Analysis of Red Dragon

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Profiling of Red Dragon In the 2002 crime-thriller movie Red Dragon, we are introduced to a new serial killer, “The Tooth Fairy”. After having already come near to death while apprehending Hannibal Lector, FBI agent Will Graham is elicited from retirement for his special skills in order to track down and apprehend “The Tooth Fairy”. This paper serves two purposes; 1) to explain the developmental risk factors Francis Dolarhyde (Red Dragon, a.k.a. “The Tooth Fairy”) was exposed to during his life which could have aided in his adult actions and 2) how FBI agent Will Graham was able to narrow his search and finally identify Red Dragon. These opinions are based on limited information gained through the movie and research into symbolism seen throughout the movie. There is not much known about Francis Dolarhyde during the beginning of the movie, as a matter of fact we don’t even know he is the killer until his introduction to Reba. Further on in the movie a scene begins at the front drive of the Dolarhyde Nursing Home, this is when we get our first pieces of information as to his growing up. It takes us on a tour with the haunting words of Francis’ caregiver, his grandmother; during this tour we hear how she demeans his manhood after he has a supposed nocturnal emission; Francis wakes up in his grandmother’s bed to wetness and a mess in the bed. His grandmother tells him to fetch her scissors and then tells him to hold it out; this is when she threatens to cut his penis off. She verbally barrages him with abuse, calling him a “filthy bastard”, telling him she should have taken him to the orphanage and warns him to never do this again. I would place his age during this time at 12-14 years, based on the fact that nocturnal emissions occur in boys after puberty. From the above scene I would say that the grandmother has an authoritarian, enmeshed style of parenting. We do

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