THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS – Poster Analysis(By Sara Avramovska)

‘’The Silence of the Lambs’’ is a 1991 American Thriller, inspired by Thomas Harris’s novel (1988) of the same name as you are able to recognise on the poster’s anchorage/positive quote: ‘’ from the terrifying best seller’’. The film has been directed by Robert Jonathan Demme (Born on Feb 22, 1944) who is not only an American producer but also a filmmaker, screen writer as well as an actor! Demme has directed movies such as Philadelphia (1993), Rachel Getting Married (2008), Neli Young: Heart of Gold (2011) etc. therefore his carrier has been active since or over a long period of time, however he is most known and famous for directing ‘The Silence of the Lambs’’; the movie was released on February 14, 1991 and it has earned an enormous amount of profit of $272.7 million against the invested budget of $19 million.

The American Thriller Film has also been selected for a number of Academy Awards such as Adopted Screenplay, Best Actor/Actress and Best Director.

Poster Analysis Connotations

1. Denotative meaning (Google Definition): ‘’ a nectar-feeding insect with two pairs of large, typically brightly coloured wings that are covered with microscopic scales. Butterflies are distinguished from moths by having clubbed or dilated antennae, holding their wings erect when at rest, and being active by day.’’

2. My Personal Connotations : The more we interpret nature and its symbolism the more we realise we have a lot in common with it! Interpreting nature’s symbolism and its creatures within it, such as a butterfly, enables a powerful connection between human kind and nature itself. We, as the humans can learn interesting and powerful lesson in regards to nature’s connotations that we can all apply to our own, everyday lives and this could possibly reflect the reasoning behind the use of a butterfly presented on the poster of ‘’Silence of the Lambs.’’

Example Connotations of a butterfly:

- cultural myth connotation is the ongoing transformation and development of a butterfly (metamorphosis) implying the ongoing change occurring in our own lives and how we dance from one phrase to another developing our own opinions and thinking through every step, every movement as we grow! Self-transformation.

- In China, a butterfly is a symbol of joy and bliss. - Beauty and colour. - In Hopi traditions, a girl who has not yet been married would style their hair in a butterfly

shape to emphasize their availability, once again suggesting innocence and purity of a woman before marriage.

- In Christianity a butterfly is a symbol of one’s innocent, pure and kind hearted soul.

‘’Many who read this next statement will cringe since few things evoke as strong an emotional response in

humans as insects do… but butterflies are insects. Consider however, that insects succeed as a group because

of six primary qualities:

1. Their ability to fly enables them to spread.

2. They are extremely adaptable to their environment and climatic conditions.

3. Their external skeleton provides a kind of armor of self-protection.

4. Their small size keeps their demands meager and accessible.

5. The ability to delay fertilization until conditions are beneficial enables their species to survive.

6. They undergo multiple changes (metamorphosis) to facilitate and carry on life.

All of these traits can be viewed symbolically as ideas to assist humans to be more successful within their own

lives. While we cannot fly, we can ensure that we don’t get stuck in what is too comfortable. We don’t have

exoskeletons, but we can develop sensitivity to the energies around us and strengthen ourselves to be less

victimized by those energies. We can be less wasteful in our lives and keep our demands small. We can build

and do a little at a time so that it becomes great over time instead of trying to accomplish all at once. Probably

most importantly, metamorphosis is inevitable… and life becomes more difficult on many levels when we resist

its natural flow. Metamorphosis is the magic that insects can teach us. Change ensures growth. We have to shed

the old before we can come into the new.  We give birth to ideas, activities, or qualities. Ideas and creativity need

to be shaped, formed, developed and honed. After this is accomplished, the new foundation is laid. Sometimes,

we need to back off and go deeply within after laying a foundation so that creation will be able to come forth

strong and in a new light. Just as the adult butterfly only emerges when conditions are right, our ideas and

activities will only flourish on a higher level when conditions are right. That is the force of creation – the only

constant is that we are always changing.’’

(Link: http://www.pure-spirit.com/more-animal-symbolism/611-butterfly-symbolism)

Due to the positive connotations presented above, I believe that the butterfly represented in the movie poster creates an ironic atmosphere as it covers (juxtaposed) the protagonist’s mouth, the butterfly is placed upon her lips as she is silenced possibly corresponding to the

references made within the film while also implying that the title ‘’The Silence of the Lambs’’ is visually expressed/represented. The paleness of the woman appearance suggests that she is represented as the ‘’lambs’’ silenced by a butterfly. What an odd comparison! However it does make the poster more alarming as a lambs denotative meaning is simply a young sheep, however a lamb connotes innocence, goodness, venerability suggested by Bible References; sweet and mild-mannered, a person easily deceived due to their innocence and kind nature. Furthermore implying that the protagonist is the lamb, an innocent, kind hearted young woman silenced or rather psychologically influenced by evil surroundings.

If you pay close, careful attention at the poster, you will notice that a skull appears at the back of the beautiful butterfly not only contributing to the mysterious aspect of Psychological Thrillers however furthermore adding onto the artistic aspect of the poster, while it also connotes the evil within the film. Perhaps it could even portray death literally, or furthermore conveying the idea of the death of the woman’s (lambs) ability to speak, to express her kind hearted opinions emphasizing her inability to stop evil thinking and actions contributing within her surroundings or even towards her.

The olden connotations of a butterfly contribute to my personal ironic connotations. In the olden era a butterfly had negative connotations also, it was seen as the spirit of death especially in Gnostic art (Wikipedia definition Gnosticism  is a modern term categorizing a collection of ancient religions whose adherents shunned the material world – which they viewed as created by the demiurge – and embraced the spiritual world’’) the angel of death is known to have crushed a butterfly with his foot and the butterfly’s attraction to light and warmth imply the ‘’purification of fire’’ I have simply googled ‘’Gnostic Art butterfly’’ and as you can see from the pictures displayed above, the butterfly contains similar colour scheme to the one within the poster of ‘’The silence of the lambs’’ moreover suggesting that an evil presence has corrupted the woman. Because of this particular representation, I feel as if the audience would sympathise with the protagonist’s character.

Another connotation could be that she is in fact the lamb an innocent, intelligent and kind-hearted young woman and her mouth covered, silenced if you’d like, as she is in searched for change, transformation (suggested by the transformation of a butterfly); in search for answers that require psychological focus rather than verbal communication. The woman may be the one in search for the psycho causing the death of other victims rather than the death of herself (suggested by the skull on the butterfly.

LIGHTING/CAMERA ANGLE /COLOR SCHEME and ANCHORAGE

The icy, grainy effect used creates an unpleasant, unsettling atmosphere, as the woman’s skin appears rather rough textured in contrast to how women are usually represented to have beautiful, smooth and clear skin. I believe this effect was achieved through the use of Photoshop (Duplicate Layer of the Image> Filter Menu- Texture > Grain with adjusted intensity/ opacity)

Furthermore, the image used within the poster uses very strong lighting on the right side of the woman’s face while low key lighting is used on the other. This enables (chiaroscuro effect) the strong contrast between light and dark colours to imply the presence of both good and evil within the film. Typically a strong contrast is used to emphasise (stand out) ones facial features or features in general, however within this movie poster I believe the brightness levels have been adjusted to very high alongside to the high levels of contrast therefore the right hand side of the woman’s portrait almost disappears into the background along with the help of the lighting directed/focused within that specific area (overexposure.) The light and dark contrast is a classic for most Thriller movies, it is almost a convention within Thriller movie posters and it may indicate fear or shock (psychological and physical trauma). The use of lighting creates a rather mysterious or ambiguous effect as not all her facial features are visible except for the woman’s eyes and nose. The image of her seems almost cartoonish as her face is portrayed to be extremely pale in appearance implying an unhealthy and unnatural glow furthermore supporting the conventions of Thriller Genre Movie Posters. The pale face could also have a metaphorical meaning linked to title ‘’the lambs’’ which as I have previously stated symbolize venerability, innocence and purity hinting at the dark and unsettling plotline; due to this she appears rather emotionless and confuses the audience… is she is the character in needs to receive help or is she the psycho within the movie?!. I believe that the lighting of the poster is extremely effective as it triggers my personal attention and sympathy towards the character presented.

The image is also a close up which establishes a sense of connection between the audience and the poster’s protagonist. The close up reveals the face of the young girl spread out entirely framing the poster which allows the audience to feel close and personal with the subject matter; she is in fact the central focus point and helps to trigger the attention of the audience. Alternatively the woman’s orange/red gaze stablishes an unsettling, almostSuper-natural outcome as she is staring directly at the camera addressing the audience. The redness in her eyes could also symbolise anger, danger and blood while it also brilliantly contrasts against the white background symbolising purity and innocence furthermore emphasising the conflicting forces between good and evil.

Moreover the colour pallete is rather odd… blue, white, orange/red? Typically Thriller Genres would choose to use red, white and black however this poster is still rather successful in terms of the colour scheme due to the colour connotations according to the posters iconography . Black signifies death, blue the colour of the sky and water signifies intelligence and wisdom, white signifies purity and the red/orange imply danger and anger. The colour scheme connects the whole poster together as well as allowing an indication into the storyline.

The Title, the woman’s eyes and the butterfly are all in red/orange colour almost forming a triangular shape and signifying prominence of the film. The title as represented in orange stands out against the black background while also signifying recognisable connections and similarities to the Thriller Genre. The title itself however, ‘’The Silence of the Lambs’’ also automatically hints at murder ‘’silenced’’ while ‘’the lamb’’ could possibly suggest that the murderer does not view his/her victims as humans but as animals…he is the predator and the victims are his pray. Perhaps even hinting at the plot of the movie… lambs are seen as meat and eaten by people, so the predator could possibly eat his victims as he/she sees them as nothing more than meat/animals?! Furthermore suggesting that the murderer is a vicious and a dangerous human being with no

qualities of human emotions or fragility.

Actors Names: Just above the title of the film, the leading actors as represented as separated by forward slashes while also in lower case letters and white bold iconography that stands out against the black/blue in order to draw in the attention of the target audience as the well-known actors confirm a large fan base therefore I personally believe this is a successful and efficient method

of advertising a film.

Positive Quote/Tag-Line: As I’m sure you are able to already recognise, the poster contains a smaller tag-line in lower case while and bold iconography which has been printed/layered on top of a black rectangular box with the use of colours still tie the whole poster together. Without the introduction the location or plot or any indication that the movie belongs to the Thriller Genre, the positive quote

is used to draw in the attention of the audience effectively as ‘’from the best seller’’ suggests that the tagline is directly addressing a large collective fan base of the book previously written by the author. (Thomas Harris).

Official Documentation/Credits: This information, ‘’the billing block’’ is also always written in the same font no matter

what movie or the genre of it; it is also always written in the same size to symbolise equality between directors, producers, actors etc. Whitin ‘’The Silence of the Lambs’’ poster the director’s name has been boxed showing importance however the poster does not include film reviews, film release date and ratings have not been mentioned. I believe that this does no harm to the advertising part as I believe the creator of the poster had purposely only mentioned ‘’from the terrifying best seller’’ as it entirely wishes to rely the advertisement on the best-selling book.

REPRESENTATION and Target Audience – Age, Gender, Class, Nationality, Sexual Orientation.

Dues to this I believe that in terms of gender representation, the poster is quite tricky. At first glance I personally believed that the woman was represented as the a stereo-typical weaker sex as she is silenced by the butterfly, but once I begun to analyse the poster as I have mentioned previously ‘’ she is in search for answers that require psychological focus rather than verbal communication.’’ Therefore she may be in fact the one in charge, empowered by her psychological intelligence?! Furthermore suggesting that the poster may appeal more towards the female audience rather than the male audience. I personally believe this poster would be aimed towards teenagers and young adults between the ages of 16-25. In terms of nationality the woman is represented as quite pale, therefore white however I do not believe this hits at any sexual orientation or nationality reference towards the target audience of this movie.