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Biographical Criticism Of Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo

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Hitchcock’s Journal: Biographical Criticism of Hitchcock in His Films Vertigo (1958) and The Birds (1963) Alfred Hitchcock was born in Leytonstone, England during the Edwardian Era. His parents, William and Emma Hitchcock, instilled the ideas of guilt and punishment into him from an early age. They were devout Catholics and sent their son to a strict religious boarding school. He was taken out of school, however, at the age of fourteen because of his father’s death. Due to his upbringing, Alfred developed a fear of punishment at a young age. His fear transformed into a morbid interest as he grew older. His fascination for guilt and punishment shaped the way his films were made. …show more content…

He has always been the shadowy figure or the familiar face in the background of one of his films. He has masked himself behind routines and monotone expressions. He also refused to disclose information about his personal life with the public. The intimate parts of his life, however, are on display for the public in the form of motion pictures. In his films, Hitchcock expresses his unspoken desires, frustrations, and relationship problems. The films, Vertigo and The Birds reflect elements from Hitchcock’s private and inner thought life. Hitchcock desires to have a beautiful blonde counterpart. He believes that the love he sought is unattainable, therefore he plays out his fantasies through fictional characters (Jhirad 31). The ‘Hitchcock blondes’ represent Hitchcock’s fantasy woman. She is unreachable, seductive, mysterious, and seems forever young; the female lead in Vertigo is not an exception. In Vertigo, Scottie is a detective who is hired to …show more content…

Her rejection puts Hitchcock in a frustrated and sadistic mood; his love for her shattered. Out of spite he sent her five-year-old daughter a doll that resembled her mother in a coffin shaped box. He also threatened to wipe Hedren’s face from stardom. The cruelest action Hitchcock committed in his revenge game was he replaced the mechanical birds with live ones in the film The Birds. He plays out his own mini film as he punishes Hedren for rejecting him. When watching the scene where Hedren in being attacked in the upstairs room, one will notice the bleeding of her face and her absolute terror. Her acting was not so much as acting as it was emotions expressed from real fear. Hitchcock took a week to film the one scene, and it led to Hedren passing out and having a bloody face. During the making of Marnie, Hitchcock tries one more time to have Hedren’s love by asking her for sexual favors. Hedren rejects Alfred and leaves the Hitchcock filming industry after the making of

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Hitchcock utilizes sound, camera work, MacGuffins, and plot twists to tell the storylines of the movies. Hitchcock understood the importance of camera work and sound because he began his career making silent films.12 It is why he uses many close up shots so the audience can pay attention to specific details and the emotions on the character’s face. He does not rely on dialogue to tell the story. He uses sound to help convey the message of a scene.

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This paper will discuss the motif of the double in Strangers on a Train. While the double is a recurring motif in Hitchcock’s work that he routinely employs in order to explore questions of moral responsibility, identity, and guilt, it receives its most overt and thorough treatment in Strangers on a Train. Studies of the film have consistently understood Bruno as a stand in for Guy’s unspoken desire, the chaos held at bay by societal order - Guy does indeed want to ‘get rid of’ his wife, but he transfers this responsibility (and associated guilt) to Bruno (Walker; Wood; Dellolio; Truffaut). As Walker notes, in Hitchcock’s films, the double most often serves as an ‘alter ego’ that enacts the repressed/disavowed/unpermitted desires of another character. Indeed, as Walker points out, There is little ambiguity that this is precisely what Hitchcock meant to communicate in the film, as he has formally stated this in correspondence with Francois Truffaut:

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Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window has several themes. One major theme is relationships. The lead character, Jeff Jeffries, a photographer and committed bachelor, is involved in a relationship with Lisa Fremont, a model, although the relationship has some tension due to Jeff’s lack of commitment. When Jeff is confined to his apartment recovering from a broken leg, he begins spying through his rear window on his neighbors in a nearby apartment. Through her frequent visits, Lisa is drawn into this spying as well.

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Gender roles and marriage- a thematic approach Alfred Hitchcock was a successful English film director and producer. He was often known as “the master of suspense.” He filmed psychological thrillers, one of these thrillers include “Rear window” which in mostly all of his films, he portrays women to look and act a certain way. Two significant themes portrayed throughout this film include marriage and the gender roles within the film.

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Alfred Hitchcock was a very famous film director who also made very good movies. He filmed famous movies like The Birds (1963), Saboteur (1942), and of course, Psycho (1960). He starred in his movies as cameos most of the time, and for the rest he just helped direct. His movie Psycho revolutionized a lot of horror/thriller movies today, as it brought in new ideas and innovative thoughts. He was born August 13th, 1899 and died April 29th, 1980.

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The film Vertigo by Alfred Hitchcock employs various clever camera movements and sequences which seem to portray the main character’s state of mind. Right from the opening sequence the cinematography in this film had me intrigued. The viewer is show the red filtered eyes of a mysterious woman which zooms into a black void where animated colored rings spin and zoom to a menacing and mysterious sounding score, all of this provides the foundation for a film about illusions. The film also does a good job at using an unreliable main character who is oblivious to the trickery going on around him. The character of Scottie is flawed through his naivety and his investment in romance.

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Alfred Hitchcock’s 1960 film Psycho redirected the entire horror genre, and in doing so dismantled the prudent 1950’s societal barriers of cinema. Although unseen for its potential by the large studios of the time, Psycho became one of the crowning achievements of film history. While based partially on a true story of murder and psychosis from Wisconsin, the widespread viewing of this tale made way for a new era of film and ushered in a new audience of movie goers. The use of violence, sexual explicitness, dramatic twists, sound, and cinematography throughout this film gave Hitchcock his reputable name and title as master of suspense.

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These were explored by the use of the motifs of birds, eyes, hands and mirrors (Filmsite.org, n.d.). Hitchcock skilfully guides the audiences through a tale

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