There are many things they could have done better of course. Many people claim they shouldn’t have made this character at all. But I’m a firm believer of bad representation is better than no representation. Because at least it gets people talking, and we have a chance to explain what our community is actually like. And we can point to this film to show all the inaccuracies in detail.

I don’t think we should never make marginalised people the villain. Of course, it is bad when that’s all they ever do, because that sends a terrible messaged. But the oppressed are still capable of oppressing others. We aren’t immune to immorality. And Buffalo Bill is a great example of this. It’s fairly obvious that we aren’t supposed to side with them in the movie. And the people that leave this movie thinking “he’s evil because he’s a transvestite” are both brain dead, and incredibly dense. They have to know their being facetious right?

Because clearly they didn’t actual watch the film if that’s all they got out of it. Jame isn’t bad because they’re queer, they’re bad because they’re he villain. It’s their job to be hated. The people that hate on our community and use Jame as an example, we’re already hating on us before they knew the character existed. They’re just using them as their scapegoat. And they’re not arguing with logic and facts with those people, because their minds are made up.

But to the people willing to learn, I think this is a very interesting film to study. I’m much more a fan of the book, then the movie (although it’s is one of my top movies of all time) because the movie skips over some key character points. But all movies do that, they rush the story, and some characters suffer for that.

I think Ted Levine does a really good job with this character. Normally I’m more on the side of “cast someone from the actual group you’re trying to represent” crew, but in this case I don’t mind it as much. Like I think autistic actors should play autistic people. Wheelchair bound characters should be given to wheelchair bound actors. It’s not like theirs a lack of minorities to cast in films. But Gumb isn’t technically trans, even some of the characters in the story state this several times. So to cast a trans person, to play a caricature of a trans person would seem a little odd.

Gumb is a extremely disturb individual who happens to experience gender dysphoria. If any thing, this character is also offensive to the mentally ill. There’s more to them going on then just the fact that they are dishappy with their flesh. I honestly wish we could get a sit down with Jame, a conversation between them and Dr Lecter. I would like to hear Hannibal’s full psychoanalysis of Jame and how they function.

Jame never really gives us an explicit reason why they do the things that they do. And unlike other villains, they seem to not even realise that what they’re doing is wrong. They don’t act the way someone who would skin someone alive would. I should know, I’ve seen enough killers where that is their specialty. And they all have something that Gumb doesn’t, a conscience. Because they seem to actively ignore theirs. When these killers are caught and questioned, they don’t deny it. They know that what they’re doing is wrong, and they’re proud. But Gumb just seems misguided and confused at best.

They have compassion for animals, which is rare in most killers. I’m fact a common stereotype is that animal killing is the first sign someone is going to become a killer. Jame truly loves and cares for, and even spoils their pet. Most “women killers” are bitter incels with mommy issues. But Gumb, Gumb admires the women they kill. They’re think they’re beautiful, and immortalise them in their craft. They’re envious of these women.

Jame unfortunately falls victim to the time in which they were created too. The book was written in 1988 and the film was made in 1991. It’s 2022, the amount of research we’ve done since then is astonishing. Of course trans women have always existed, but they weren’t aloud be be a loud about it as we are now. They couldn’t talk about it, and nobody cared to research. So although true character is still slightly transphobic, for the information they had to go on at the time it’s not that bad.

Hannibal himself says that Jame isn’t a transsexual. He states Gamb is a “guilt stricken homosexual man” which I’m not sure if that makes this better, or worse. Unless they’re trying to claim that trans women are just homosexual men. But I don’t think that’s what they’re were trying to convey. I think Jame is an example of someone who experience trans euphoria instead of dysphoria. Which I think is where the disconnect happens.

Transmedicalist beleive you have to hate yourself and want to change everything about yourself in order to be a “real” trans person. But this mindset is extremely harmful. Because being trans isn’t a surgery, it’s an experience. One that can’t be governed or voted upon from the outside. Being trans has nothing to do with anyone outside of yourself. Transmedicalism is also extremely binary centric. It suggests there only one way to me trans, and that’s just simply not true.

So I personally do think Jame is a trans individual. This story takes place in 1983, so although Buffalo bill wouldn’t seem trans but the criteria of that time, today I believe they would belong to the nonbinary community. All lot of the things they express in the film are all lot of things, I, a nonbinary person also feel. I think they’re a nonbinary individual who likes men. Platonically and aesthetically they enjoy women, and they lean more on the trans femme side of things. But sexuality and romantically they are intended in men.

Something about this scene is mesmerising and I can’t seem to look away. Their joy and exultation in this scene are contagious. There’s a reason why this is their most talked about scene, and it’s so often quoted. Everything about it is iconic! I smile everytime I watch it. Now you all know I’m a slasher lover, so this fictional killer doesn’t bother me.

But if you set aside the fact that there a killer, and you just watch this in the context of them experiencing trans euphoria, it’s a beautiful sight. The line “would you fuck me? I’d fuck me, hard.” Is the most amazing thing I’ve ever heard in my entire life. Like yaaasss queen, get into you. You fuck, and you fuck hard. Like I want what you’re having bestie, because the confidence is amazing.

A line that breaks my heart is when Jame is passing. They look at Clarice and ask “what’s it like to be beautiful?” And god do I cry every time. Like that shits hurts man. Jame just wanted men to look at them and think they were pretty. Of course they went about it in possible the worst way they could have. But at the end of the day, they were just a person in pain, trying to fix themselves when the people who had the power to wouldn’t help.

If they were given proper access to therapy, and hormones and sex change surgeries, I don’t think they would have resorted to their nasty little habit. They wouldn’t have started kidnapping women and stealing their skin. If fucking Hannibal (listen I’m allowed to give this man shit, He deserves it, I still love him though) didn’t get his fucking medical training from like the 1800s, I think he would have had a better analysis of the infamous Buffalo Bill. He’s just a “guilty homosexual” my fucking ass boy, you’re dumb! Stop projecting you queer ass top!