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essay: hitchcock's movies and techniques
essay: hitchcock's movies and techniques
hitchcock auteur
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I. Identification
A. Book Citation
Pomerance, Murray. Alfred Hitchcock's America. Somerset, NJ: Polity, 2013. Print.
B. Author Information
The author of Alfred Hitchcock’s America, Murray Pomerance was born in Hamilton, Canada. He grew up there with a budding fascination for film. He went on to study at the University of Michigan were he gained a BA in sociology (Ryerson 2013). Murray Pomerance is currently a professor at Ryerson University in Toronto, Canada and he has taught courses dealing with subjects on Hollywood and Society, and media and society, at Ryerson University since 1973. In 1997, Pomerance was elected Chairman of the Sociology Department at Ryerson University (Ryerson 2013). At Ryerson, he created the Media Studies Working Group. Pomerance has had many works published in The Paris Review, The Kenyon Review, and The Boston Review. In addition, Pomerance has received an O. Henry Award, as well (Ryerson 2013). Pomerance has been noted as an Alfred Hitchcock expert with previous works such as, An Eye for Hitchcock (2004) and
Murray Pomerance has published many other works on sociology and film such as, Shining in Shadows: Movie Stars on the 2000s (2011). In 2004, Pomerance published An Eye for Hitchcock at Rutgers University (Ryerson 2013). In this publication, Pomerance gives readers the ability to view and understand Hitchcock films in a completely new light. However, in 2013, Pomerance expanded on understanding Hitchcock when he wrote Alfred Hitchcock’s America. He goes on to explain the Hitchcock’s vision of America. There will be a more of a thorough analysis further in the paper.
II. Analysis
A. Theme
Alfred Hitchcock’s America is a thorough analysis and clarification of Hitchcock’s depiction, in his films, o...
... middle of paper ...
...merance provided excellent insight to the symbolism asserted in Hitchcock’s films.
IV. Works Cited
Ryerson University. "Programs." faculty. http://www.ryerson.ca/graduate/programs/comcult/faculty/pomerance.html (accessed November 25, 2013).
Brooks, Xan. "Alfred Hitchcock: 'Psycho was a joke'." The Guardian. http://www.theguardian.com/film/2013/feb/08/alfred-hitchcock-psycho-joke (accessed November 25, 2013).
Burgoyne, Robert . "Alfred Hitchcock's America." Wiley:. http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd 0745653030.html (accessed November 25, 2013).
O'brien, Ciara . "Book Review: Alfred Hitchcock's America." Film Ireland RSS. http://filmireland.net/2013/04/29/book-review-alfred-hitchcocks-america/ (accessed November 24, 2013).
Nicholson, Malcolm. “The Master of Manipulation,” Review or Alfred Hitchcock’s America, by Prospect Magazine, May 21, 2013.
Among New American Ghost Cinema, one can witness the re-emergence of an interesting sub-genre: the Found Footage Cinema. We can observe this new fascination in many modern horror films such as 2008’s Cloverfield, 2009's Paranormal Activity, and 2011's Apollo 18. Digging below the surface of a literal reading of some of these movies, one finds a genre that can be far more intelligent than what meets the public eye. For example, within Cloverfield, the screams and images of smoke heaving through the city of Manhattan hint at post-September 11th. To understand the growing popularity of Found Footage Cinema and why we discover these political undertones, this paper will examine The Blair Witch Project (1999, Myrick and Sanchez) in the context of theorists Robin Wood and Jürgen Habermas’ discussion on humankind’s senses of truth and what our society represses or oppresses. Both Habermas’ essay “The Public Sphere” and Wood’s “Introduction to the American Horror Film” touch on the inner workings of the public’s mind. With these essays and an analysis of these films, I will be able to propose theories working towards a mode of critical engagement with the success of The Blair Witch Project. It is then that we will connect it to the wider social and political jungle surrounding America as it stood on the edge of the Twenty First Century.
This paper has attempted to investigate the ways in which Alfred Hitchcock blended conventions of film noir with those of a small town domestic comedy. It first looked at the opening scenes of the film in which the two conventions were introdruced. It then went on to analyse the film with the aid of Robin Wood's article Ideology, Genre, Auteur. From these two forms we can see that film noir and small town comedy were used as a means of commenting on the contradictions in American values.
Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo is a film which functions on multiple levels simultaneously. On a literal level it is a mystery-suspense story of a man hoodwinked into acting as an accomplice in a murder, his discovery of the hoax, and the unraveling of the threads of the murder plot. On a psychological level the film traces the twisted, circuitous routes of a psyche burdened down with guilt, desperately searching for an object on which to concentrate its repressed energy. Finally, on an allegorical or figurative level, it is a retelling of the immemorial tale of a man who has lost his love to death and in hope of redeeming her descends into the underworld.
After observing all of the Hitchcockian elements found in Rear Window, one can truly see that this movie is a genuine Hitchcockian film. It contains all the elements of a true Hitchcock film such as the icey platinum blonde, the blurring differentiation between what’s morally right and wrong, and the regular person being places into awkward or bizarre situations. All of these elements and characteristics of this film prove that Rear Window is a true Hitchcockian
Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window embodies the significant importance of community outside its most literal sense. The relationship formed within oneself and the residential group in which such individual associates with, gathers an understanding of where this person fits within this community. With a detailed analysis on how cinematic framing, voyeurism and the importance of community within the film are connected, a better understanding of the entire film as a whole will be further comprehended.
Have you ever had one of those days that were so bad that you desperately needed a night at the ice cream or candy store? The 1970’s was that really bad day, while the night of self- indulgence was the 1980’s. Americans love to escape from our daily stress, and of all the products that allow us to do so, none is more popular than the movies. Movies are key cultural artifacts that offer a view of American culture and social history. They not only offer a snapshot of hair styles and fashions of the times but they also provide a host of insights into Americans’ ever-changing ideals. Like any cultural artifact, the movies can be approached in a number of ways. Cultural historians have treated movies as a document that records the look and mood of the time that promotes a particular political or moral value or highlights individual or social anxieties and tensions. These cultural documents present a particular image of gender, ethnicity, romance, and violence. Out of the political and economic unrest of the 1970’s that saw the mood and esteem of the country, as reflected in the artistry and messages in the movies, sink to a new low, came a new sense of pride in who we are, not seen since the post-World War II economic boom of the 1950’s. Of this need to change, Oscar Award winner Paul Newman stated,
This paper will compare directors Robert Wise and Oliver Stone, their styles, techniques, and overall message. Although both directors made films in different era’s, they both prompted the world to make a social and/or political change on some current issues of their time. Robert Wise’s production of West Side Story prompts audiences to leave racial prejudices behind, and Oliver Stone’s drama thriller Snowden prompts his audience to question their government, and decide if security is more important than freedom. Both directors use the technologies of their time to produce a compelling film that audiences would not only find entertaining but would prompt thought and self-reflection.
Through his choice of setting, camera angles and lighting, Hitchcock makes the conversation at the bar a pivotal scene. The audience and young Charlie are finally brought into Uncle Charlie’s world. This scene’s contrast to the stereotypical American town is what makes this scene so important. Even though Uncle Charlie was able to conceal his true self from most of Santa Rosa, a few people saw him for what he really was. Just like there is a bar in every American town, there is evil as well.
In Hitchcock’s narrative structure, he focuses on relationships. The relationship between society and their thoughts of morality, guilt and innocence. In the film, we never witness a murder, only the outcome of them. What we do see are the reactions to the killings. Every single week, the newspapers write
Cinema in of itself has always been voyeuristic due to the nature of what film is, watching others, and because of the predominantly heterosexual male creative heads and audience. As cinema developed over the years, directors incorporated the general desire and scandal of watching, specifically voyeuristic male gazes on women, to combine the audience's desire to watch with the desire of the characters watching within the film. This essay will focus on directors Alfred Hitchcock with his movie Psycho (1960) and David Lynch with Blue Velvet (1986) on their use of different filmography techniques within the films to give the audience further insight into the psyche of the male characters and blur the lines between lust and violence. This all branching
It is no doubt that Martin Scorsese has heavily influenced the emulating of American film making from European influences. He is a prime example of a ‘New Hollywood Cinema’ director, not only from his ethnicity and background, but from his sheer interest in this form
Directed in 1999 the movie “America Beauty” by Sam Mendes takes the viewer to an average suburb community. Here, we meet the protagonist Lester Burnham. Lester is married to his wife Carolyn, and he has a fifteen-year-old daughter named Jane. Lester is portrayed as ordinary and unmemorable especially at his job. Thr...
Miller, Arthur. Miller on America. Literary Review: An International Journal of Contemporary Writing 47.1 (2003): 13-16. EBSCO. Web. 8 Feb. 2013.
In the world today, most advocates stipulate that were live in ‘postmodern’ times. However, the term has been devalued in the past few decades. Though the term may have been regarded as concise in the past, it is today thinly spread over a broad range of social and cultural contexts. This issue is as true in film studies as in other aspects of the society. Postmodernity has become common while trying to characterize cinema in the 21st century. What the term suggests regarding contemporary film or the present-day society is far from agreed (Tudor, 2002). This paper examines the term ‘postmodernism’ as depicted in Andrew Tudor’s work “From Paranoia to Postmodernism: The Horror Movie in the Late Modern Society.”
A critical historian have complained about the educational system of America in the 1960s saying that “ours is the only educational system in the world vital segments of which have fallen into the hands of people who joyfully and militantly proclaim their hostility to intellect and their eagerness to identity with children who show the least intellectual promise” (Hofstandter 51). General atmosphere in America when Hitchcock filmed The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956) was the time when Nicholas Ray’s classic tale of adolescent angst A Rebel Without a Cause (1955) came out and it was a time when child was upheld as a principal family value, principal focus of interest and concern. From this the film can be seen as a portrayal on the American family dynamic, viewed from the perspective of two loving but slightly incompatible/conflicting adults who raises a precocious/gifted little boy but the narrative “centred essentially on the anxiety-ridden father, a man panicked about the way he looks to his wife and to the eyes of the world” (Pomerance 82-83). The central issue most explored here is the complex relationship between Ben and Jo, the delicate state of her emotional health and how a man who thinks he knows so much must learn the contours of his own interrelationship with others. Ben, a man who has glorified in knowing everything is robbed of his self-importance and significance as the head of the family. Here the family is saved and revived by a mother’s quiet courage, and in the final image Hank is happily and safely repositioned between his parents. The lyrics “Que Sera Sera” have rightly come to stand for the American family sentiments of “We’ll love Again” (Spoto