Naked women on the cover of "The Silence of the Lambs"! (1 Viewer)

[Ken Seeber]

Did that get your attention?
I was examining the cover artwork for my new widescreen SOTL special edition today. Has anyone taken a good close look at the skull on the back of the moth?
The skull is actually made up of several nude women. They appear to be, oh I don't know, frolicking. I count six women in the picture. You can see the details I'm talking about much more clearly on the disc itself, because the moth has been enlarged.
I'm probably the last person on Earth to have noticed this because the only previous version of the movie I've owned is the Criterion DVD, which has different art. My hardcover copy of the novel has the moth, but it's a different rendering.
The "skull" image is obviously taken from an existing work of art, such as an optical illusion drawing. My question to you, HTFers is, What is this artwork and is the entire picture available on the Internet?
[Edited last by Ken Seeber on August 24, 2001 at 03:41 AM]

 

[cafink]

A friend pointed that out to me years ago. I haven't seen the image (or one like it) anywhere else.
I'd like to know why the image was put there in the first place. It seems kind of odd, and it doesn't really have anything to do with the movie, does it? I mean, I know about the moth, but what does the group of naked women have to do with it?

 

[Mark Cappelletty]

The women were on the original one-sheet (and the teaser ads which featured the red face of Anthony Hopkins as Lecter). I believe they represent the women who were killed by Buffalo Bill.

 

[Tom Ryan]

I didn't notice until I got this DVD today that Jame Gumb's twig'n'berries are shown during the "dancing" scene...ack!
-Tom

 

[Simon Basso]

It is based upon a work by Salvador Dali, but is not a copy.

 

[Scott_MacD]

Spoiler:I reckon it's a picture of the woman that Jamie Gumb wants to become.

 

[Ken_McAlinden]

re: Scott's theory.
It is actually three women arranged so that from a distance they look like a skull on the back of a death's head moth, not an individual woman. I always thought that this was a very effective image to represent the film. It was from the one sheet and I believe it has been worked into the box art for all of the video versions of the film except for the Criterion laserdisc & DVD.
Regards,
------------------
Ken McAlinden
Livonia, MI USA

 

[Fred Bang]

They can't be women killed by Buffalo Bill, since they're slim!

 

[Greg_Y]

Re: Scott_MacD's spoiler ...
In the book, he wanted to 'become' his mother. He obsessed about her and that obsession was the driving force behind his quest to make the woman suit (I'm simplifying of course.)

 

[John_Lee]

Dali, and later Philippe Halsan, produced these images long before SotL.
http://www.scene360.com/EDITroom_silenceLambs.html

 

[Scott_MacD]

In the book, he wanted to 'become' his mother. He obsessed about her and that obsession was the driving force behind his quest to make the woman suit (I'm simplifying of course.)

(heading OT into Movies, methinks)
Apologies about my ignorance, it's just that I noticed the naked woman on the cover and came to the conclusion that I did above. I'd never read the book, and I probably won't. It was just my own interpretation, because of the significance of the moth in change, and hence Jame Gumb wishes to also transform into something beautiful. (still makes me feel giddy just thinking how horrible it is.)
Maybe I was wrong to spoiler space that.. . Anyway, cheers.

 

[Chad R]

Did you ever notice the Penis on the first Little Mermaid VHS and LD cover? It's one of the city's pillars, but it is unmistakable a penis. The Urban Legend goes that the artist was fired and that he put it there out of spite.

 

[Mark Cappelletty]

John Lee's link shoots my speculation down. That's a pretty obvious comparison between the one-sheet and the Dali image.
Pretty neat.

 

[Vince Maskeeper]

Did you ever notice the Penis on the first Little Mermaid VHS and LD cover? It's one of the city's pillars, but it is unmistakable a penis. The Urban Legend goes that the artist was fired and that he put it there out of spite.

http://www.snopes2.com/disney/films/mermaid.htm
AIM: VinceMaskeeper
Interested in moving into FRONT PROJECTION with huge 6-10 foot widescreen? Buy my whole HDTV-ready CRT based front projection system delivered, cheap! Click here

 

[Ken Seeber]

John_Lee,
Thanks! That's exactly the kind of site I was looking for!