As the writers at Looper are trying to get through to people, there’s nothing different when it comes to the content of Hannibal now that it’s on Netflix, but there is a little something called illumination that has apparently made the show a bit more enjoyable. For a while now fans have been saying how dark the show is, and while the subject matter is obviously kind of out there and definitely macabre this isn’t what fans have been talking about. Instead they’re talking about the overall quality of the show and how it’s difficult to see everything due to the idea that the filming process has kept everything swathed in shadow much like Zack Snyder movie. This is typically infuriating for any show or movie that has a great amount of detail that people want to see, but for Hannibal fans who want to see every grisly detail it’s been something of a sticking point since they want to be able to see one of their favorite pop culture figures without wondering just what’s going on behind the shadows. In some cases a lot of shadows might be a good thing, but in this matter the brightness and clarity that Netflix has managed to bring to the show has been greatly appreciated by the fans, and not likely as noticed by those that are just getting into the show.
The dark nature of the show isn’t bound to change any since the legend of Hannibal Lecter is, after all, bound to be as dark and somehow elegantly evil as can possibly be. While a couple of different people have taken the role since Anthony Hopkins immortalized the character the general feeling is that Hannibal is a man with some very serious issues that he’s well aware of and embraces to the fullest. Of course looking back at the origin we were given, even if a lot of people didn’t care for the movie, it’s easy to think that trauma of the sort that would either break a person or make them focus in a manner that would create a survivor that was uniquely conditioned to weather the worst that humanity has to offer and thrive upon the iniquities that human beings appear to despise. Hannibal is a very different creature in that he can see into the human psyche in a way that’s almost supernatural and can even affect those around him with the skills he’s gained throughout his lifetime. He does have plenty of faults, there’s no doubt there, but that inner darkness that the character of Hannibal possesses is something that might swallow up anyone that gets too close, and likely devour them at the same time.
Getting back to the whole screen issue thought when it comes to light and dark, the grisly details of the show notwithstanding, it is a little more enjoyable for many people when they can actually see what’s going on instead of having to think of what’s being implied and what’s actually being shown. There are some directors that love to use shadows in a big and overwhelming manner, but a lot of times there will be a balance of sorts to bring the story back into the light after spending a bit of time in the darkness. With Hannibal however the same problem that persisted in the Game of Thrones episode The Long Night is evident since the darkness is simply too great to really see what’s happening and could cause a lot of people to miss out on important details. It feels a bit trivial to speak in this manner about a show since this sounds like an easy fix, but there appears to be more to it than that from a couple of different perspectives. What might look good to one person might appear a bit skewed to another and what might appear to be a crowd-pleaser to some might be more than a little frustrating to others. The whole darkness issue is something that many fans agree is better now that it’s taken care of on Netflix’s end, as there aren’t a lot of dissenting voices when it comes to how the show looks now.
While this might sound like silly thing to argue over or even report on there are a lot of people that take their shows pretty seriously and don’t want to see them hampered in any way. It still feels a little awkward to say that there are those that can’t fully enjoy their show without every little thing being carefully monitored, but hey, to each their own. Fans want to know that they’re getting their shows with as much detail as possible and won’t settle for less unless they have to. With a story such as Hannibal however it does feel that darkness is necessary from time to time, but obviously not with every scene.
