The Strange Case of Dr. Lecter and Count Dracula: A Study on the Two Archetypes of the Serial Killer Genre

• Main Authors: Hsin-Shun Chang, 張興舜
• Other Authors: Hsin-Ying Li
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2019
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/7sbt4d

碩士 === 國立臺灣大學 === 外國語文學研究所 === 107 === Serial killer stories have long fascinated the public. From the Late Victorian obsession with the notorious Jack the Ripper to the modern thirst for serial killer novels, films, and TV dramas, serial killer narratives, no matter fact or fiction, have never been out of print, dominating the bestselling list worldwide throughout the century. In view of the importance of the serial killer fiction genre in popular culture and in literature, this research intends to explore several questions: how are serial killers reimagined and portrayed in fictions? How do these portrayals resonate with the fears and desires of the contemporary public? What social functions do these serial killer narratives serve? Finally, why have serial killer stories remained one of the most popular genres throughout the decades? Scholarly discussions on the serial killer genre have provided various answers. Some argue that the fictional serial killer expresses the public’s fears about animalistic beings—creatures below the human being (Jenkins). Some claim that serial killers speak to people’s anxieties about the animalistic self within them (Grixti). Others see the serial killers, especially the killers in the slasher films of the 1980s, as a medium to promote certain ideologies, such as the new conservatism in the Reagan era (Caputi, Simpson). On the surface, scholars’ numerous interpretations of serial killer fiction seem barely related or even contradictory. In this research, I will attempt to integrate the various arguments on the serial killer fiction and show that these loosely related arguments, when seen together, actually shed light on different aspects of the serial killer genre. By reading these arguments alongside two representative works in the genre—Dracula and The Silence of the Lambs—I will attempt to provide a more holistic view on the serial killer genre, proposing that in the genre exist two important archetypes of serial killers and that these two archetypes can be understood with the idea of a “spectrum.” I will argue that these discoveries can help us understand how serial killers are depicted in fiction, what contemporary fears and desires they resonate with, and, most importantly, why serial killer stories have remained so popular throughout all these years.