Who Is Richard Hitchcock's Use Of Subjectivity In 39 Steps

1200 Words3 Pages

Hitchcock’s filming style revolves around immersing the audience and making them work when they enter a theater and watch one of his films. The ways in which cinematic elements are used like: camera placement, editing, point of view, subjectivity and objectivity work together in ways that evoke certain emotions, while also making choices that make you question why and wonder what in the world Hitchcock is getting at. In 39 Steps, there are shadows of the young Hitchcock’s budding brilliance, and meticulous decision making, causing the audience to become spellbound. Meanwhile Shadow of a Doubt takes clear steps to snatch the moviegoer from their seat, placing them right in the center, helpless against evil. In Hitchcock’s 39 Steps, Richard …show more content…

The true purpose of this choice comes to fruition when Richard asks to see the paper and the man looks directly into the camera, Richard’s eyes, the viewer’s eyes. While we are distracted from the banter of the two men and Richard’s responses, Hitchcock has been slowly inching the camera closer to Richard, switching from objectivity to subjectivity. When Richard asks for the newspaper and the character hands him the paper, the audience is tempted to reach other and grab the newspaper for ourselves. With this, Hitchcock successfully conflates the viewers and Richard, aligning our fears, feelings, and nervousness. Hitchcock then continues to push the intensity of this scene with the POV shots of the menacing, lizard-like eyes of the second man, unashamedly staring straight at us- I mean …show more content…

His words, “What do you think I’m here for?” holds an ironic message as he is now thwarting her mission that will inevitably end in getting her psychotic, serial killing Uncle out of the house and away from her family. As Charlie approaches the library, Hitchcock frames it in a way that is extremely menacing. Skinny, tall windows are lit up, the rest of the house shown as darker than the night sky, the extreme wide shot and high angle of the camera making Charlie look small. This shot serves to make the library look as unappealing as possible, comparable to an Amityville house vibe. It can also be interpreted as Charlie’s dread of finding out the truth. The scary truth of knowing that the man she is basically in love with, the man who was going to get her and her family out of the rut they were in, is actually an awful, dangerous human being is within reach. The truth is almost too foreboding to find out, but still Charlie must continue. Finally Charlie makes it to the library. The audience breathes a sigh of relief. However, our relief and gladness that Charlie is about to get what she wants is abruptly cut short when she arrives and the door is locked. The glowing light inside flickering off the second Charlie’s fingertips touches the glass door, along with her and the

Show More
Related

  • Auteur In Rear Window

    812 Words  | 2 Pages

    Now we will address a few of these from the film. First, Drawing parallels between characters with a difference, usually a negative one, is a repeated concept in Hitchcock films. Such as in the film “Strangers On a Train”, where Bruno ends up killing Guys’ wife while Guy had himself been desiring to be rid of her somehow. Here in “Rear Window” early in the film we can see this between Lisa and Jeff to Thorwald

    Read More

  • Rear Window And Psycho Theme Analysis

    1143 Words  | 3 Pages

    Alfred Hitchcock’s films not only permanently scar the brains of his viewers but also addict them to his suspense. Hitchcock’s films lure you in like a trap, he tells the audience what the characters don’t know and tortures them with the anticipation of what’s going to happen.

    Read More

  • Hitchcock's Techniques in Psycho

    459 Words  | 1 Pages

    bank. Marion went home there was a close up shot on the money then on

    Read More

  • Vertigo

    1072 Words  | 3 Pages

    Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo is a thrilling film filled with mystery and suspense. However, Hitchcock left many unsolved issues at the end of this film. In contrast, when comparing Vertigo to more recent films of similar genre’, mysteries are usually always solved and thoroughly explained by the end of the film. Ironically, Hitchcock’s failure to explain everything to the audience in Vertigo is one of the film’s best attributes. This lack of knowledge allows the viewer to use their own imagination and speculate as to what might or might not have become of certain characters.

    Read More

  • shadow of a doubt

    715 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Shadow of a Doubt, Hitchcock utilizes and stretches the ambiguous line between comedy and suspense by utilizing smaller characters in the film to keep the story line moving, and to help break sequence or rhythm of what the audience had been perceiving at the time. Many of the minor characters were used as “fillers”, such as the waitress in the bar when Uncle Charlie and Charlie are sitting in the bar, and makes the comment “I would die for a ring like this”; or the quiet, gentle neighbor Herb who is fascinated with the process of homicide and murder. It brings to the audience an immediate comic relief, but similar to all of Hitchcock, leaves an unsettling feeling of fear and suspense with the viewer. Shadow of a Doubt is a film that hits very close to home for me, primarily because of the small town feel very similar to Orono that I have grown to know so well. There is a brutal irony that lurks through the film, especially during the time period that the film was made. The picturesque stereotype of small town life in the 40’s is brutally torn apart by Hitchcock wit and creative ingénue, putting the viewer in an uncomfortable mind stretch of reality.

    Read More

  • The Truman Show vs Rear Window

    1709 Words  | 4 Pages

    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).

    Read More

  • Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo

    1271 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Vertigo

    1945 Words  | 4 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • The Meaning Of Voyeurism In Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window

    651 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...m plays a considerable role in this film. Jeffries, the films protagonist is bound to his apartment, so for entertainment he watches people through his window without them knowing. From the very beginning these characters seem to so interesting, so no wonder Jeffries decides to watch them. While watching the film, we become witnesses of their private lives, making us voyeurists too. In this film windows are not used in a traditional sense, they expose people, they symbolize confinement, and they allude to suspenseful plot devices. Hitchcock’s aesthetic configuration of the film manipulates the audience into questioning several aspects of the film and in life in general. Hitchcock’s originality in Rear Window was not only successful during the golden age of Hollywood, but it continues to be creatively adapted and consistently influential in today’s cinema as well.

    Read More

  • Alfred Hitchcock's Main Themes In To Kill A Mockingbird

    738 Words  | 2 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Scene Analysis of Alfred Hitchcock’s Film Shadow of a Doubt

    1253 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Hitchcock’s Work at an Auteur in his Movie, Vertigo

    446 Words  | 1 Pages

    Hitchcock has a way of throwing clues in the face of the spectator, yet still allows some room for the spectator to find their own less obvious details. In the same museum scene, Hitchcock shows the viewer exactly what he wants them to see. In a sense, Hitchcock can be very manipulative with the camera. The audience sees the picture containing the women with a curl in her hair holding flowers, and then the direct connection is made by the camera, by showing the curl in Madeline’s hair, and the flowers sitting next to her. The spectator is led to believe that they have solved the mystery and she is truly possessed by the women in the picture. However, Hitchcock does this on purpose to lead the audience away from the truth that she is only acting. It is for these reasons that Hitchcock’s work at an auteur adds a level of depth and intrigue.

    Read More

  • Hitchcocks North By Northwest: The Birth of the Modern Action Film

    1745 Words  | 4 Pages

    Thornhill, of course, has no answers for the man. While being held captive in a library, Cary quips, “I’ll catch up on my reading.” When they believe him as simply being uncooperative, they intoxicate him by forcing him to drink a glass of bourbon.... ... middle of paper ... ... Lacking the ability to end the picture with a sexual scene, Hitchcock cheekily ends the picture with a shot of a train going into a tunnel.

    Read More

  • Common Themes and Elements in Psycho and The Birds

    656 Words  | 2 Pages

    Alfred Hitchcock’s unique sense of filmmaking and directing has allowed him to become a very famous and well known film maker of his time. He uses similar recurring themes, elements, and techniques in many of his films to engage the viewers in more than just the film, but the meaning and focus behind the story.

    Read More

  • Alfred Hitchcock's Notorious

    1080 Words  | 3 Pages

    There are three key scenes that best exemplify Hitchcock’s technical competence. After Alicia’s party and run in with the police, she is shown lying in bed with a hangover. We see a close up of a concoction Devlin made Alicia for hangovers. The next shot is a Dutch angle of Devlin, arms crossed and in shadow. Alicia drinks more of the concoction and camera’s perspective is in Alicia’s point of view. The Dutch angle slanted to the right rotates clockwise to an upside down shot of Devlin because Alicia is lying upside down on the bed. Coincidently, after the elaborate camera work, Alicia sits up and says, “What’s this all about? What’s your angle?”. Hitchcock’s technical competence in this scene is a testament to his authorship.

    Read More

More about Who Is Richard Hitchcock's Use Of Subjectivity In 39 Steps

Open Document