Profiler to Profiler, Psychopath to Psychopath

Within the film The Silence of the Lambs there are many comparisons made to real life situations and how the book and film came about. First of all Clarice’s character was evolved from a real life behavioral science unit profiler named Pat Kirby in 1984. Everyone found that it was much easier for a psychopath/serial killer to talk to a woman versus a man, because most of their victims are women. Hannibal Lecter can be compared to a real life psychopath/serial killer named Ted Bundy. Both Hannibal and Ted appear to be normal, there appearances were normal, and they did not look like someone that would commit such horrible crimes. Both men were intelligent in the fact that they both had a degree in psychology. Ted and Hannibal took great risks to kill their victims, they both have escaped jail to continue their killing spree, they were both manipulative, they were both “too cooperative” with the police, and did not show any remorse for their killings. Ted Bundy differed from Hannibal, because Ted was a rapist while Hannibal was a cannibal, Ted also was a law student. Buffalo Bill on the other hand could be compared to another real life serial killer from the 1950s known as Ed Gein. The similarities that Ed and Bill shared included: their shelter being isolated where it is not obvious that there are dead bodies in a building, both character were “reclusive and eccentric”, they both seemed like ordinary people, both men killed and skinned their victims, both men wanted become a woman and danced in front of mirrors dressed like a woman. The difference appeared in the way that Ed and Bill kill their victims. Buffalo Bill starves his victims to ensure their skin is loose enough to remove and kill them. Ed Gein kills his victims and hangs them by their ankles to drain the blood from the body and mutilates the body such as using the skull as a pet food dish, cuts off separate body parts, and does not use the entire body as a costume (The Real Story: Silence of the Lambs).

 http://www.smithsonianchannel.com/site/sn/video/player/the-silence-of-the-lambs-the-real-story-the-silence-of-the-lambs-full-episode/660541096001/?source=shared