When I see such a film (Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho is another example) I take it as an indicator how far we’ve come.

While I definitely get it and don't disagree in the slightest, I also would just like to point out that upon seeing the film (even at what most people would probably consider way too young an age lol) did I ever think that Bill's plan to make himself a new skin by murdering and sewing together the skin of his victims was being portrayed as an accepted, reasonable path toward gender reassignment... I mean, dude is literally what you would expect to see pictured on the Wikipedia article for 'crackhead serial killing psycho' lol I feel like that should be one of your first indicators that a character isn't like a 'good dude' or something. 😋

In all seriousness, tho, it trips me out that there are absolutely people out there who would be more than happy to engage in the mental gymnastics necessary to twist reality into whatever fucked up pretzel they need to push their narrative.

My book club read the book about a year ago and from what I remember it devoted a scene to clearly explaining that Buffalo Bill did not meet the criteria for gender reassignment surgery and was just kinda sick in the head. We were impressed with how it was handled for the time that it was written. Unsurprisingly this scene did not translate well when rewritten for the movie.

But the movie explicitly states that Buffalo Bill is not trans, and explains why.

I used to watch "Monk" and there was no way I'd initially believe that Captain Stottlemeyer was the guy from Silence of the Lambs but wow, holy crap!

I never once viewed him as a trans person. He was just a fucked up psycho.

I think he was based on ed gien who wasn’t trans but I do see how the film could be used against the trans community so that sucks

This is sadly a common trope in horror and slasher movies (which I do love as a genre). TV Tropes calls it a Fraudien Excuse.

You’ve got Psycho as probably the most famous, Sleepaway Camp and sequels (not great representation), Insidius for some reason, Dressed to Kill, Fatal Games (this one was especially egregious and of the worst type of bigotry).

I just watched Joe Bob’s Last Drive In Show where this season he did a section on Slasher movies and talked about this exact trope (See Intruder and In a Violent Nature).

I hate this sorta thought process. He was sick. He was a serial killer. He had serious mental issues. He was making a fucking skin suit. Nobody is assuming this was or wasn’t because of the trans-sexual implications. It’s no different than the belly aching about the albino bad guys in The Matrix. It was a character not social commentary about all trans people for fucks sake.

Edit: There is nothing wrong with being trans. But if every bad guy in every movie or story is a straight white guy, the stories are gonna get kinda boring real quick.

Never would have guessed that the guy from Monk was Buffalo Bill.

Transphobes are dumb and if you need proof of that, the movie explicitly says Buffalo Bill isn't really trans, Starling says that trans people are passive and non-violent, and Lector agrees and says that Bill is something else altogether, and has likely been turned down by multiple hospitals for sex reassignment surgery because of that (the clear implication being that sex reassignment surgery is warranted in other cases, so it's not saying "trans people aren't real"). But transphobes see a dude tucking his dick and that's all they need to know, apparently 🤷‍

transmisogyny

....

Mistransanthopy

This movie was very good in many aspects. The added messaging is indeed unfortunate.

I don't know if I can or want to blame the actor or writers etc. but this movie was a reason for why I wasn't able to accept myself being trans and definitely was a big reason why I stayed in the closet for a long time. Fuck this movie. It was cathartic snapping the DVD in half and throwing it in the trash