Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Silence of the Lambs analysis - part 68: Gumb's allies: Roden, Pilcher, and Ardelia

CATEGORY: MOVIES

Let us perform an analysis of the last name of one of the two insect biologists consulted by Starling on the moth cocoon found in Gumb's sixth victim's mouth: regarding the name Pilcher, one (archaic) meaning of the British word pilch is "an outer garment, originally one made of skin";[a] this meaning is reminiscent of the idea of Gumb's victims' skins, which are being removed from them and assembled into a suit that Gumb can wear. Based on this name analysis, we see that Pilcher is associated with (i.e., working with) Jame Gumb.


We can go further and conclude that the other insect biologist, Roden, and Starling's roommate, Ardelia Mapp, are also working with Gumb. This conclusion is based on the fact that Roden and Pilcher work together very closely in performing their job functions, and the fact that near the end of the movie, at the FBI academy graduation ceremony, Ardelia meets up with Roden and Pilcher and poses for a photograph with one of them (Roden, with Pilcher handling the camera; see screencap at left). This occurs while the three of them are alone together after Crawford and Starling have walked off, and indicates a comradeship among the three of them.



a. Collins English Dictionary, "Definition of pilch." Web, n.d. URL = http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/pilch.

[If you are only interested in viewing the explanation of the film's hidden plot, continue on to part 69 of the analysis. Otherwise, use the buttons below to navigate the analysis.]


      

Posted at 7:07 PM
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