Hannibal for Dinner

NBC’s Hannibal only lasted for three seasons but became a critical darling and quickly inspired a ravenous fanbase. Bryan Fuller’s adaptation of Hannibal Lecter’s adventures created a new set of fans and a cult audience through its stunning visuals, playful characters, and mythical tableaus of violence that doubled as works of art. The show became a nexus point for viewers that explored consumption, queerness, beauty, crime, and the meaning of love through a lens of blood and gore.

Much like the show, this collection is a love letter to America’s favorite cannibal, celebrating the multiple ways that Hannibal expanded the mythology, food culture, fandom, artistic achievements, and religious symbolism of the work of Thomas Harris. Primarily focusing on Hannibal, this book combines interviews and academic essays that examine the franchise, its evolution, creatively bold risks, and the art of creating a TV show that consumed the hearts and minds of its audience.

Kyle A. Moody is an assistant professor of communications media at Fitchburg State University in Fitchburg, Massachusetts. He explores online communities, information sharing practices, user generated content in games and social media, and the convergence culture of information production.

Nicholas A. Yanes examines the entertainment industry as an academic and corporate consultant. As a freelance writer he has contributed to CNBCPrime, Casual Connect, GameSauce, Sequart, MGM’s Stargate Command, and ScifiPulse.

Edited by Kyle A. Moody and Nicholas A. Yanes
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 335
Bibliographic Info: bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2021
pISBN: 978-1-4766-6642-6
eISBN: 978-1-4766-4162-1
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments xi
Introduction: The Hors d’Oeuvre
Kyle A. Moody and Nicholas A. Yanes 1
Giving Voice to the Unmentionable: How Hannibal Lecter Uses Bodies in the Television Series Hannibal
Lisa Rufus 7
My Darling Cannibal: The Mechanics of Perverse Allegiance in Hannibal
Kirsty Worrow 26
Empathy for the Audience: Hannibal, the Fannibals and What Happens When a Show Takes Its Fandom Seriously
Nicole Michaud Wild 47
Interview: Tom de Ville
Nicholas A. Yanes 66
Bodies That Change: Transformation, Body Dysmorphia and the Malleability of Identity in Bryan Fuller’s Hannibal
Samantha McLaren 71
Cannibalizing Hannibal: The Horrific and Appetizing Rewriting of Hannibal Mythology
Naja Later 89
“If I saw you every day, forever, I’d remember this time”: Deconstructing Gender Performance and Heteronormativity Through Adaptation
Megan Fowler 106
Go with the Flow: Will Graham and Liminality in Bryan Fuller’s Hannibal
Lorianne Reuser 121
Interview: Nick Antosca
Nicholas A. Yanes 136
Eating Exquisite Corpses and Drinking New Wine: The Chesapeake Ripper as the Authentic Surreal Murderer
Vittoria Lion 139
Food Culture in Hannibal
Megan McAllister 163
Matchless in His Irony: Divinity and the Aesthetics of Death in Bryan Fuller’s Hannibal
Anamarija Horvat 170
Interview: Martha De Laurentiis
Nicholas A. Yanes 189
It’s a Matter of Taste: Bourdieu and the Impeccably Mannered Anthropophagite
Sarah Cleary 196
Stranger in a Strange Land: Hannibal as an Adaptation of Stoker’s and Browning’s Dracula
Simon Bacon 213
Pygmalion of a Broken Mind: Physical and Mental Desire in Will Graham and Hannibal Lecter’s Relationship
Olimpia Calì 232
Gender/Animal Suits: Adapting Buffalo Bill from The Silence of the Lambs to NBC’s Hannibal
Evelyn Deshane 243
Queer(y)ing Adaptation: Bryan Fuller’s Hannibal as Slash Fiction Gothic Romance
Evan Hayles Gledhill 259
An Art Form That Honors Aesthetic and Taste: The Art of Murder and the Art of Television in Hannibal
Michael Fuchs 278
The Rise of the Showrunner in Hannibal: Bryan Fuller as Simultaneous Fan Author and Legitimate Auteur
Kyle A. Moody 299
Afterword: Dining In—The Legacy of Bryan Fuller’s Hannibal, or, How Hannibal Inspired Us to Eat Better
Nicholas A. Yanes 311
About the Contributors 315
Index 319

• “[Moody and Yanes] have now fused their scholarly interests with pop culture fixation in a new book that examines one of the most adored, yet short-lived shows of the past ten years.”—USA Today

• “Groundbreaking scholarship…one-of-a kind academic articles and interviews”—Daily Dead

• “For fans or new fans, these essays will make you think about what the show’s storytelling and representation really mean”—ScifiPulse

• “Sink your teeth into Hannibal for Dinner…brings together a collection of academic articles and interviews diving into the legacy of Hannibal. The book explores the franchise, the bold and creative risks it took, its evolution, and more”—Nerds and Beyond

• “Combines academic and insider production perspectives…a book Fannibals can sink their teeth into…a tasty treat that will engross the curious, the fan base and most likely entice those addicted to true crime stories.”—The Monster in My Head

• “A delectable taster for general audiences and academics alike, great for dinnertime conversations of all type”—Promote Horror

• “Much like the show, this collection is a love letter to America’s favorite cannibal”—American Studies

• “A deep rumination on a show I’m really proud of. For fans or new fans, these essays will make you think about what the show’s storytelling and representation really mean. Fannibals or even those new to Hannibal will find analysis and commentary that makes them think differently and more deeply about the show. A lot to savor here.”—Martha De Laurentiis, executive producer of Hannibal