90: “It Rubs The Lotion On Its Skin, Or Else It Gets The Hose Again” - The Silence Of The Lambs

When We Were Young - an 80s and 90s pop culture podcast

Have the podcast hosts stopped screaming? Not yet! We follow last episode’s discussion of the Best Actress nominees of 1991 – including the groundbreaking, genre-defying tale of female outlaws Thelma & Louise – with a look at the night’s big winner, THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS. The serial killer thriller not only won the Best Actress Oscar, but also Best Actor, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Director, and Best Picture – a feat accomplished by only two other films in the Academy’s 93 year history.

Like Thelma & Louise, The Silence Of The Lambs is now known for inserting intelligent, fully realized female characters into a genre typically dominated by men. And like Thelma & Louise, The Silence Of The Lambs generated plenty of controversy upon release, especially around its gender-bending antagonist, Buffalo Bill. Of course, it also birthed one of the most memorable and quotable screen villains of all time, with Anthony Hopkins’ brief but tasty turn as cannibal psychologist Hannibal Lecter.

In this episode, we dissect the film both as a crowd-pleasing, nail-biting thriller and through the lens of its sexual politics. Jodie Foster’s much-lauded performance made FBI trainee Clarice Starling one of the greatest screen heroines of the 90s, but does she still hold her own against the infamous Dr. Lecter 30 years later?

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Is The Silence Of The Lambs still a snack? Or should we send this thing back to Baltimore? Grab your best bag and your cheapest shoes, lodge an exotic moth in your throat, and get a nice bottle of Chianti ready, because this podcast is going all the way to the FBI. Bon appétit!

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