‘The Silence of the Lambs’ Creators Admit Regret Over Buffalo Bill’s Harmful Legacy
The Silence of the Lambs might have made Oscars history when it swept all five major categories at the 1992 Academy Awards. But not all aspects of the acclaimed film have aged well.
The LGBTQ+ community has criticized ‘The Silence of the Lambs’
Based on a novel by Thomas Harris, the Jonathan Demme moves follows an FBI agent named Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster) who is hunting serial killer Jame Gumb (Ted Levine), aka Buffalo Bill, with some help from urbane cannibal Dr. Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins).
Buffalo Bill’s MO is undeniably creepy – he kills and then skins his victims with the goal of making a “woman suit.” The character is loosely inspired by infamous killer Ed Gein, who also was the basis for Anthony Perkins’ Norman Bates character in Psycho. Gumb’s crimes stem from a desire to escape himself by transforming into a different person, Lecter tells Starling. He is “not really transsexual,” he says, and as a result has likely failed in his attempts to get gender-affirming surgery.
Buffalo Bill might not actually be transgender, but the character has been criticized by members of the LGBTQ+ community since the movie’s release. Not long after it opened in theaters, GLAAD objected to the movie for making Gumb “a walking, talking gay stereotype” with this beloved poodle, his interest in sewing, and his affected, effeminate voice.
Gumb’s horrifying crimes also play into people’s fears about transgender individuals and promote the idea that transgender individuals are violent and mentally ill, critics say. The Matrix director Lilly Wachowski called out the movie in a statement to the Windy City Times in 2016 (via The Hollywood Reporter), when she came out as trans.
“Though we have come a long way since Silence of the Lambs, we continue to be demonized and vilified in the media where attack ads portray us as potential predators to keep us from even using the goddamn bathroom,” she wrote. “We are not predators, we are prey.”
Ted Levine thought Buffalo Bill was ‘a f*cked-up heterosexual man’
Demme – who died in 2017 – always insisted that Buffalo Bill was neither gay nor transgender. But as the years passed, multiple people involved in The Silence of the Lambs have expressed regret for how the movie handled gender issues. In a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Levine said that he “didn’t play [Buffalo Bill] as being gay or trans” but rather as “a f*cked-up heterosexual man.” But he admitted that his thoughts on the character he played have evolved.
“There are certain aspects of the movie that don’t hold up too well,” Levine said, speaking for the first time about the controversy. “We all know more, and I’m a lot wiser about transgender issues. There are some lines in that script and movie that are unfortunate.”
“[It’s] just over time and having gotten aware and worked with trans folks, and understanding a bit more about the culture and the reality of the meaning of gender,” he added. “It’s unfortunate that the film vilified that, and it’s fucking wrong. And you can quote me on that.”
Producer Edward Saxon told the publication that he and Demme didn’t see Gumb as part of the LGBTQ+ community. But he acknowledged that the movie tapped into harmful stereotypes.
“As we made the film, there was just no question in our minds that Buffalo Bill was a completely aberrant personality — that he wasn’t gay or trans. He was sick. To that extent, we missed it. From my point of view, we weren’t sensitive enough to the legacy of a lot of stereotypes and their ability to harm,” he said. “There’s regret, but it didn’t come from any place of malice.”
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