SALIVATING FOR MORE HANNIBAL
Book Review – Hannibal for Dinner: Essays on America’s Favorite Cannibal on Television
Review by Ray Schillaci
The NBC show Hannibal has left its cult following ravenous. The series garnered critical praise in its short life. With only three seasons filmed and a resurrection of interest from viewers of Netflix where it shot to the Top Ten, the series appeared to have the possibility of a cast reunion and new seasons.
The cast and crew did reunite in July of 2020 over a Zoom event that premiered on the Nerdist Youtube channel and later on Geek & Sundry’s Youtube and Twitch channels. For those living under a rock or locked in a storage freezer, Hannibal was based on the set of popular books written by Thomas Harris, the first to be unveiled in 1981: Red Dragon, The Silence of the Lambs and Hannibal. Later, four films would be made from these books, and The Silence of the Lambs would go onto win five Oscars including Best Picture.
Bryan Fuller, best known as a writer for such popular TV shows as Dead Like Me, Heroes and Star Trek: Voyager, and creator/producer/writer of Pushing Daisies, had a whole new story to tell with Hannibal. Fuller developed the early relationship between the prominent psychiatrist, Hannibal Lecter, and his patient a young criminal profiler for the FBI who deals with empathizing with serial killers. Of course, this was before Hannibal turned cannibal.
The show was so fascinating that academics and scholars spent years writing articles linking Hannibal to changes in television production, mythological interpretation, food, culture and pop psychology. The culmination has led to a new book that combines academic and insider production perspectives, Hannibal for Dinner: Essays on America’s Favorite Cannibal on Television, edited by Kyle A. Moody and Nicholas A. Yanes. The book is described as “a delectable taster for general audiences and academics alike, great for dinnertime conversations of all type.” Sounds like a book Fannibals can really sink their teeth into.
Writers interviewed are Tom de Ville (Lexx, Urban Gothic and Lucky Man), Nick Antoscao (writer and creator of The Act, Channel Zero and Brand New Cherry Flavor) and Martha De Laurentiis (executive producer/producer of Arctic, Hannibal Rising, Red Dragon, Firestarter and Silver Bullet). These interviews and academic essays explore the Hannibal franchise, its evolution, creatively bold risks, a culture of killers and how to be an entertaining host when having friends for dinner. In other words, a tasty treat that will engross the curious, the fan base and most likely entice those addicted to true crime stories.
Kyle Moody, Ph.D. is an associate 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. His work has been featured in Springer and Iowa Journal of Communication. Nicholas Yanes, Ph.D. examines the entertainment industry as an academic and corporate consultant. His dissertation explored the corporate history of EC Comics and Mad Magazine, and his first book analyzed the relationship between President Obama’s 2008 campaign and popular media. As a freelance writer he has contributed to CNBCPrime, Casual Connect, GameSauce, Sequart, MGM’s Stargate Command, and ScifiPulse.
Hannibal for Dinner: Essays on America’s Favorite Cannibal on Television is published by McFarland & Company, Inc. The book is available through the publisher and Amazon. https://mcfarlandbooks.com/product/hannibal-for-dinner/ https://www.amazon.com/Hannibal-Dinner-Americas-Favorite-Television/dp/1476666423/
Visit Ray’s blog at themonsterinmyhead.com
