Spoiler Discussion

1. The opening shot was really interesting. The camera opens on Clarice as she runs through a series of woods and trails. The music is ominous and the woods feel threatening and unclear- covered in fog. Despite all the visual indicators and the ominous tone, Clarice ends up at the academy fine. The scene is emblematic of the movie- not only in tone- but in foreshadowing the fate of Clarice. Her normal surroundings are unsafe and require more inspection. To me, it just felt irregular and made me tense up for a scare.

2. I felt the voyeuristic feeling of the movie the most during the end of the movie when Buffalo Bill is just watching Clarice with his night-light goggles. The scene felt so haunting because of how the gaze just lingers on her. He can kill her, at least in his mind, at any moment- but instead of pulling the trigger, he watches her. Looking at her through his gaze, I felt like Clarice was in trouble- that she was helpless. But then she immediately shoots at him when she hears the noise. It’s almost as if the movie revealing my biases- despite watching Clarice the whole movie and seeing how resourceful and intelligent she had been, I still expected someone else to save her- even when she was a capable agent. It might be reaching, but the moment was meaningful to me.