Ted Levine Expresses Regret Over ‘Silence of the Lambs’ Trans Depiction

Reddit/@https://www.reddit.com/r/Fauxmoi/

Ted Levine who became famous through his terrifying role as Buffalo Bill in ‘The Silence of the Lambs’ showed his discontent with the film’s depiction of transgender issues. The actor explained that he learned about transgender individuals through direct contact with them because he found the film’s adverse depiction of this group to be “fucking wrong.”

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Levine used direct language to express his thoughts. “I became aware of trans people after working with them and learned about their culture and gender concepts… The movie made that group look bad which is wrong to show in that manner. And you can quote me on that,” he said. His direct apology stands out in an industry where defensiveness is often the default.

The online response to Levine’s self-reflection has received mostly positive feedback. One highly-upvoted comment praised the move, stating, “I wish more people would admit that something they did in good faith hasn’t aged well and vow to do better moving forward, instead of doubling down in defensiveness. Good for him.” Some people studying the situation saw it as “an excellent display of emotional growth.”

One user who claimed to have worked with Levine presented personal information about him, stating that Levine lives as a “salt of the earth type” who maintains a quiet existence on his farm outside of Hollywood. “I hope his words give comfort to the trans community,” they wrote. “He would like people to view him as a supporter of their cause.”

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The discussion examined both the film’s plot and its main story. Some commenters pointed out that the character of Buffalo Bill was explicitly written as not being transgender. Hannibal Lecter states in the film: “Billy hates his own identity you see, and he thinks that makes him a transsexual.” Another user noted Clarice Starling’s response: “There’s no correlation in the literature between transsexualism and violence. Transsexuals are very passive.”