[Cardinal77]

My reply focused on the psychological/mythological elements of why a psychotic(?demonic) killer would eat the victim's liver, and make Hannibal a cannibal. It's true that all the elements of the meal were high in tyramine, and if someone were on a monoamine oxidase inhibitor for depression, all the elements of the meal could trigger a hypertensive crisis. To my knowledge MAOI's are not used to treat psychosis. Many ancient cultures and myths involved cannibalism, and in fact an article published in the journal Science in 2003 suggested that early humans practiced extensive cannibalism. From depth psychology and Jung's delineation of the collective unconscious and archetypes, one might surmise that all these hidden programs or engrams lie hidden in the unconscious that can be expressed once a mental breakdown occurs. Our culture is fascinated by the mythology of vampires, creatures that suck blood rather than eat organs to gain life-force and memories. In Native American mythology, a demonic cannibalistic creature, the wechuge, seeks out human flesh. It's our fear of the unknown and irrational that lies buried within the human psyche that makes this movie so powerful and emotionally engaging. I actually believe the author was being clever in Lecter's remark, but MAOI's are not something likely to be used on a psychotic, brilliant killer, unless they intended to feed him fava beans, liver and Chiante in prison.

[Cardinal77]

My reply focused on the psychological/mythological elements of why a psychotic(?demonic) killer would eat the victim's liver, and make Hannibal a cannibal. It's true that all the elements of the meal were high in tyramine, and if someone were on a monoamine oxidase inhibitor for depression, all the elements of the meal could trigger a hypertensive crisis. To my knowledge MAOI's are not used to treat psychosis. Many ancient cultures and myths involved cannibalism, and in fact an article published in the journal Science in 2003 suggested that early humans practiced extensive cannibalism. From depth psychology and Jung's delineation of the collective unconscious and archetypes, one might surmise that all these hidden programs or engrams lie hidden in the unconscious that can be expressed once a mental breakdown occurs. Our culture is fascinated by the mythology of vampires, creatures that suck blood rather than eat organs to gain life-force and memories. In Native American mythology, a demonic cannibalistic creature, the wechuge, seeks out human flesh. It's our fear of the unknown and irrational that lies buried within the human psyche that makes this movie so powerful and emotionally engaging. I actually believe the author was being clever in Lecter's remark, but MAOI's are not something likely to be used on a psychotic, brilliant killer, unless they intended to feed him fava beans, liver and Chiante in prison.