History Literature / TheSilenceOfTheLambs

* MindGameShip: Clarice and Hannibal's relationship exemplify this. [[spoiler:They even get a RelationshipUpgrade in the third book.]]

There's a serial killer on the loose, "Buffalo Bill," who abducts women, kills and skins them, and shoves [[MacabreMothMotif chrysalitic moths]] down their throats. Behavioral Sciences, the section of the FBI that deals with violent crime, is stuck; section chief Jack Crawford has no idea how to stop this guy. The game-changer comes in the form of ambitious young trainee Clarice Starling. Pulled into the investigation almost by accident, she is sent to interview another serial killer, incarcerated psychiatrist, Hannibal Lecter-- "Hannibal the Cannibal"-- for insight into Buffalo Bill's psychosis. Having previously aided longtime adversary Will Graham in hunting down serial killer Francis Dolarhyde, Lecter agrees to fulfill a similar purpose for Clarice in exchange for her most traumatic memories, and the two develop a strange symbiotic relationship. And the clock is ticking, because Buffalo Bill's latest victim is the daughter of a US Senator, and if they can't get him now, all hell will break loose...

* ContrivedCoincidence: The FBI asks Clarice to consult Lecter in the vague hope that his psychological expertise might give them some insight into Buffalo Bill's mind. By a complete coincidence, it turns out that Lecter ''already knows who Buffalo Bill is'', that he has personally met him at least once, and that his first victim (who the authorities never found out about) was one of Lecter's old patients. Fancy that.
* ConversationCut: In a scene at the beginning of the film where Crawford is telling Clarice to be careful with Lecter, Crawford says "Never forget what he is." Clarice says "And what is that?" Cut to Dr. Chilton at the asylum saying "Oh, he's a monster. Complete psychopath."

* PoliceAreUseless: While the FBI is portrayed in a completely positive, heroic light, policemen and sheriff's deputy's are portrayed as dim-witted hicks (West Virginia) or as bumbling incompetents who bring on their own demise (Boyle and Pembry in Tennessee). Lampshaded by Buffalo Bill, who sarcastically asks if the FBI has any leads on the case since "the police around here don't have the first clue."

* ConsultingAConvictedKiller: The novel is the TropeMaker, along with ''Literature/RedDragon''. And most other depictions of this trope are intended as direct {{Homage}}s to the [[FilmOfTheBook film adaptation]], especially Anthony Hopkins' portrayal of Hannibal Lecter. In ''Lambs'', Clarice Starling visits Hannibal in his cell on multiple occasions for help with catching another serial killer called "Buffalo Bill". Hannibal ends up giving Clarice cryptic clues in exchange for information about Clarice's unhappy childhood. [[spoiler:Hannibal later uses an agreement to disclose Buffalo Bill's real name in exchange for a transfer to another asylum as an opportunity to escape.]]

* NightVisionGoggles: In the 1991 FilmOfTheBook Buffalo Bill uses these while carrying out surveillance of Catherine Martin and while hunting Clarice Starling through his darkened house at the climax.

[[caption-width-right:299:[[{{Tagline}} To enter the mind of a killer, she must challenge the mind of a madman.]]]]

* IgnoredExpert: Barney, who survived six years as Lecter's jailer without a hitch, warns the Tennessee police not to reduce the security measures around Lecter in any way. His advice goes unheeded and sure enough, Lecter's guards soon decide that one set of handcuffs is sufficient. RealityEnsues.

* CreepyCrossdresser: Buffalo Bill, though it's not a straight example. Both the novel and movie go out of their way to tell the audience that being a transsexual, in and of itself, is not connected to violence--specifically, Clarice says (and Lecter agrees) that Bill ''cannot'' be a transexual because [[NoTrueScotsman transsexuals are not violent]]. According to Lecter, Bill only ''thinks'' he's a transsexual due to his "hatred of his own identity." This reflects the FairForItsDay but [[ScienceMarchesOn out-of-date psychology]] that the book and film relied on. Transsexuality was conflated with transvestism (crossdressing) and was at the time thought to be a mental disorder, albeit a benign one. Which is kind of the point here: no records or proven cases indicated that transsexuality predisposed a person to violence, and so Bill is dismissed as not being a "true" transsexual. Nowadays, a distinction is drawn between transvestism (crossdressing) and being {{transgender}} (having a gender identity which doesn't align with the one assigned at birth). Neither of these, in and of themselves, can affect whether or not someone becomes a homicidal maniac. Meanwhile, "transsexual" (having had a sex change operation) is now considered a transmisic term that reinforces the erroneous belief that gender identity and biological sex are synonymous.

* {{Transgender}}: Played with; "Buffalo Bill" thinks he is a trans woman, though if you trust Lecter, he's not, and is misinterpreting his own crisis of identity due to limited/faulty information. He doesn't want to be ''a'' woman: he wants to be ''his mother''. TruthInTelevision to an extent, as Bill was in part based on serial killer Ed Gein, who similarly fashioned a "woman suit" from human skin in an attempt to literally become his own late mother.

* {{Transgender}}: Played with; "Buffalo Bill" thinks he is a trans woman, though if you trust Lecter, he's not, and is misinterpreting his own crisis of identity due to limited/faulty information. He doesn't want to be ''a'' woman: he wants to be ''his mother''. TruthInTelevision to an extent, as Bill was in part based on serial killer Ed Gein, who similarly fashioned a "woman suit" from human skin in an attempt to literally become his own late mother.

[[caption-width-right:299:Lambs? Damn, I thought it said [[MemeticMutation lamps]].]]

''The Silence of the Lambs'' is a 1988 novel by Thomas Harris (''Literature/BlackSunday''), and the second after ''Literature/RedDragon'' to star Franchise/HannibalLecter. Notably, unlike later sequels in the series, this book is somewhat self-contained (for one, Will Graham doesn't reappear and is only briefly mentioned in an expository narration), and the reader does not need to be familiar with the events of ''Red Dragon'' in order to understand this novel.

* YouDidntAsk: Played with. By the end of the book, it's clear that Lecter knew who Buffalo Bill was as soon as he read the police report, but he tried to leverage that into improving his circumstances instead of playing the hero (which is a classic sociopathic trait of basically "what's in it for ME?"). Crawford and Clarice at an earlier point theorize that he knows more than he's telling, with Clarice wondering up why don't they just ask Lecter to give them the name. Crawford replies that Lecter had only offered his aid with the investigation, not solving it outright, and that simply giving them Bill's name "wouldn't give him enough of a chance to show off".

* WakeUpGoToSchoolSaveTheWorld: In the book version of (the film mostly dropped the plotline) Clarice is juggling her hunt for Buffalo Bill with her FBI training, knowing she's in danger of being held back for non-attendance despite being a brilliant student who's busy doing Bureau work.

* PatchedTogetherFromTheHeadlines: James Gumb is a [[CompositeCharacter composite]] of several different real-life monsters. He uses Ted Bundy's WoundedGazelleGambit tactics to abduct women; like [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_M._Heidnik Gary Heidnik]] he keeps his victims imprisoned in a pit in his basement, and like Ed Gein, he uses their body parts for furniture and a [[{{Squick}} skin suit.]]

* FauxAffablyEvil: As respectful or even kind as Lecter can sometimes be, he is still a sadist. For a select few (Clarice, Barney and Sammie) he is genuinely nice, for the rest it is a sham to get him what he wants. Senator Martin is not only courteous to him but actually gives him the transfer he wants, unlike Clarice who deceived him. He expresses sympathy for Catherine, complains about Clarice and Crawford wasting time in the investigation and tells Senator Martin that he will help her without reading her affidavit so the investigation can go underway sooner. Of course, he has known Buffalo Bill's real name the entire time, has sat through six deaths, was perfectly content to let Catherine die until he was given a transfer and didn't actually give his real name anyway. He also needlessly taunted Senator Martin about Catherine's predicament and took pleasure in her pain.

** One of the most famous lines in the movie has a second meaning that [[GeniusBonus most people miss]]. Hannibal Lecter tells Clarice, "A census taker tried to test me. I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice Chianti. (Slurp sound effect.)" Now, Clarice – and most of the audience – believe Lecter is merely confessing to one of his crimes. What most people would not know is that a common treatment for Lecter's "brand of crazy" is to use drugs of a class known as [=MAOIs=] (monoamine oxidase inhibitors). There are several things one must not eat when taking [=MAOIs=], as they can case fatally low blood pressure, and as a physician and psychiatrist himself, Dr. Lecter would be well aware of this. These things include liver, fava beans, and red wine. In short, Lecter was telling Clarice that ''he was off his medication''. Not surprising, but very subtly done.

* BreakThemByTalking: Hannibal, giving his psychiatrist background, is ''extremely'' good at this, to the point that he's easily able to talk Miggs into committing suicide following his disrespecting of Starling.

* Precious, Jame's beloved and very spoiled pet dog, is a poodle in the books but a bichon frise in the movie.

* CentralTheme: In the film, being watched, as noted by Lecter: "We begin by coveting what we see every day. Don't you feel eyes moving over your body, Clarice? And don't your eyes seek out the things you want?" Many shots of the film are from Clarice's POV at people looking directly at her.

The book was [[TheFilmOfTheBook adapted]] into a 1991 film directed by Creator/JonathanDemme, starring Creator/JodieFoster as Clarice and Creator/AnthonyHopkins as Lecter, followed by a sequel ''Literature/{{Hannibal}}'' (1999) and a prequel ''Literature/HannibalRising'' (2006). Like the book, the film adaptation of ''The Silence of the Lambs'' is self-contained, and features even ''less'' references to both ''Red Dragon'' and its 1986 film adaptation, ''Film/{{Manhunter}}'' (though a number of visual motifs from that movie carry over here), to say nothing of this movie recasting every role that had previously appeared in its predecessor (in part because Creator/BrianCox wasn't available to return as Lecter, with the rest of the ''Manhunter'' cast never being approached afterwards). A {{sequel series}} to the film, titled ''Series/{{Clarice}}'', is set to premiere in February 2021 on Creator/{{CBS}}.