#symbolism in hannibal

[flock-of-cassowaries]

So this post:

…is a lovely and well-thought out essay, and I don’t want to clutter its notes.

But to me (voted most likely to assume the curtains were just blue), there were some much more obvious, and more disturbing, implications to this painting’s presence in Mason Verger’s dining room.

CW for non-explicit mentions of CSA, incest, and child abuse below the cut.

After the Bath by Paul Peel, 1890.

We can all agree it’s creepy AF that Mason Verger has this painting, right?

1. The children in the painting are nude, and (as the better essay linked above pointed out) in an implicitly vulnerable position, possibly unaware they are being watched.

It is heavily implied (during his therapy session with Hannibal in s2) that Mason sexually abuses children at his summer camp for underprivileged youth - it’s something he basically boasts about to Hannibal (right before Hannibal delegates Will’s dogs to eat his face).

2. The painting is of two siblings - a boy and his younger sister.

It is heavily implied, from the first scene where we meet Mason, that he has sexually abused Margot.

So… yeah. In that context, the levels on which Mason is likely enjoying this painting are extremely unpleasant to contemplate.

[flock-of-cassowaries]

If you want to extend this metaphor, in Venice, Will asks Jack why he let Hannibal go, and Jack says “Maybe I needed you to do it [kill him]”.

Not a bible scholar, but that seems like a very pre-rebranding Old Testament god thing to do.

[luneillusoire]

Me and the Devil,

Walking side by side 🩸

[elysiansam]

putting ABIGAIL from HANNIBAL in a PSYCH WARD with SAM WINCHESTER who was being mentally tortured by THE DEVIL because he was SEXUALLY ASSAULTED is certainly a choice.

the only thing they’re missing from the equation is ethel cain

[asadstatue]

The symbolism in this scene is breathtaking to me. It doesn't feel like it was meant to merely imply how willing Hannibal was to sacrifice himself for Will by taking the bullet.

It reminds me of this Bellini's painting: The Blood of the Redeemer (1465).

Christ, resurrected after crucifixion, body still pale and weak, yet pressing the wound in his side to let his blood flow into the chalice.

Hannibal portrayed as if he's Christ, right side pierced, his blood spilling, pouring into wine, offering not just protection but also forgiveness, redemption and transformation through his sacrifice. There's even an air of quiet divinity in his face, almost content as he bleeds.

And then there's Will. Drinking wine, accepting the love and salvation tied to Hannibal's sacrifice and suffering, partaking in his resurrection, uniting with him in it... . One step closer to that god he once sought in Cappella Palatina.

[ofteacupsandclocks]

I wanna talk about Hannibal’s white and red suit in his memory palace in season 3 episode 13.

It appeared on screen for like .5 seconds but it is my favorite outfit because it represents Hannibal so well.

White is a color representative of honesty, goodness and innocence. But also neutrality and peace. That’s the person suit Hannibal wears on the outside. It’s the image he shows the world. The good doctor, always calm and collected.

But the shirt and tie mostly obscured by the suit are a deep red. The color of blood he has spilled - the monster beneath the person suit. But also the colour of passion. Beneath the person suit Hannibal is passionate and irrational and emotional, he burns for Will, he aches for him and his passion is as all consuming as fire.

The red also reminds me of the heart Hannibal left for Will in the same chapel - the heart he usually wears hidden beneath his clean person suit, the heart he had left out in the open only for Will.

And of course the second important aspect of a white suit (especially in the context of a chapel): wedding attire. Especially combined with an earlier season 3 scene that looks as if Will is walking down the altar towards Hannibal.

And it’s also important that this white suit appears in the last episode is season 3. In the scene Hannibal and Will are lighting votive candles - candles that are lit as offerings when praying for oneself or for someone.

Now the way I see it there are two possible interpretations:

1. This is the only time Hannibal truly prays - the dragon is believed to be dead and this is his last chance to keep Will. Will is perhaps praying for the same thing - a reason to stay. A reason to choose Hannibal. Or maybe the strength to let go once and for all.

2. They are praying to each other, lighting candles as offerings to each other. Because they are gods to each other, the only gods the other will ever worship. They are praying to their gods to show them mercy, to let them go or to keep them. Maybe both, maybe neither.

And this is the episode Will finally fully yielded. The episode he chose Hannibal. The episode he and Hannibal finally unite. Their prayers, perhaps the only prayers they had ever offered were answered.

[patchouii]

[canniboobies]

wip i’ll never finish😁

[evilrobotalienclown]

Smth about chilton giving up and letting jack arrest him in the snow outside will's house and jack realizing chilton isn't the ripper because he's lowkey pathetic and then jack later arresting hannibal outside will's house in the snow after he gives himself up,, and jack is like oh so the ripper is pathetic he's just especially pathetic for will graham

[4mumbo]

old grumbo hannigram au concept. that ill never finish so i might as well post

[flock-of-cassowaries]

( Credit to @silencesuffocates [original post ] )

[the-crooked-library]

rewatching Hannibal w my husband, we're on s1ep10, and what strikes me is that the darkness in Will is already visible and apparent - even this early in the story. and i mean the proper, innate stuff. not the defensive prickliness or the mirrored crime scene reconstruction. for the majority of this episode, he appears to be weak, sick, scared - because he is!.. but when he's at Beth Lebeau's house w Beverly and she, just for a second, implies that she can tell he's more unstable or afraid than he actually wants her to know...

his reaction is instant. his eyes focus on her face, so sharply it's startling. there's a calculating sort of coldness in them. his voice drops to a growl. his entire body language shifts; it's predatory. he only moves a step or two in her direction, but he is so unmistakably a threat that being alone with him, in this empty house, at night, suddenly seems like an extremely precarious situation. he is terrifying - and what is perhaps even more unnerving is that this change happens on a dime. in the next few seconds, Beverly reassures him, agrees with him - and his outward presentation immediately returns to the soft, nervous, ultimately non-threatening vulnerability. he wears this mask so well, i literally missed its coming off the first time around.

noticing it this time was almost jarring. it was beautiful. this is precisely what Hannibal saw the first time they met. it's that potential, that danger, ever-present - god, it was always going to be Will, wasn't it?..

[luneillusoire]

My Father’s Joy 🥀

[until-i-set-him-free]

Jesus is queer and lives in Los Angeles

Footnote to Howl by Allen Ginsberg / Christ Displaying His Wounds by Giacomo Galli / 9-1-1 s2e16 "Bobby Begins Again" / 'stigmata' definition from Britannica / rumors about jesus by Keaton St. James

9-1-1 s2e12 "Chimney Begins" / The Entombment by Peter Paul Rubens (fragment) / trans jesus by Keaton St. James

9-1-1 s8e03 "Capsized" / a sticker I got with socio-cultural queer magazine in Poland / Bible / The Passion of the Christ (2004)

9-1-1 s7e03 "Capsized" / Jesus at the Gay Bar by Jay Humle

Hannibal s3e03 "Secondo" script / 9-1-1 s7e04 "Buck, Bothered and Bewildered" / The Light of the World (St Paul's Cathedral version) by William Holman Hunt (fragment) + its Wikipedia

9-1-1 s7e05 "You Don't Know Me" / the cover of Berek by Marcin Szczygielski / Angels in America by Tony Kushner / Most Sacred Heart of Jesus / Oh My Heart by R.E.M. / Pygmy Love Song by Francis Bebey

Christ in Gethsemane by Heinrich Hofmann / Goodtime Jesus by James Tate / 9-1-1 s7e05 "You Don't Know Me" / Gethsemane by Dry the River

9-1-1 s7e04 "Buck, Bothered and Bewildered" / Cristo de la Concordia (Christ of Peace) in Cochabamba, Bolivia / Personal Jesus by Depeche Mode / 9-1-1 s7e06 "There Goes the Groom" + Christ the Comforter by Carl Heinrich Bloch / God in Jeans by Ryan Beatty

9-1-1 s7e06 "There Goes the Groom" / Christ the Consoler by Kateryna Kariukova / Deathbed by Relient K

Hammer by Dry the River / 9-1-1 s7e04 "Buck, Bothered and Bewildered" / Bible / 9-1-1 s7e06 "There Goes the Groom" / November by Keaton St. James

Something That May Shock and Discredit You by Daniel Mallory Ortberg / 9-1-1 s7e05 "You Don't Know Me" / 9-1-1 s7e10 "All Fall Down" / Making Pies by Patty Griffin / Touch Me from Spring Awakening (with a comment from Genius.com) / Footnote to Howl by Allen Ginsberg

[paminaprosperina]

I love beautiful cinematic parallels

[sabellart]

they gave me a troubled teenage girl daughter figure and really expected me not to relate to her an abnormal amount…..