal-read-or-watch/286339/37 "2005-01-25T05:30:23Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > Funny the book’s getting so much praise. > > I thought it was the worst book I have ever read, by a wide margin. Of the hundreds and hundreds and thousands of books I’ve read, “Hannibal” was easily, far and away the worst. An absolute waste of paper. A self-parody at best. > > The movie can’t possibly be as bad. This would be hyperbole? :dubious: I find it hard to believe that youve NEVER read a single book worse. 😃 I mean, even if you didn’t like it, surely there is a math textbook or something… ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2005, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hannibal-read-or-watch/286339/38 "2005-01-25T14:01:40Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > I thought it was the worst book I have ever read, by a wide margin. Ditto. Absolutely horrid. And I liked Harris’ other books a great deal. ---
**Author:** ![Agrippina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8797f3/32.png) [@Agrippina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agrippina)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2005, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hannibal-read-or-watch/286339/39 "2005-01-25T15:05:13Z")
> [@FriarTed](#): > > It was someone else’s brain. Paul Krendle, I think his name was. We saw him briefly in **Silence of the Lambs** during Lecter’s trip to Tennessee to see the Senator, but he was not played by Ray Liotta then. 😃 And for those who need a reminder to the ending of the book: Hannibal brainwashes Clarice using her pain over her lost father (it helped that he had Mr. Starling’s skeleton). Also, Hannibal sees Clarice as a replacement for his sister. They become a couple, and Hannibal has Clarice programmed so that if she hears a certain note of music she snaps out of it. In the end, Barney spots them in South America. ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2005, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hannibal-read-or-watch/286339/40 "2005-01-25T15:38:26Z")
Sorry for the nitpick, but it was Paul Krendle_r_. > [@Agrippina](#): > > Paul Krendle, I think his name was. We saw him briefly in **Silence of the Lambs** during Lecter’s trip to Tennessee to see the Senator, but he was not played by Ray Liotta then. 😃 > > And for those who need a reminder to the ending of the book: > > Hannibal brainwashes Clarice using her pain over her lost father (it helped that he had Mr. Starling’s skeleton). Also, Hannibal sees Clarice as a replacement for his sister. They become a couple, and Hannibal has Clarice programmed so that if she hears a certain note of music she snaps out of it. In the end, Barney spots them in South America. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hannibal-read-or-watch/286339.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hannibal-read-or-watch/286339.md?page=3)