In which I have ~*~opinions~*~ about fictional profilers
After a loooot of wavering (because forced cannibalism is my serious number-one-with-a-bullet Squick) I've watched the first two episodes of Hannibal. My main reason for that is actually that my love of the Will-Graham-Archetype protagonist is stronger than any squick induced by the fuck-off delicous looking food served by Lecter could ever be, even though the so-empathetic-they-may-as-well-be-psychic Profiler I imprinted on and the reason I wanted to be a Forensic Psychologist for so long (and well, kind of still do) was Sam Waters from Profiler.
But here's the thing. I mean, since I'm currently on a Criminal Minds resurgence anyway, the comparison was going to crop up. Even so it seems to be the fandom accepted theory that Reid is the Graham-Archetype (but not as obviously as Seaver was Clarice Starling) I've always firmly put Hotch in that role, which comes as a total surprise to anyone who knows me, I'm sure. *cough* Hannibal's Will Graham, as played by Hugh Dancy, is definitely more of a Reid-type, whereas both William Peterson and Edward Norton were always more of a mish-mash of Hotch and Gideon to me. Maybe it's because Dancy is so very obviously putting an effort into appearing neuroatypical, but it's just not very believable to me yet. IDK, he might get better.
Which brings me to the point of this post: we are supposed to be scared that Graham discovers that he might enjoy killing, and ... eh. It's the same problem I have with Tony Hill from Wire in the Blood, who is a hugely disturbed indivdual and who's deal is that he finds it a lot easier to empathise with serial killers than with normal people, suggesting that he's always on the edge of losing control and becoming a bad guy.
But I'm sorry. I don't buy it from either of them. Mostly because I feel like empathy on that level seems to me to exclude sadism or psychopathy? Ugh, I don't know.
Which, as I already mentioned several times to anyone who's ever talked to me about Criminal Minds knows, is something I totally buy from Hotch. Like, I spent a lot of seasons being shit scared of what that guy might be capable of (when I wasn't calling him an actual trufax knight in shining kevlar, at least) because he was always so tightly-wound and repressed, but clearly so very very angry and damaged. Like, when he beat a man to death with his bare hands it was ugly and violent and you felt so dirty (mostly because he probably felt, too) but it felt like the culmination of five years of relatively subtle character development.
Maybe it's the the very overt Tell instead of Show involved with both Hannibal!Graham and Tony Hill that makes it unbelievable to me? We'll see if Hannibal at least makes me believe in it more over time.
Right now I just want all of these guys to have a support group crossover, presided over by my boo Sam, were they can talk about this shit and also how obsessed serial killers killed their spouses.*
*no joke, after Haley died I started and deleted five different takes on how a therapy session between Sam and Hotch at that point might go, where she's his Bureau-appointed psychiatrist.
But here's the thing. I mean, since I'm currently on a Criminal Minds resurgence anyway, the comparison was going to crop up. Even so it seems to be the fandom accepted theory that Reid is the Graham-Archetype (but not as obviously as Seaver was Clarice Starling) I've always firmly put Hotch in that role, which comes as a total surprise to anyone who knows me, I'm sure. *cough* Hannibal's Will Graham, as played by Hugh Dancy, is definitely more of a Reid-type, whereas both William Peterson and Edward Norton were always more of a mish-mash of Hotch and Gideon to me. Maybe it's because Dancy is so very obviously putting an effort into appearing neuroatypical, but it's just not very believable to me yet. IDK, he might get better.
Which brings me to the point of this post: we are supposed to be scared that Graham discovers that he might enjoy killing, and ... eh. It's the same problem I have with Tony Hill from Wire in the Blood, who is a hugely disturbed indivdual and who's deal is that he finds it a lot easier to empathise with serial killers than with normal people, suggesting that he's always on the edge of losing control and becoming a bad guy.
But I'm sorry. I don't buy it from either of them. Mostly because I feel like empathy on that level seems to me to exclude sadism or psychopathy? Ugh, I don't know.
Which, as I already mentioned several times to anyone who's ever talked to me about Criminal Minds knows, is something I totally buy from Hotch. Like, I spent a lot of seasons being shit scared of what that guy might be capable of (when I wasn't calling him an actual trufax knight in shining kevlar, at least) because he was always so tightly-wound and repressed, but clearly so very very angry and damaged. Like, when he beat a man to death with his bare hands it was ugly and violent and you felt so dirty (mostly because he probably felt, too) but it felt like the culmination of five years of relatively subtle character development.
Maybe it's the the very overt Tell instead of Show involved with both Hannibal!Graham and Tony Hill that makes it unbelievable to me? We'll see if Hannibal at least makes me believe in it more over time.
Right now I just want all of these guys to have a support group crossover, presided over by my boo Sam, were they can talk about this shit and also how obsessed serial killers killed their spouses.*
*no joke, after Haley died I started and deleted five different takes on how a therapy session between Sam and Hotch at that point might go, where she's his Bureau-appointed psychiatrist.