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Alfred Hitchcock. Daniel Taylor. Biography. Born in London of August 13, 1899. First made films in England. Moved to Hollywood in 1940. Golden Age was the 50’s and early 60’s. Died April 1980 at the age of 80. . Innovations. Storyboarded every last detail of his films.
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Alfred Hitchcock Daniel Taylor
Biography • Born in London of August 13, 1899. • First made films in England. • Moved to Hollywood in 1940. • Golden Age was the 50’s and early 60’s. • Died April 1980 at the age of 80.
Innovations • Storyboarded every last detail of his films. • Established the macguffin, the wrong man, the icy blonde, the charming sociopath. • Invented the dolly zoom or Vertigo shot. • Rope is 10 invisible edits to make it look like one shot.
My Paper: Topic • My paper’s topic is an attempt to deconstruct the notion that Hitchcock was a misogynist and instead intimate that mothers were the most powerful characters in his films. • I used several primary sources and secondary sources to make my argument.
My Paper: Thesis • Even though Hitchcock is known for showing women as subservient victims of men, nature, or fate, films like Notorious, Psycho, and Strangers on a Train depict men becoming subservient victims of their own mothers. • My paper is broken down into first a deconstruction of the former and than an argument of the latter.
Why a Misogynist? • He tortured his actresses. • Terrible things happened to his female characters on screen. • Nicholas Haeffner said of Hitchcock, “(He) quoted the advice of nineteenth century dramatist Victorien Sardou whose formula for successful drama was ‘torture the women’” (Haeffner 67)
Mamas Boy • Mothers were always the most controlling characters. • In Notorious and Psycho the “mothers” of the male characters control them. • Hitchcock uses young female leads in mother surrogate roles.
Mama’s Boy • Author Paul Gordon exclaims, “Hitchcock’s misogynistic need to destroy the “icy self-possession” of the ideal Hitchcock woman, a view which… fails to account for the films’ clear mother complex underlying the misogyny” (Gordon 29)
Conclusion • After all my research I found that Mother figures are evident in places I would have never expected: Midge in Vertigo, Lisa Fremont in Rear Window. • In my conclusion I state that all Hitch’s leading men were suffocated by their desire to please some form of Mother.
Conclusion • I cite Psycho as the definitive film when it comes to deconstructing Hitchcock’s legacy as a woman hater. • The evidence clearly shows that Hitchcock was enthralled by the power of women as mothers and did not harbor ideas of female inferiority.
