fracas

In the Wikipedia page for the movie Silence of the Lambs, we learn of a prisoner who hurls semen at the face of rookie Clarice Starling.

Promising FBI Academy student Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster) is pulled from her training at the FBI Training Facility at Quantico, Virginia by Jack Crawford (Scott Glenn) of the FBI’s Behavioral Science Unit, who tasks her with presenting a VICAP questionnaire to the notorious Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins), a brilliant forensic psychiatrist and incarcerated cannibalistic serial murderer. After learning the assignment relates to the pursuit of vicious serial killer Buffalo Bill, Starling travels to the Baltimore State Hospital for the Criminally Insane and is led by Dr. Frederick Chilton to Hannibal Lecter, the sophisticated and cultured man restrained behind thick glass panels and windowless stone walls. Initially pleasant and courteous, Lecter grows impatient with Starling’s attempts at “dissecting” him and viciously rebuffs her. As she departs, another patient flings fresh semen onto her face, enraging Lecter who calls Starling back and offers a riddle about a former patient. The solved riddle leads to a rent-a-storage lot where the severed head of Benjamin Raspail is found. Starling returns to Lecter, who links Raspail to Buffalo Bill and offers to profile Buffalo Bill if he is transferred to a facility away from the venomous, careerist Dr. Chilton.

What we don’t learn from the Wikipedia page, is what transpires regarding the prisoner. In the movie, Starling learns the next day, that the prisoner (Miggs)is dead. As the story is told, it seems Lecter spent hours whispering (tormenting) to Miggs, causing Miggs to be found the next day… dead after having swallowed his own tongue.

We are of course, expected to believe that Lecter’s powers of persuasion have led the prisoner to this demise at his own “hand”.

Now I tend to be one of those folks who can pick out the mistakes and little foibles that are overlooked in editing of movies and television shows. It’s rather frustrating at times, for it ruins the enjoyment not just for the fracas, but for those watching with the fracas, since I often tend to blurt out in frustration, these little revelations.   

So here’s the thing.

You can’t really swallow your own tongue.

This bothers me greatly.

No, the fact you can’t actually swallow your tongue isn’t what bothers me… what bothers me is that even at the site listing for The Silence of the Lambs over at moviemistakes.com, there is no mention of this oversight. 

None.

And frankly, I feel I need to set the record straight.

You can’t actually swallow your own tongue.

According to kidshealth.org:

Have you ever wondered what keeps you from swallowing your tongue? Look in the mirror at what’s under your tongue and you’ll see your frenulum (say: fren-yuh-lum). This is a membrane (a thin layer of tissue) that connects your tongue to the bottom of your mouth. In fact, the whole base of your tongue is firmly anchored to the bottom of your mouth, so you could never swallow your tongue even if you tried!

So if you were planning this weekend, to host a tongue swallowing party, you’d better make sure it’s someone else’s tongue you’re planning on swallowing, because otherwise your party’s going to be a real bummer.

In which case, you should fire up the old computer and check out the movie mistakes site.

Hey.. it might not be as exciting as some good old fashioned tongue swallowing, but it’s better than nothing… or getting semen flung at your face by a deranged prisoner.

I think.