Watching Hannibal

[przed]

Lured by the evil temptresses halotolerant, norfolkdumpling and dorinda, I decided to give the first episode of Hannibal a go.

Never have I been so conflicted with a show.

On the one hand, it's gorgeously shot, well-written, and Hugh Dancy and Mads Mikkelsen are fantastic individually, and an even better double act.

On the other hand, there are two scenes (just quick ones, involving a corpse and body parts) that got under my skin and had me obsessing over them whilst trying to get to sleep.

I should just call it quits there, but the good stuff is sooo good. And the promised slash looks, forgive me, delicious.

Damn you, Bryan Fuller, and your gorgeous, horrible show.

Comments

[sarren.livejournal.com]

my bff has been madly pimping at me so I will finally start watching it when I visit her next month - I plan to have my laptop in front of me so I don't have to watch the gory bits though.

(I also watched the final scene back when it happened and broke the internet and that sold me too)

[przed.livejournal.com]

I just watched that final scene, and gah! I want to see more, and yet I don't.

Gore on it's own doesn't get to me (I just made it through The Knick just fine) but it's more imagining what Hannibal's victims go through that's liable to break me. I used to be a researcher for a legal publisher, and I had to stop working on murder cases eventually because they just got stuck in my head too easily.

[sarren.livejournal.com]

Yes, that's why I avoid shows that focus on the terror of the (usually female) victims, like Criminal Minds.

My bff knows me really well and has been hesitant, because of the fandom basically being about serial killers living happily and winning, but apparently it's just too canonically slshy (the actors and showrunners are all for it) to not give it a go.

[przed.livejournal.com]

I watched one episode of Criminal Minds, and it gave me nightmares for two weeks solid.

But everything I keep reading/seeing about Hannibal makes me think it might be worth a shot. And Halo has assured me that the gender balance of victims is pretty even, so the violence is not aimed exclusively at women, which helps.

Still...

[sarren.livejournal.com]

i have been wrestling with this dilemma for like a year.

Last time I visited my friend she showed me carefully selected episodes that showcased the Morgan/Reid relationship while avoiding as much as possible the eps with themes I would find upsetting.

I plan to have her tell me when I should not watch the screen (in fact, she will probably fast forward through them for me)

[halotolerant.livejournal.com]

kindkit has just started watching Hannibal post-Christmas, and we're doing an episode-discussion watch along thing at his and my journals as we've done with stuff before - Episode One discussion up at his journal now, if you're interested to look at some of things people are saying (you'd be very welcome to chat too, no need to commit to anything i.e. necessarily watching it all, but academic discussion can help with distance?)

One thing I realised re-watching episode one for the discussion yesterday was that it is in many ways the most grim dark and 'real' of the episodes - it's more like a procedural, there are all those dead girls (which is such a cliche, and, as I've said, 'suffering women' is not really an ongoing theme). Now, there is more *gore* per se in some other eps but _ I would argue - greater detachment from connecting to the real world.

That said, I don't want you having nightmares! *hugs* I would honestly recommend you skip episode 6 of S1. However, I think one could make the case for you reading about episodes 2-6 (either on wikipedia or via our discussion) and then watching Ep 7 and Ep8, which ND and I call the 'romcom episodes' - still violent, but that's the point where the series really does leap off into more camp and ridiculousness and also much more queerness. Still gory, but... well certainly only *as* gory as Ep 1 and in - I think - much less 'real' context. And then you could see if you wanted to persist past that (as I've said, if you ever want me to give you a content rundown for an ep before you watch, I'm happy to do it *g*)

[przed.livejournal.com]

I did see kindkit's discussion thread and dipped my toe in. I was interesting to see what everyone's take on it was. (I didn't have much to add beyond what I've said here.) But even if I don't continue watching, I'll be seeing what everyone has to say.

I've been analyzing my responses to this episode. Though they were upsetting, the dead girls, per se, weren't what freaked me out. It comes down to one line of dialogue and one shot. It was when they found the girl impaled on the antlers. The dialogue in question was Scott Thompson's character pointing out that her lungs were removed while she was still alive. Then you cut to a close up shot of Hannibal cutting up the lungs. All of which triggered my mind to start going down some very dark pathways of what that girl went through. So here's the thing. If the gore is just dead bodies, I think I'll be fine. (That's similar to the first season of True Detective, which I very much enjoyed.) If there's an emphasis on what the victims went through first, whether through dialogue or actually showing it on screen, then I'm out.

Reading up on episodes 2 to 6, and then watching 7 and 8 seems a possible way to get a sense of the show without doing my head in.

[kindkit.livejournal.com]

Hi! Hope you don't mind my barging in--I sort of followed Halo here. It seems LJ now sends you a notification if someone mentions you in a comment.

I think we're similar as viewers in that I really can't handle torture-porn type things where there's a focus on the victim's suffering. I was nervous about watching the show because of that, but so far (I'm now almost halfway through season 2) there hasn't, in my opinion, been much of it. There've been a couple of moments I could have done without, but for me--of course your mileage may vary--it helps that everything in the show is so aestheticized and grandly operatic, because it's easier for me to detach a bit. But I also don't think the show expects us to enjoy seeing or imagining people physically suffer. Mental and emotional suffering, though, is kind of what the show is built on. But it's Will Graham's suffering, mostly.

I'm very happy that I started watching, for whatever that's worth.

[przed.livejournal.com]

Hey there! Feel free to barge away.

It assuages my fears somewhat that you have the same sensitivities and have made it through the show thus far. Because I am intrigued by what I've seen so far, and would like to continue. I may use your posts with Halo to pre-vet episodes, though, and makes sure I can handle things.

[przed.livejournal.com]

BTW, the Sweetie keeps bugging me to ask if in your viewing of Mads' films you've seen Flickering Lights. He just saw a local screening of it and quite liked it. Though it sounds like Mads plays a character on the crazy end of his spectrum who's interesting rather than entirely likable.

[halotolerant.livejournal.com]

I hadn't heard of that one, and thank you so much for putting me onto it because from IMDB it sounds really interesting! It doesn't seem to have a DVD release currently with English subtitles (which I think explains why I didn't find it in my searches before) but if there was a recent showing perhaps a new DVD is forthcoming? I hope so!

[forthewistful.livejournal.com]

You're right, Hannibal is shot gorgeously. I like the sometimes questionable aesthetics of it. And having Mads Mikkelsen as Hannibal is a gem. Hugh Dancy as Will Graham gave me the creeps though. I don't like his looks anyway, and the guy he plays in Hannibal makes it all worse for me. That little cabin he lives in with all those dogs - I think that's the most horrible bit of the whole show for me. (Don't know what that says about me, but that's how it is.)

I can see the slash bits there, but Mads and Hugh just don't work as a couple for me.

But you have fun getting into it a bit more - I reckon it is very well worth it if it doesn't drag you down too much (something I experienced when I read some of the books; I felt they changed me and I had to stop).

[przed.livejournal.com]

I don't think you're wrong to read Hugh Dancy's take on Will as creepy. I certainly saw him as creepy and entirely broken. (The dog scene in the first episode is very unsettling, a big clue that this guy is Not Right.) Though this is not enough to write off the slash potential for me yet. Because Mikkelsen's Hannibal is also broken and creepy, though in a more subtle way, and I can see that combination being interesting.

That said, Dancy is never going to be my Will Graham. That will still be William Petersen from Manhunter, way back. His version was damaged, but had clearly started from a much more normal place to start with.

I don't know that I'd call this fun, but it's certainly fascinating. *g* And I think you're brave for reading the books. Reading affects me far more than watching, so I'd never chance reading the novels.

[(Anonymous)]

There will be a lot more horrible stuff in the following episodes. The series is gorgeous, the slash is tangible, but it will be gory to levels you wouldn't expect.
I'm not trying to scare you! I really loved the series (apart from the last season, of which I only loved two, maybe three eps, but that's another conversation) and I do think it's worth watching.
But, yes, gory. Very.

[przed.livejournal.com]

I can handle a certain level of gore. What I can't handle is an emphasis on the pain of the victim. So, I suppose I'm going to have to figure out if the show is going to break my head or not. Darn Fuller and his interesting take on monsters.

[msmoat.livejournal.com]

Heh. I did warn you! Explicitly! I don't know if you'll get used to it. I did, but then I wasn't as affected as you are. It gets worse. But it's all also utterly fascinating, and incredibly well done. I've just put it into this alternate, claustrophobic universe where there victims are just...props. Not real. And I look away when I know I should. *g*

[przed.livejournal.com]

You totally warned me. But high quality slash is such a draw...

I think if it's done in a way that I can view the victims just as props, I'll be fine. But if there's enough where I start empathizing too much with the pain of the victims, then it's game over for me.

If I was smart, I'd just watch Rejseholdet for my Mads fix. As we all know, however, I'm not always smart. ;-)

[norfolkdumpling.livejournal.com]

Ooooh, I like the idea of being a temptress... *g*

I think Halo has said everything I would, and much more eloquently, so I will just say that I'm SO thrilled you've tried it! I know it's hard to take - I am not really sure why I can cope with this and not your normal violence and gore - but the story of these two men is so compelling and the whole show is so visually beautiful that I can't seem to kick my obsession with it.

[przed.livejournal.com]

You are totally a temptress. *g*

See, I'm usually okay with the levels of violence and gore you'd get even in your more operative Hong Kong action films. Add in serial killers, and it wigs me out. But I can see from even one episode of Hannibal that it's a special case. I may push through another few episodes and see how far I can get. Or just read up on eps 2 to 6 and then watch 7 and 8, for maximum slash factor. *g*

[m-lasha.livejournal.com]

Wait until seasons two and three. Dear Lord, season three...I curse Bryan Fuller everyday. The Hannigram is so strong.

[przed.livejournal.com]

I've been dancing around watching this show for ages. I really wish it wasn't any good, but the Fuller/Mikkelsen/Dancy combination is a strong one. Darn them.

[moth2fic.livejournal.com]

Well, thank you! That let me know what not to watch!

[przed.livejournal.com]

You sooooo don't want to watch this. I wish I didn't, but I've now seen enough of the slash in it to be intrigued, and I know that's going to end in tears.