Lovely Monsters
In Hollywood, Hannibal Lecter and de Sade are heroes
The Marquis de Sade, romantic hero. Quills, Philip Kaufman's film about de Sade, drew an Oscar nomination for best actor (Geoffrey Rush). It is also a contender for most perverse movie (no statuette given). In real life, de Sade was a monster who liked to beat and rape women. He was a dedicated pedophile who strongly recommended incest (it "should be the law of every government whose basis is fraternity"). De Sade abused, raped, and tortured seven or eight young servant girls and kept them captive so they couldn't testify about his crimes. So naturally in the Hollywood version he is an attractive and essentially harmless fellow of principle whose main problem was censorship by a corrupt Establishment. Jonathan Last, in a review in the Weekly Standard, notes that the good and decent men who oversaw de Sade at the asylum of Charenton, a priest and a doctor, are presented as the real perverts. Last says that an old Hollywood standby has been imposed on the material: "The proponents of free sex are the enlightened forces of truth and happiness, while the opponents are the repressed forces of darkness and misery." In an interview, Kaufman pointed out that the doctor's character bears a resemblance to Kenneth Starr. No surprise there. Somehow we always knew that if Hollywood did the life of de Sade, he would be the hero and the villain would turn out to be Ken Starr.
This raises a big question. If a sympathetic case can be made for Hannibal and de Sade, is there anyplace where the Hollywood culture will draw a moral line? The good news is yes, there is. In her column of February 15, Liz Smith writes that actress Sharon Lawrence's career was nearly ruined when her photo appeared in People magazine on the same page as President Bush's. She was mistaken for a Republican! Hate mail poured in. Producers became unsympathetic. The town's moral code was exerting itself. "There can be an excluding reaction and people generally resent you," Lawrence said in a quavering voice. No problem. Smith cleared the poor woman's damaged reputation, writing for all to see that "Sharon Lawrence is not a Republican." Whew. Now, what about Hannibal--feeding folks their own brains is one thing, but what if he voted for Bush?
advertisement
