So I’ve noticed a lot of anger about this latest episode’s sex scene with Alana and Hannibal; people have stated that Brian Fuller went back on his promise of not portraying sexual violence by drugging and manipulating Alana into sex. I agree that manipulating a person into sex fundamentally violates consent and qualifies as sexual violence, and I don’t want to ruffle feathers by claiming ‘Hannibal is violence, and this act of manipulation and sexual violence therefore “doesn’t count”’. HOWEVER, I totally don’t think Hannibal drugged her. I thought his wiping of her wine glass was him collecting her DNA, much as he has preserved elements of his previous victims, and that Alana gave consent within the deceptive image Hannibal constructed for her. Did I miss something? Do you think Hannibal drugged Alana? Is there any basis for this assumption other than him wiping her glass?
(sorry, meant to ask this in your asks, but it was too long).
I don't think Hannibal drugged Alana prior to sex: Alana initiated the contact and I think that's important and done deliberately (and, ahem, also what I said would happen) to emphasize her freedom of choice in the matter. Caroline did not play Alana as under the influence of anything: she appeared to be sober at the end of the party when she kissed Hannibal. All told, I believe we're supposed to understand that she was clear-headed and making her own decision, though she is certainly deceived about who Hannibal is. Personally, I do not think deceit prior to the sex act equals sexual violence because I think that sexual violence should be defined in very strict and clear terms, leaving little room for a slippery slope and keeping it clear as a criminal act. I also tend to think as a group we're arguing semantics rather than progressively dealing with social issues when we argue about whether it should "count" as a certain type of wrong. We all know it's morally wrong. No one is really disagreeing with that.
However, I think that we're also supposed to understand that by the time Alana's sleeping next to Hannibal, she has been drugged. This has to do with the fact that Hannibal was definitely feigning sleep as he waited to make sure she was deeply unconscious, then snapped his fingers over her ear to see if she would awaken, and when she did not, he then got up and wiped her glass. All of this behavior seems to indicate that he was checking the results of her drugging.
But you're right also about the glass thing just being weird because it's hard to understand what the point in wiping the glass was. Collecting DNA is interesting but hardly seems necessary--she's probably left a lot of it all over the house, in the form of long brown hairs. Plus that towel seems an ineffective way to gather useful DNA without leaving other fibers behind. I saw someone suggest that Hannibal is being OCD and is compulsively cleaning the lipstick off the glass, but why wouldn't he just go put it next to the sink? I don't know.
So it's odd and I don't really have a sufficient explanation for it other than it just appears to be checking on her drugging and emphasizing that she was drugged so she would not awaken and find him gone. If it never comes up again, I think we can assume it was just to help us understand she'd been drugged.
