<i>Hannibal</i> : A Disturbing Feast for the Senses

Abstract

This article analyses the television series Hannibal (NBC, 2013-) and argues that it is one of the most powerfully affect-driven shows to ever grace the television screen. Hannibal the series not only inflicts a cacophony of sensory assaults on the characters that inhabit its dark narrative universe, but also extends these assaults to the audience that participates in the world it has to offer. Providing a close reading of the episode ‘Hutamono’ (2:6), it is argued that we become victims, both of Hannibal the character and Hannibal the television series’ masterful style and affective power.