*For legal reasons, no we did not actually hire the real Michael O’Donoghue to write a Thursday Detention article for us. O’Donoghue here is simply a struggling writer whose first name resembles the glorious SNL writer*
It’s October, “spooky season,” which means pure dread for people like me. I, for one, do not like being scared. I do not like screaming for fun. I do not like filling my mind with blood thirsty dead humans, nor do I enjoy entering haunted houses for the “thrill.” I hate a lot of things about Halloween, but the thing I hate most is scary movies. I cannot fathom why anyone would watch a movie to feel sheer anxiety. But apparently people are convinced this version of stress is... pleasing, so I watched a scary movie to see if I could find any enjoyment.
I did not.
I watched Silence of the Lambs. More accurately, I listened to Silence of the lambs. Literally the second the film started, I covered my eyes. But based on this listening, I am absolutely positive that this movie was supposed to be a comedy. Here’s why:
It's the names of the characters. There is a cannibal in this movie, so naturally the writers got really creative and decided to name him Hannibal. That's right: “Hannibal the Cannibal.” I mean he literally sounds like a Muppet. Add on his weird mask, Hannibal looks like a really disfigured Muppet. Come to think of it, they never explicitly say that Hannibal is NOT a Muppet. He also spends a lot of time sitting or straight-jacketed which only gives me further reason to believe he is indeed a puppet. I mean think about how little we saw Kermit moving his legs...
The other scary murder dude in this movie was named “Buffalo Bill,” which to me seems like a great way to undermine the scariness of a character (the character was still horrifying, so I guess that's not true, but the name still sucks). I feel like a character named “Buffalo Bill'' would look something like this:
It’s October, “spooky season,” which means pure dread for people like me. I, for one, do not like being scared. I do not like screaming for fun. I do not like filling my mind with blood thirsty dead humans, nor do I enjoy entering haunted houses for the “thrill.” I hate a lot of things about Halloween, but the thing I hate most is scary movies. I cannot fathom why anyone would watch a movie to feel sheer anxiety. But apparently people are convinced this version of stress is... pleasing, so I watched a scary movie to see if I could find any enjoyment.
I did not.
I watched Silence of the Lambs. More accurately, I listened to Silence of the lambs. Literally the second the film started, I covered my eyes. But based on this listening, I am absolutely positive that this movie was supposed to be a comedy. Here’s why:
It's the names of the characters. There is a cannibal in this movie, so naturally the writers got really creative and decided to name him Hannibal. That's right: “Hannibal the Cannibal.” I mean he literally sounds like a Muppet. Add on his weird mask, Hannibal looks like a really disfigured Muppet. Come to think of it, they never explicitly say that Hannibal is NOT a Muppet. He also spends a lot of time sitting or straight-jacketed which only gives me further reason to believe he is indeed a puppet. I mean think about how little we saw Kermit moving his legs...
The other scary murder dude in this movie was named “Buffalo Bill,” which to me seems like a great way to undermine the scariness of a character (the character was still horrifying, so I guess that's not true, but the name still sucks). I feel like a character named “Buffalo Bill'' would look something like this:
He did not. Buffalo Bill looks like Christopher Walken doing an impression of Patrick Swayze: it is so incredibly jarring that it’s terrifying. Sort of like seeing Kermit’s legs.
I don’t know what the thought process was in naming these characters. Whatever it is, I can assume the writers were not very concerned with the fear factor of the names of the cannibals and murderers. I think maybe the cannibalism and murdering took care of that.
I don’t know what the thought process was in naming these characters. Whatever it is, I can assume the writers were not very concerned with the fear factor of the names of the cannibals and murderers. I think maybe the cannibalism and murdering took care of that.