Additionally, I noted that it was going to be difficult to find similarities between Uncle Ethan and Hannibal Lecter.
But I have made a breakthrough.
Uncle Ethan is not like Hannibal...he's like Clarice. Hannibal Lecter is more like Natalie Wood (I can never remember her character name...something like Annie or June). [Edit: her character is Debbie. Damn, I hate being wrong.]
You see, in the end, Ethan overcomes his hatred of natives enough to embrace his niece and not kill her, while Clarice is able to somewhat look past the sociopathic monstrosity that is Hannibal Lecter and begins to not only respect his genius, but to damn-near trust him. (I haven't seen the movie in a few years, but I believe that's what happens).
Hannibal and Debbie are both agents that allow Ethan and Clarice to see beyond something horrifying and revolting. Or something like that.
So yes. When I'm done with all my thesis shit, I'll rewatch both films (Silence of the Lambs should be shipping today from Netflix) and do an actual analysis.
Oh, goody.