1: THE SUBJECTIVE CAMERA
Conclude by relating how the film is indeed a worthy successor to Hitchcock with regard to your findings.
N.B. Our LIST OF HITCHCOCKIAN ELEMENTS as compiled in class is included below. Let me know if you wish to add to it
Pick 10 of these to discuss
OUR LIST OF HITCHCOCKIAN TERMS, CONCEPTS AND VOCABULARY
Subjectivity (point of view) and Kuleshev- montage theory
Gender politics- battles between male and female protagonists
Voyeurism
The Male Gaze ( Laura Mulvey’s article)
Scopophilia (include Mulvey’s findings)
Theatricality (play acting, in keeping with our discussion of Seeming v. Being and the actual use of theatres as a physical location)
Marriage Issues (as a prison, as a reward)
McGuffins
Issues of Construction of Identity
Issues of free will
Nietzsche and the “will to power”
Codified language and homosexuality
Punishment of homosexual characters
The Hitchcock Blonde
Recontextualized household objects (for instance-knives)
Issues of madness and mental health
Mysogyny and the punishment of strong female characters
Film as a self reflexive medium (commenting on film itself)
Historical context (World Wars, Cold Wars, etc.)
Dramatic Irony (Bomb Theory- The audience’s privileged information)
Sexuality and madness
Pygmalion, the influence of Greek Myth
Absent characters who control a narrative (I.e. Rebecca, George Kaplan, Mother)
Birds as harbingers of chaos
Psychological Theory of the mirror stage
“Pure Cinema”
Psychology and trauma as associated with guilt
Edgar Allen Poe’s influence (The Tell Tale Heart)
Gothicism and Romanticism
Reliance on color to represent thematic concern
Confined Spaces
The Grotesque
Title Sequences which illustrate thematic concern
Auteurism
Hitch’s definition of Suspense Versus Surprise
False accusations (innocent characters accused of a crime)
Windows as barriers
Use of landmarks and environment to create character
Issues of mistaken identity
Fear of Authority figures (incompetence of authority figures such as police, parents, etc)
Transfer of Allegiance
Imagery involving sex and food- appetite
Mirrors and Guilt
Sample Solution