Przymus przemiany. Serial „Hannibal” jako krytyka kultury terapeutycznej

The article is an analysis of the Hannibal series (2013–2015) made by Bryan Fuller with reference to therapeutic culture. Hannibal is presented as a manifestation of the critique of contemporary culture, which focuses on the relationship of subject and power in therapeutic culture in Western liberal societies. The main thread that has been analysed is the relationship between the main characters: Will Graham and Hannibal Lecter. The article presents the origin of therapeutic culture and the category of “psychological man” (P. Rieff). The relationship between Will and Hannibal is not a meta-image of contemporary therapeutic culture in general, but its dark face. The series shows the culture of therapy brought to its limits, where norms are not so much exceeded, but subverting. Hannibal Lecter is presented as the “ideal self” of liberal societies, an entity free from cultural norms in an absolute way. Will is opposed to him. His personality does not allow classification, just as a modern subject does not want to be classified, because it would mean pinning him to one place and making it impossible for him to develop. An important problem in the article is “coercion of change”. The “right to change” legitimised by the liberal system changes into “coercion of change” in the series. The requirement of “full life” means that standing in a place is something undesirable, live in a real way is to experience of something new, to change — even if it means a transformation into a murderer. In the end it is argued that “being yourself” is an effect of power in therapeutic culture.