Society’s fascination on Serial Killers. Buffalo Bill in Silence of the Lambs.
Society’s fascination on Serial Killers. Buffalo Bill in Silence of the Lambs.
The Silence of the Lambs started out as a novel written by Thomas Harris. It received positive acclaim from critics and fellow authors alike. In 1991 it was adapted into a film which was also quit popular, winning five Academy Awards. Many who read the book or watched the movie will have a difficult time forgetting the main antagonist Buffalo Bill. Buffalo Bill was the twisted serial killer who killed women for their skin. Many aspects in Bill’s character make him both memorable and terrifying to the public. It’s interesting to see how such a haunting character came about. When Thomas Harris constructed Buffalo Bill (also known as Jame Gump) he turned to lives and biographies of real life serial killers. Mainly Ted Bundy and Ed Gein were used for inspiration.
Ted Bundy was one of the coldest killers ever active in America during the 1970’s. He claims to have killed over 30 women1. Besides both killers targeting women they also used a similar technique to lure the women. There’s a scene in the movie and book where James Gump puts a fake cast on his arm and asks a young woman to help him load an armchair into a truck, once inside the truck she’s trapped and he proceeds to shut the door and drive off. This is based off some of Bundy’s techniques for luring young women. Bundy was known to wear a fake cast, or imitate some other injury in order to lure unsuspecting women to secluded locations.2
The most startling similarities are between Buffalo Bill and real world woman skinner Ed Gein. Buffalo Bill shows signs of gender confusion in the novel and movie, this acts as the motivation behind his skinning’s. Gein himself wished he was born a woman instead of a man. He even considered a sex change operation but never acted on it.3 Ed Gein was not a serial killer per-se since he only has to confirmed victims but the gruesomeness of his crimes is what made him famous for all the wrong
The Silence of the Lambs started out as a novel written by Thomas Harris. It received positive acclaim from critics and fellow authors alike. In 1991 it was adapted into a film which was also quit popular, winning five Academy Awards. Many who read the book or watched the movie will have a difficult time forgetting the main antagonist Buffalo Bill. Buffalo Bill was the twisted serial killer who killed women for their skin. Many aspects in Bill’s character make him both memorable and terrifying to the public. It’s interesting to see how such a haunting character came about. When Thomas Harris constructed Buffalo Bill (also known as Jame Gump) he turned to lives and biographies of real life serial killers. Mainly Ted Bundy and Ed Gein were used for inspiration.
Ted Bundy was one of the coldest killers ever active in America during the 1970’s. He claims to have killed over 30 women1. Besides both killers targeting women they also used a similar technique to lure the women. There’s a scene in the movie and book where James Gump puts a fake cast on his arm and asks a young woman to help him load an armchair into a truck, once inside the truck she’s trapped and he proceeds to shut the door and drive off. This is based off some of Bundy’s techniques for luring young women. Bundy was known to wear a fake cast, or imitate some other injury in order to lure unsuspecting women to secluded locations.2
The most startling similarities are between Buffalo Bill and real world woman skinner Ed Gein. Buffalo Bill shows signs of gender confusion in the novel and movie, this acts as the motivation behind his skinning’s. Gein himself wished he was born a woman instead of a man. He even considered a sex change operation but never acted on it.3 Ed Gein was not a serial killer per-se since he only has to confirmed victims but the gruesomeness of his crimes is what made him famous for all the wrong