psa of my interpretation of chilton's hannibal world (and an interlaced explanation as to why i don't allow supernatural/magical/etc muses in his main verse (and am, to be blunt, pretty uninterested in altogether)):
the hannibal world is hyperrealist fiction to a surreal degree.
by “hyperrealism” in this context I mean the show focuses devotedly and obsessively on fine, scientific details. to bring them to high def life and significance. espec in relation to the body/mind. e.g., camera shots inside the esophagus of a performing opera singer; the tiny feathered bauble details of will’s fishing lures being meticulously tended to and correct; fungi network growth.
science, logic, and the mind rule their reality. they hold infallible, inflated weight. allowing for jumps that feel miraculous (e.g. one. profiling is presented as a hard science wherein will and miriam and even frederick appear as though they're psychic b/c their profiling prowess, rooted in psychology, is always accurate. two. psychic driving—a concept that irl is kind of an ineffective flop—works to full effect in the perfected Psychology / Neuroscience / Biology / Behaviorism hannibal world three. vaguely broad, the show never adequately explains its logic, and when it does, they always hound down the right branch without proposing equally likely theories (i know this is so the plot can continue, but narrative choices like that create certain implications/ambiances and have consequences!)). there’s purpose behind all the therapists in the show also being medical doctors / psychiatrists. that conflation of the two roles is intentional. medical science being an undoubtedly “harder” science. and all of these “harder” science people—hannibal, frederick, alana—filling the psychologist/therapist role then automatically lends equal credence to the “hardness” of psychology in the hannibal world.
there is no ambiguity. god and monsters do not exist. they are metaphors meant to reveal the black box of the mind in ways science cannot provocatively illustrate. like sinking your teeth into a foam mold at the dentist. the unreal fills the exact negative-shape of the real.
science itself—specifically, the mind—then assumes that surrealist edge because of this hyper-state.
if otherworldly elements are introduced to frederick—an expert of the mind whose abilities (like others in the show) come off as psychic—and his world, then he and the world is destabilized. incompatible. one, because psychological competencies are indistinguishable from the supernatural. and, two, what i feel more strongly about, it nerfs and muddies psychology: something the show presents as, as i said, an infallible, hard science. and therefore nerfs the characters (i.e. frederick).
any otherworldly abilities wouldn't merely be a character gimmick, they shatter the laws of the world.
in the hannibal world, science can understand and explain everything. which makes the absurdity of lived through events (e.g. frederick being shot in the face, burned alive (though i don’t acknowledge that latter one and the former i’ve tweaked to a grazing), alana being defenestrated and living) contextually make sense: their world has the science, the facts, to sustain them. therefore, everything within the world needs to be (and is) explainable (mind reading, flying, super strength just don't fit in a hyper-real world).
the only element beyond comprehension is horrifically abnormal minds. which can be reached through metaphor alone. anything else reduces the potency of (and distracts/blurs from) the exploration of the human condition: what the show revolves around.
