Okay I gotta say that as a trans lady I am *fascinated* by your analyses of the Hannibal-Will dynamic through a transmasculine lens. Because, tbh, though I've long been aware of the show's popularity among transmasculine folks (as evidenced by the bulk of works under the trans!Will tag on AO3), I have never gotten the "why." For my part, the most obvious queer reading of Bryan Fuller's Hannibal is as a forced-feminization story for people too dignified to admit to being into that kind of thing. And as a result, it's been nebulously confined to my guilty pleasure box, and has been a source of some angst, the kind which must needs be associated with enjoying a narrative with problematic! underpinnings.
Like, here we have a nominally cis, heterosexual man who is nevertheless smol and woman-sized, who is good at FEELINGS and who is constantly shown up by Hannibal's LARGENESS, his sheer Scandinavian bulk, etc and who is like, symbolically fucked by Hanni in every way it is possible to symbolically fuck someone? Put another way, Hannibal is the story of a classic European ubermensch (suave, cosmopolitan renaissance man) who meets a fey, twitchy, effete "man" who is full of piss and vinegar and staggering levels of potential fuckability and that man is like, (to Will:) I will now make u my wife. And then the show is the long, slow process of Will being stripped of the meager trappings of his masculinity, With Will kicking and screaming every step of the way. In short, Hannibal is a classic heterosexual romance in which a man comes along and asserts his will/desires onto an initially-resistant female love interest who later caves to the pressure and accepts her fate, but one where the woman is played by a man who is forcibly made into a bride and where lovemaking is replaced with murder.
Which, unfortunately, feels kind of morally bad? Like, I don't want to love a show that's about a woman-by-proxy's agency being torn from her piece-by-piece by a dude who is able to do so in part because he possesses the exact same traditionally masculine traits the hero lacks: great physical strength, a willingness to commit brutal acts of violence without remorse, etc, etc. And then there's the whole isn't-it-kinda-gross-to-metaphorically-associate-being-gay-with-doing-a-murder thing!
And yet, your reading of Hannibal as, in fact, a depiction of t4t energy pulls me in like a fruit fly to a glass of honey. I want to believe; I really do-- especially as an angular transsexual of Northern European descent with a penchant for both purple prose AND overly elaborate meals cooked for myself. And yet-- And yet--
Look, I'm willing to take a risk and open up my heart once more. Just so long as no one stabs it with a linoleum knife.
P.S. If you're right about this than we have no choice to include Cate Blanchett's Carol (and Rooney Mara's Therese) as an iteration of the exact same energy. In fact, there is without doubt (and I feel this in my bones) a Hannibal Lector-- Carol Aird continuum, although what I must do with this information I know not yet.
Reading this triggered a cascade of memories of SHEETS and VOLUMES written by myself and others about Hannibal and Will in the last 7 years (yikes tempus sure does fugit) on tumblr, so for the sake of spoiling this virgin discourse STAY OFF TUMBLR. bc so much of all *gestures* this is going to get SOoOOOOoooo much clearer as the seasons progress from "Are we a procedural? I think we are" season 1 to "*David Lynch locks the door of the premises behind himself shutting out all logic forever*" season 2 to "TURN UP THE QUEER OPERA TO 11" season 3
Thinking of what I can contribute without spoiling anything... look out for water - sweat, rain, blood, river - Will's element; and fire, Hannibal's element. They will establish their screen presence more and more from episode to episode.
“Even when it looks like I’m losing, I secretly have the upper hand at all times, due to my Interiority”
Oh thanks a LOT for calling me out :)
Okay I gotta say that as a trans lady I am *fascinated* by your analyses of the Hannibal-Will dynamic through a transmasculine lens. Because, tbh, though I've long been aware of the show's popularity among transmasculine folks (as evidenced by the bulk of works under the trans!Will tag on AO3), I have never gotten the "why." For my part, the most obvious queer reading of Bryan Fuller's Hannibal is as a forced-feminization story for people too dignified to admit to being into that kind of thing. And as a result, it's been nebulously confined to my guilty pleasure box, and has been a source of some angst, the kind which must needs be associated with enjoying a narrative with problematic! underpinnings.
Like, here we have a nominally cis, heterosexual man who is nevertheless smol and woman-sized, who is good at FEELINGS and who is constantly shown up by Hannibal's LARGENESS, his sheer Scandinavian bulk, etc and who is like, symbolically fucked by Hanni in every way it is possible to symbolically fuck someone? Put another way, Hannibal is the story of a classic European ubermensch (suave, cosmopolitan renaissance man) who meets a fey, twitchy, effete "man" who is full of piss and vinegar and staggering levels of potential fuckability and that man is like, (to Will:) I will now make u my wife. And then the show is the long, slow process of Will being stripped of the meager trappings of his masculinity, With Will kicking and screaming every step of the way. In short, Hannibal is a classic heterosexual romance in which a man comes along and asserts his will/desires onto an initially-resistant female love interest who later caves to the pressure and accepts her fate, but one where the woman is played by a man who is forcibly made into a bride and where lovemaking is replaced with murder.
Which, unfortunately, feels kind of morally bad? Like, I don't want to love a show that's about a woman-by-proxy's agency being torn from her piece-by-piece by a dude who is able to do so in part because he possesses the exact same traditionally masculine traits the hero lacks: great physical strength, a willingness to commit brutal acts of violence without remorse, etc, etc. And then there's the whole isn't-it-kinda-gross-to-metaphorically-associate-being-gay-with-doing-a-murder thing!
And yet, your reading of Hannibal as, in fact, a depiction of t4t energy pulls me in like a fruit fly to a glass of honey. I want to believe; I really do-- especially as an angular transsexual of Northern European descent with a penchant for both purple prose AND overly elaborate meals cooked for myself. And yet-- And yet--
Look, I'm willing to take a risk and open up my heart once more. Just so long as no one stabs it with a linoleum knife.
P.S. If you're right about this than we have no choice to include Cate Blanchett's Carol (and Rooney Mara's Therese) as an iteration of the exact same energy. In fact, there is without doubt (and I feel this in my bones) a Hannibal Lector-- Carol Aird continuum, although what I must do with this information I know not yet.
Reading this triggered a cascade of memories of SHEETS and VOLUMES written by myself and others about Hannibal and Will in the last 7 years (yikes tempus sure does fugit) on tumblr, so for the sake of spoiling this virgin discourse STAY OFF TUMBLR. bc so much of all *gestures* this is going to get SOoOOOOoooo much clearer as the seasons progress from "Are we a procedural? I think we are" season 1 to "*David Lynch locks the door of the premises behind himself shutting out all logic forever*" season 2 to "TURN UP THE QUEER OPERA TO 11" season 3
I'm almost certain that this analysis is so perfect as to be sacred, and that a shrine must be built around it.
Thinking of what I can contribute without spoiling anything... look out for water - sweat, rain, blood, river - Will's element; and fire, Hannibal's element. They will establish their screen presence more and more from episode to episode.