Saturday, June 22, 2013

Bryan Fuller Talks About The Artistic Significance of Will's Vomit in Hannibal's Season 1 Finale "Savoureux"

TV Guide interviewed Hannibal creator Bryan Fuller about the season 1 finale.  Fuller goes into detail about Will Graham vomiting up a human ear in the season 1 finale.

Link: http://www.tvguide.com/News/Hannibal-Postmortem-Bryan-Fuller-1067011.aspx

Some people might look at this screen shot and think they are seeing a kitchen sink containing a vomited up human ear and pills.  According to Bryan Fuller's interview, this is part of his grand artistic vision.  

Somebody frame this work of art.
From the inteview: 
It was something that I knew was going to happen, even before I started writing the pilot. The last run of episodes was going to [have] Will Graham throwing up an ear, fearing that he had eaten somebody. Initially it was a finger, [but] I just thought, 'There's not as much chew time for a finger as there is an ear.' [Laughs] It was a really great destination to drive to and one of those kind of sparks of inspiration.
"Great destination"!!!  "Sparks of inspiration"!!!  He's talking about a sink filled with vomit, people. It's not the Sistine Chapel.


Fortunately, the interviewer asked the key question:  "Speaking of what we don't see, how did Hannibal get the ear in Will's stomach?"
Hannibal is a wily guy. [Laughs] As a storyteller, I have to have an answer in reality. On one hand, I could see a version of Hannibal sneaking into Will's house with an ear on a stick and pushing it down his throat. On the other hand, as a lover of horror and sci-fi and quasi-supernatural storytelling, I love the explanation that Hannibal is a devil. But that was not Thomas Harris' intention. So, he has to have been physically able to accomplish that in some manner. If we did something where it was sort of magical, then I think we would lose our grip on reality. That's something I think is very important to maintain, out of respect for the audience and also the character and his origins. But in my mind, I love the greater mythology of Hannibal being a very punitive devil.
I think Fuller has lost his grip on reality. He is constantly choosing style and drama over substance. You've got to think these things through logically or you run the risk of looking foolish.  People (me) are still wondering how an aging Lance Henriksen hoisted the dead body totem pole on the beach. And how did the "living dead girl" break into Will's house and hide under the bed without one of Will's menagerie of dogs barking? All of these loose ends are adding up and getting very distracting. In short, it is not a "great destination" if you don't know how you got there.

If Hannibal did sneak into Will's house with an ear on a stick and push it down his throat, film the scene. If it was a magical stick pushing the ear down Will's throat, show it. Why have the same few characters have the same few conversations? Why have the elk visions all the time?  Shake it up a bit.

Imagine with this "auteur" could do with a toilet. 

Cue up the theme music to "That's Entertainment."  





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