Where is foreshadowing used in The Silence of the Lambs?
Normally, I’d never use fluther for school-related questions, but I’m totally lost. For my literature and film class, I have to write an essay about how the film version of The Silence of the Lambs uses horror techniques. One of those techniques is foreshadowing, and I can’t think of ANYTHING (besides the whole Belvedere thing). Any ideas?
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4 Answers
Well you could argue that the open scene with Starling and the obsatcale course is a metaphor for the her struggle during the rest of the film.
Hmm this might be a stretch, but the guy in charge of the facility that originally housed Dr. Lecter was always trying to be the center of attention…and at the end of the film he goes into hiding. Could this be considered…ironic foreshadowing?
Foreshadowing is often used as a plot technique. However this doesn’t really aid towards horror so maybe you shouldn’t focus so much on long foreshadowing as mentioned in replies above (which are more to do with plot) but rather just foreshadowing within single scenes.
I wish I could remember the specifics of the films more to be able to help you with proper examples, but hopefully that advice would help. Foreshadowing can be used to build tension at times, so maybe you can look out for that.
Another suggestion is to look at the horror parts of the film, and question what parts which have happened before this in the movie aids to the horror of the scene now.
Hope that helps :)
The film was deliberately trying to avoid any major foreshadowing. The director wanted to keep the audience on the edge of their seat, never knowing what would happen next.
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