Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: We argue that the film Hannibal is at its core a story about the lure of misanthropy, and the struggle of idealism (in the sense of love for and pursuit of the 'best' in humanity, which we consider here as faith in humankind's capacity for goodness) against this lure. Accordingly, it provides a useful foil for considering the lure of misanthropy in political thought: in particular, the tensions and agreements between idealism and misanthropy in the writings of Jean-Jacques Rousseau. In considering the above, we examine Rousseau's critique of bourgeois liberal society as a misanthropic critique that is both rooted in and set against Enlightenment idealism, and argue that this critique, and Rousseau's general attitude toward what he considers vice, reflects a broader, but nonetheless unique, misanthropic attitude. We then argue that Hannibal Lector, the title character of the 2001 film 'Hannibal, is a skeptical, or corrupted, misanthrope - that is, one whose hatred of viciousness has very nearly become a hatred of humankind generally - and that he therefore brings to life some of the core elements of Rousseau's misanthropy/misanthropic critique. We argue further that Clarice Starling can also be understood to be misanthropic and so too embodies some core principles of Rousseau's critique. We argue that in this case, however, the misanthropy lies at an opposite extreme from that of Lecter's: Starling's misanthropy is an idealistic misanthropy. Finally, we argue that the subtextual emotional struggle between the skeptically misanthropic Hannibal and the idealistic Clarice Starling reflects some important connections and tensions between idealism and misanthropy, and so allows us to consider the relation between idealism and misanthropy in the thought of Rousseau. In viewing Rousseau's misanthropic critique of bourgeois liberalism through the lens of the film Hannibal, we argue that Rousseauan misanthropy can be seen as a sort of continuum along which the important tensions of this critique - idealism versus skepticism, actual versus apparent virtue, natural goodness versus social goodness - play.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: When viewing entertainment media, viewers are exposed to a variety of media characters to which they form a number of impressions. These impressions could very well be based on social categories, with this information mirroring those perceptions and beliefs held in society. The present study attempted to examine the relationship between impression traits as applied to media characters and their relationship to resulting emotional responses. According to the results, while the impressions formed across various media characters are similar to those formed of marginalized groups in reality, the resulting emotional responses are quite different. This suggests there may be more freedom within the media realm emotionally, yet stereotypes persist reinforcing the existing social structure.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: This essay explores how HANNIBAL
(2001) builds on THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS (1991) to indict the
corruption of public space by the politics of hardball originally meant
to create and protect public government. Horror films put most of their
politics into the subtext, and HANNIBAL is no exception. At that level,
it presents a powerful case against the perversion of public
institutions and standards suffered by the United States in particular
and western civilization in general. The main sources, it argues, are
the republican politics of masculinist hardball, first defended
theoretically
by Niccolò Machiavelli and later feminized by Hannah Arendt.
The principal subtext of this film’s predecessor, THE SILENCE OF THE
LAMBS, provided a devastating indictment of the horror inflicted by
sexist politics in the workplace. Yet even the earlier film began to
connect cultures of sexism with perversities of political realism in
public institutions such as the FBI and the U.S. Department of Justice.
HANNIBAL develops these themes through shrewd dialogue, fine acting,
superb cinematography, moving music, and insight symbols. Its most
fascinating move is to criticize the republicanism promoted by
Machiavelli and Arendt from a perfectionist perspective that owes a
great deal to Friedrich Nietzsche. The essay explains how HANNIBAL
augments accounts of republicanism among recent theorists and specifies
troubles for republican politics in postmodern, especially electronic,
times.
The author teaches political theory and communication at the University
of Iowa. His edited collections are WHAT SHOULD POLITICAL THEORY BE
NOW? (SUNY 1983); TRADITION, INTERPRETATION, AND SCIENCE (SUNY 1986);
and THE RHETORIC OF THE HUMAN SCIENCES (Wisconsin 1987). His books
include VIDEO RHETORICS (Illinois 1997), HOT SPOTS (Illinois multimedia
1997), and TROPES OF POLITICS (Wisconsin 1998). The proposed essay is
one in a series of efforts to elicit popular theories of politics from
works of literature and cinema, several recently accepted by refereed
journals, and it complements an essay on THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS
presented to the 2000 APSA convention.