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The Alfred Hitchcock Signature in his Films
Essay on the films of alfred hitchcock
Alfred Hitchcock analysis
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The movie Rear Window provides an examination into the idea of voyeurism. The plot centers around an injured photographer who must remain in his apartment for some time as he recovers. As a result, he spends most of his time looking out his window, watching the neighbors. Director Alfred Hitchcock, through the use of various elements of cinematography, captures the idea of voyeurism and conveys this message to the audience in the opening scene. The first shot in the film is the view from Jeff’s apartment, which he is confined to due to injury. As a photographer, he is naturally curious of what occurs outside his window. This window shows everyone who lives near Jeff and he is able to view them through their windows. As a result, he imagines
In the film Rear Window directed by Alfred Hitchcock, a significant shift of power is portrayed. This shift occurs between the protagonist of the film, L.B Jeffries and his romantic partner, Lisa Freemont. This shift also aids in outlining the main theme of the film, which is marriage, as all aspects of marriage are observed and taken into account by Jeffries. The change of dominance within Lisa and Jeffries relationship can be broken down into three stages, which develop and change throughout the film. At the beginning of the film Jeffries is shown to have the power within the relationship as he dictates the parameters of the relationship, however he is also intimidated by Lisa 's social standing. Towards the middle of the film the possession
As the credits roll we see the blinds of a three-pane window slowly being lifted up, after they finish the camera moves forward revealing to our gaze the reality on the other side of the open window. It faces the back of many other buildings, the courtyard they enclose, and a sliver view of the backstreet. More importantly, it faces many other windows just like it. Behind each one of those there are people, going about their day, doing mundane tasks, unaware of being observed. In his 1954 movie “Rear Window” Alfred Hitchcock invites us to engage in the guilt free observation of the lives of others. The main character, photographer L. B. Jefferies, is home stuck with a broken leg encased in a cast that goes all the way to his hip, providing the perfect excuse for him to amuse himself in this hot Manhattan summer by engaging in the seemly harmless act of looking into the many windows he can see from his back apartment. Casual, harmless, voyeurism has been part of the human behavior for ages but in the sixty years since the movie was released it has gained increasing traction. Reality television, Movies, TV shows, YouTube, blogging, Instagram and Facebook are examples of modern tools that allow us to engage in the observation of others while remaining protectively hidden from their returning gaze. In its essence the casual voyeuristic actions we engage in while observing others when using these new media tools follows the same pattern of behavior described in the movie, with the same positive and negative consequences. Casual voyeurism distinguishes itself from pathological voyeurism, which is characterized by a preference in obtaining sexual gratification only from spying others, by the removal of the sexual component from the equat...
As the paradigm in which this curiosity is exposed inhabit the human being, that voyeurism that uncounted of us have inside. Hitchcock is able to use this element to catch the spectator, building a devilish and fascinating tale of suspense set in a microcosm. In which there reflects the intimate and daily life of the current man, where the protagonist observes from his window. The viewer sees what Jeff (the protagonist) observes, has the sensation of being the protagonist, observing through his window.
...and framing, Hitchcock expresses the horror of wrongful imprisonment through visual devices. Hitchcock allows Hannay to escape the snare of the police into the open world, as Hannay finds himself outside in a parade. Hannay, now free from the confines of the sheriff’s office and walking amidst the people, is now vindicated, living momentarily in the comfort of anonymity. But Hitchcock re-plays his fears, so of course Hannay will soon be back in the binding spotlight in the next sequence. Yet it is more than the fear of police and confinement that is a mark of the Hitchcock film - it is the visual expression of these psychological states that are examples of the artistry of Hitchcock as an auteur. And as seen through the first shot of the chosen sequence in which the sheriff’s laugh is merged with the crofter’s wife’s screams, Hitchcock went beyond the German Expressionists that he admired, manipulating sound to express ideas in their purest, most subtle forms.
Stam, Robert & Pearson, Robertson., ‘Hitchcock’s Rear Window: Refluxivity and the Critique of Voyeurism’ in Deutelbaum, Marshall & Poague, Leland A. ed., A Hitchcock Reader (John Wiley & Sons: 2009).
The director Roman Polanski likes to make a lot of scenes in his movies through doorways and windows, and the reason of that is simply because in that way, he creates a bigger sympathy with the audience, they get to see the films from the main characters o...
The Alfred Hitchcock film; Vertigo is a narrative film that is a perfect example of a Hollywood Classical Film. I will be examining the following characteristics of the film Vertigo: 1)individual characters who act as casual agents, the main characters in Vertigo, 2)desire to reach to goals, 3)conflicts, 4)appointments, 5)deadlines, 6)James Stewart’s focus shifts and 7)Kim Novak’s characters drives the action in the film. Most of the film is viewed in the 3rd person, except for the reaction shots (point of view shot) which are seen through the eyes of the main character.(1st person) The film has a strong closure and uses continuity editing(180 degree rule). The stylistic (technical) film form of Vertigo makes the film much more enjoyable. The stylistic film form includes camera movements, editing, sound, mise-en-scene and props.
Regular among his works, Hitchcock opens the film with a hovering crane shot coasting over the setting of Phoenix, Arizona. Even without the mysterious, chilling soundtrack, the shot itself watched in silence evokes a timid passage into danger. In a long take it sweeps across the cityscape to build initial curiosity in the viewer, and then surpasses a curtain-drawn window into the presence of a hotel room’s trysting occupants. Immediately the viewer is called into confronting his/her discretion regarding those things we are not customarily meant to see, in such ideas as privacy and good taste. How far should the law step into a man’s world before he is discovered with reasonable certitude for engaging in illegal activities?
This left Hitchcock films as some of her mother’s favorites. Pemberton, went to a Hitchcock festival as an adult, this time watching Rear Window, which she had not seen since she was a child with an objective examination, she found a scene that would shift both her and her mother’s perspective of this movie. As Jimmy Stewart’s character, Jefferies, realizes he is in danger, telephones his friend Wendell Corey, who was not at home, but he spoke with the baby-sitter who did not appear on screen, but was portrayed in a voice that would convey imagery of a “familiar black image.” Asking the inspiration for this essay “Do he have your number, Mr.
A man sits in his chair, staring beyond his room; peering into the lives of others. He watches as a couple argue, a man plays on the piano, and a barely dressed woman unknowingly gives him a private show. He ends his phone call and blissfully relieves himself of his itch. What Jefferies might view as harmless entertainment actually demonstrates the insidious nature of government surveillance. Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window (1954) highlights the unequal division of power between genders.
“It is said that analyzing pleasure, or beauty, destroys it” written by artist-historian, Laura Mulvey, she discusses the issues that arise when studying beauty. Examining and focusing on feminine beauty to the point of destroying it, has been a constant theme in cinema for decades. Director, Alfred Hitchcock’s has created 65 films in his 50-year long career, Hitchcock is now a common household name, being one of the most widely influential directors of the 20th century. Nicknamed “The Master of Suspense,” he made a name for himself by his incredible ability to visualize his subconscious fears and desires and turn them into a masterpiece. Throughout Hitchcock’s successful career, his films have a common theme of objectifying women through the
A foundational argument made in “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema” (1975) by the well-known feminist film theorist Laura Mulvey posits that in cinema the ability to subject another person to the will sadistically, or to the gaze voyeuristically, is turned onto the woman as the object of both (23). Mulvey asserts that the female figure as cinematic icon is ultimately representative of sexual difference, a signifier of the male castration complex. The woman is “displayed for the gaze and enjoyment of men, the active controllers of the look,” yet threatens to evoke castration anxiety. The male unconscious escapes castration by disavowing it, substituting a fetish object so that “it becomes reassuring rather than dangerous” (21). Mulvey describes this phenomenon as fetishistic scopophilia, which emphasizes the physical beauty of the object and converts it into something satisfying in itself. Mulvey argues that Alfred Hitchcock’s film Vertigo (1958) uses identification processes and subjective camera from the point of view of the male protagonist, John “Scottie” Ferguson (James Stewa...
There are four crucial scenes of this film in which Hitchcock shows a change in perspective and identity through the mise-en-scène. Hitchcock’s signature motifs, style, and themes are conveyed through the mise-en-scène.
In her essay, “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema”, British film maker Laura Mulvey attempts to demystify how pleasure can be fulfilled in film. Contending that a pleasure in looking (scopohilia) and a pleasure in possessing the female as what to be looked at (voyeurism) fufills the audience’s desires, Mulvey suggests how filmmakers use this knowledge to create film that panders to our innate desires. In “Meshes of the Afternoon” by Maya Deren and “Vertigo” by Alfred Hitchcock, it is seen that Mulvey’s argument—the desire to look, the hunting, seeking, and watching, and harnessing of the female form is natural human desire. Deren and Hitchcock will use entirely different techniques to achieve that sense of fulfillment for the audience. But how does this watching and looking translate in to the written word? In “The Winter’s Tale” by William Shakespeare, we will see the ideas approached by Mulvey and the themes used by Hitchcock and Deren utilized to create a sense of looking and objectifying the woman in the absence of the screen. Through this paper, the concepts of pleasure for Mulvey will be shown to have applicability not only in cinema but in art in far more universal terms. First, a discussion of pleasure and Mulvey’s definition of it will allow for clearer understanding as to what this fulfillment actually is. Secondly, Vertigo will be examined—as an example of “mainstream film” utilizing the ideas of scopophila and voyeurism in a perfect balance. Scottie and his search will then be contrasted with Leontes of Shakespeare’s Winter’s Tale, where again desires will be balanced in harmony with Mulvey’s principles. It is to become clear through...
Hitchcock’s film had touched strikingly similar themes and ideas as Powell’s film, arguably had more immoral subject matter than Peeping Tom and was certainly a less decorous, more graphic and more violent film. While Peeping Tom defamed its creator by deeply wounding itself, Psycho climaxed Hitchcock’s career and was a major success. This was, most certainly, due to the audience anticipating eerie films from the renowned Hitchcock, because of the persona he had created for himself, whereas Powell was identified with elegant and conventionalized films, and was nowhere near Hitchcock’s reputation. The audience did not expect to see an ingratiating homicidal pervert and his afflicted urges. While both films depicted murderers and both pronounced voyeurism as a central theme, Psycho does not underscore voyeurism, whereas Peeping Tom does by defining it in the film.