HITCHCOCK, ALFRED.   Term Paper ID:20915 Click to get this paper

Essay Subject: Analyzes his films as unique detective/mystery stories. Plots, themes, characters.... More...

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Paper Abstract: Analyzes his films as unique detective/mystery stories. Plots, themes, characters. Paper Introduction: The detective/mystery film has a number of different features which identify it while at the same time it consists of several different sub-genres representing variations in the basic generic structure. Many of the films of Alfred Hitchcock can be and have been identified as mysteries, though they are not usually mysteries in the sense of the "whodunit" or the strict detective film. Instead, they are films about crime, using the psychological underpinnings of crime as keys for delving into the realm of suspense. Mysteries use suspense as well as the viewer waits to see who committed the crime. The detective story is one of the staples of the Hollywood film, though in different periods the detective story has taken different forms according to public tastes. For much of the thirties and forties, the detective in the mold of Sherlock Holmes--the consulting Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. For much of the thirties andforties, the detective in the mold of Sherlock Holmes--the consultingdetective, often a private individual rather than a police official,sometimes a gifted amateur rather than a professional--was common, withseveral different series characters exemplifying this genre. Indeed, he carries the matter so far as tobecome a peeping tom, in essence, watching the lives of his neighborsthrough the lenses of his camera and his binoculars. The detective genre is filled with people who are not professionaldetectives acting as detectives, of course, but in Hitchcock thesedetectives are reluctant participants and are less interested in unravelinga mystery than in getting their lives back in order. The mystery they faceis more involved with issues of identity, including their own identity,than it is with the traditional question of "who done it." This can beseen in film after film from the early period through the golden age ofHitchcock's output. The realmystery in Hitchcock is often the identity of the participants, somethingthey may be uncertain of themselves (as in Spellbound), or something theymay have to unravel about other people (as in Vertigo). North by Northwest. The detectivefilm would later shift to the private eye while retaining the emphasis ondiscovery and the unraveling of a mystery. He is afictitious person who has suddenly become a "real" person in the person ofRoger Thornhill, an advertising man in the wrong place at the wrong time.Mistaken identity is a recurring theme in Hitchcock's films. Universal Pictures.Rothman, W. Hitchcock in fact plays against theexpectations of the mystery genre itself in order to draw in his audienceand develop his thematic concerns, and he often does this in a tongue-in-cheek way that deliberately undercuts the mystery element. In this case, though, the fact that there is a mysteryis not evident until just before the "solution" is revealed, a revelationthat occurs two-thirds of the way through the film rather than at the endas would be expected if this were strictly speaking a mystery film.Hitchcock develops the film in a way that seems psychologically complete.He then shows the audience abruptly that it is not complete at all and thatthere is a mystery. (dir.) (1945). The Arbogastsequence contains one of the more traditional depictions of the work of thedetective as Arbogast goes from one hotel to the next in search of MarionBates. In this way, the protagonist movestoward his downfall as the viewer watches, helpless to change thesituation. Yet, there is no such person as George Kaplan. Mysteries use suspense as well as the viewer waits to see whocommitted the crime. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.Spoto, D. The protagonisthas been mistaken for a man named George Kaplan, and he goes to Kaplan'sroom and examines his things in an attempt to find the real Kaplan and"clear" himself. Now the detective passes through oldhaunts and sees his "victim" everywhere, finally ending by following awoman on the street because she reminds him of the woman who died.Hitchcock here uses the detective story structure for a different sort ofpsychological portrait. It is notthe mystery that interests Hitchcock but the way people react to it. Spellbound. Warner Bros.Hitchcock, A. The success of Hitchcock's films shows what astaple the thriller in many different forms has become for the filmindustry, and Hitchcock can be seen as a pioneer in several differentaspects of this trend. Paramount Pictures.Hitchcock, A. The detective/mystery film has a number of different features whichidentify it while at the same time it consists of several different sub-genres representing variations in the basic generic structure. He meets Norman Bates, becomes suspicious, leafs through theregister, becomes even more suspicious, and finally enters the house insearch of a solution, which he finds as he climbs the stairs and isattacked from above: A knife slashes down through the frame, and the image quickly fades out. The detective story is one of the staples of theHollywood film, though in different periods the detective story has takendifferent forms according to public tastes. Heoften "gives away" the mystery in order to share with the audience theprocess of examining the detective rather than the mystery he or she issupposed to be solving. Vertigo. Roger Thornhill is not adetective, but he is forced to act as a detective to protect himself. Vertigo actually contains a mystery, which is not always the case inHitchcock's films as they more commonly reveal all the details so theviewer can share in the suspense of how the protagonist will get out of hisor her predicament. (dir.) (1959). Hitchcock uses these elements inhis larger scheme to make use of the expectations of his audience as a wayof increasing the suspense. In the first part of the film, James Stewart acts the partof a detective by following his friend's wife over a period of days. The mystery element surfaces in a somewhat different fashion in Northby Northwest as the protagonist seeks to unravel a mystery about a man whodoes not exist, though the protagonist does not know this. InHitchcock, the role of detective is nearly always taken by a non-detective,a person who is caught up in events not of their making, events that drawthem in and carry them along. Paramount Pictures.Hitchcock, A. Hitchcock can do this as effectively as he doesbecause the audience knows the elements of the detective story and thusknows when the pattern has been broken. United Artists.Hitchcock, A. Psycho. Alfred Hitchcock often stated that he did not direct mysteries assuch but suspense films, and the difference between the two is vital interms of the way he shapes his films. Hitchcock: the murderous gaze. In the course of the film, this becomesmore apparent as we see how he has been fooled, but in any case he has beencharged with protecting a woman who apparently kills herself because hecannot climb the stairs to the top of the bell tower to save her. The Wrong Man. He then tosses off the solution because solving amystery is not what the film is designed to do and returns to thepsychological suspense in a new and heightened way. Many of thefilms of Alfred Hitchcock can be and have been identified as mysteries,though they are not usually mysteries in the sense of the "whodunit" or thestrict detective film. The expectations of the detective story are raised in the structureof Vertigo, and one reason for doing this is to misdirect the attention ofthe audience so they do not see what is happening any more than does themain character. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.Hitchcock, A. The art of Alfred Hitchcock: fifty years of his motion pictures. Instead, they are films about crime, using thepsychological underpinnings of crime as keys for delving into the realm ofsuspense. Family Plot. Detectives deal with this issue by trying to find outwho people are and where they have gone. The exceptions only stand out all the more because ofthe pattern established by the majority of Hitchcock's films. (1979). (dir.) (1954). (dir.) (1957). We will not be satisfied until we see for ourselves the vision glimpsed by the dying Arbogast (Rothman, 1982, 317). (dir.) (196 ). A real detective shows up in Psycho but does not last long--he"solves" the crime by becoming a victim of the killer. A traditional mysteryis presented to him in one of the windows through which he peeps--a manapparently has killed his wife, and the "detective" has to uncover thecrime and solve it from a distance. There is still an element of thedetective or mystery story in his films. A key component in this film is the way Hitchcock makes it clear thatStewart is not a good detective. Psycho is also a Hitchcock film with more of the mystery elementintact because the ultimate solution, the identity of the killer, is notrevealed until the end of the film. Here again, the viewer has already been introducedto the mystery and its solution before the detective learns of it, and theviewer can thus watch the drama of the situation as it unfolds. Rear Window. The suspense herecomes from the fact that the audience knows the solution while theprotagonist does not, and the viewer can then watch the protagonist slowlyunravel what the viewer already knows. Hitchcock's approach shows thenature of his own interests and reflects the inteest of his audience inpsychological interaction and participation with the characters in thesuspense of the moment. This mystery pattern is repeated in many Hitchcock, often in ashortened fashion that still develops the same central issues of identity.In Family Plot the detective searches for a lost heir who wants to remainlost and uncovers a mystery he did not even know existed and had nointention of solving. Psycho's central mystery has been revealed. (1982). (dir.) (1976). Hesuffers a breakdown and fights his way back to recovery, and in the secondhalf of the film, the role of detective is played out once more, now as ifit were a pathological condition. Hitchcock is aware of this fact andmakes use of it as an opportunity to make his own comment on the detectivegenre as he has the police psychologist act out the explanation scene thatoften ends the traditional mystery, and he does so in a way that makes funof the entire genre. The protagonist of Rear Window is a character who is not a detectivebut who acts as a detective. ReferencesHitchcock, A. (dir.) (1958). Even inHitchcock's least characteristic films, such as The Wrong Man, the issue ofidentity is central. His work of "detecting" has now taken on another dimension (Spoto, 1976, 3 8-3 9). Garden City, New York: Doubleday.----------------------- 1 Paramount Pictures.Hitchcock, A. He isan ex-policeman who has discovered that he is afraid of heights, and now hehas taken this job as a private detective would do: As the film opened with a fast chase, there now begins the first long, slow, fluid an silent pursuit of Madeleine by Scottie around the city. 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