Deviation from Genre in Hitchcock’s Movie, Vertigo

498 Words1 Page
bulb-icon

Recommended: Analytic take on psycho alfred hitchcock

Deviation from Genre in Hitchcock’s Movie, Vertigo

When a director achieves great success, as Hitchcock did, he is able to follow a formula, much like a genre does, for future success. Further, a successful director is able to do a genre movie but place his own personal touch on it; in doing so, he ignores the formula that has thus far brought the genre so much success. Knighted as the “Master of Suspense,” Hitchcock was well known for his witty dialogue and genius plot twists. But Hitchcock’s true mastery came through in his ability to enshroud one story within another.

In Vertigo, Hitchcock reveals the twist, that an imposter was hired so that the real Madeleine could be murdered, halfway through the film. The bold tactic breaks the formulaic structure we expect from a murder mystery, in which solutions always come at the end. It risks unsettling the viewer, particularly on an initial viewing of the film. However, by dispensing with formula, Hitchcock shifts the emphasis of the story from murder to character, a potentially deeper subject than the typical whodunit conundrum.

It is after this revelation that Hitchcock’s true movie shines through. The mystery is solved for the audience, but James Stewart’s character “Scotty” is still haunted by the memory of his possessed love. His possession takes him so far that he attempts to remake a woman (Judy) that reminds him of his beloved Madeleine into the actual woman. With the movie now a “love” story, Hitchcock was able to elude yet another genre. His twisted approach on a relationship based on obsession with a dead woman garners pity for both Judy, who is something of an accomplice to the murder of the real Madeleine, and for Scotty, who actually fell in love with the woman he is trying to make into a woman he never met. And so Hitchcock is able to pose a stunning question: Did Scotty fall in love with Judy or her impression of Madeleine? This answer is impossible to know, with Scotty never having met the real Madeleine or getting the chance to know Judy for who she is because she ironically falls to her death just as Madeleine did.

It is the very departure from genre that may warrant the success of a film. Perhaps the formula has been done too many times, leaving the audience unfulfilled, or the very topic no longer holds any interest.

Show More
Related

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

    446 Words  | 1 Pages

    Hitchcock has characteristics as an auteur that is apparent in most of his films, as well as this one.

    Read More

  • Film Analysis Of Alfred Hitchcock's Film Vertigo

    563 Words  | 2 Pages

    In order to suit his needs Hitchcock transports the locale of Vertigo (1958) to the most vertical San Francisco city where the vertiginous geometry of the place entirely threatens verticality itself. The city with its steep hills, sudden rises and falls, of high climbs, dizzying drops is most appropriate for the vertiginous circularity of the film. The city is poised between a romantic Victorian past and the rush of present day life. We were able to see the wild chase of Scottie Ferguson (James Stewart) in search for the elusive Madeleine Elster (Kim Novak) and the ghost who haunts her, Carlotta Valdes in such spots as the Palace of the Legion of Honor, the underside of the Golden Gate Bridge at Fort Point, the Mission Dolores, Ernie’s restaurant,

    Read More

  • Auteur In Rear Window

    812 Words  | 2 Pages

    Rear Window effectively demonstrates Hitchcock’s strong qualities as an auteur. The writer for Rear Window is not Hitchcock, and yet there are clearly many motifs and themes present which are well known for being used by Hitchcock. He is not merely following instructions of how to make the movie he is providing his own creative adjustments.

    Read More

  • Spike Lee Do The Right Thing Analysis

    913 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...ormation of novel to film, sees Hitchcock’s responsibility as auteur. Suggesting Hitchcock as ‘creator’, attributes to Vertigo’s “perfection” (Wood, p.129) as Wood argues. Stylistic features known classically to Alfred Hitchcock movies is also what defines Hitchcock as a classic auteur, his style generates a cinematic effect which mixes effectively with his use of suspense. In returning to Cook’s discussion, she references Andrew Sarris, who argues that the “history of American cinema could be written in terms of its great directors,” (Cook, p. 411) showing the legitimacy of authorship in popular American cinema. Ultimately Cook goes on to address the changes in authorship from the 1950’s until today, featuring developments in authorship within Cinema. Overall, both Cook and Wood presented a balanced discussion on the legitimacy of Alfred Hitchcock’s auteur status.

    Read More

  • The Alfred Hitchcock Signature in his Films, Shadow of a Doubt and Vertigo

    382 Words  | 1 Pages

    All directors of major motion pictures have specific styles or signatures that they add in their work. Alfred Hitchcock, one of the greatest directors of all time, has a particularly unique style in the way he creates his films. Film analyzers classify his distinctive style as the “Alfred Hitchcock signature”. Hitchcock’s signatures vary from his cameo appearances to his portrayal of a specific character. Two perfect examples of how Hitchcock implements his infamous “signatures” are in the movies, A Shadow of a Doubt and Vertigo. In these movies, numerous examples show how Hitchcock exclusively develops his imagination in his films.

    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

  • Iconic Techniques In Alfred Hitchcock's Film The Lodger

    593 Words  | 2 Pages

    Alice decides to meet with an artist, Mr. Crewe, who invites her to his apartment and then assaults her. Alice stabs the man with a bread knife. She thinks he is dead, and escapes the crime scene. Later a man, Tracy, is accused for the murder of Mr. Crewe. Alice knows this could be unfair but fails to confess. In The 39 steps, Hannay is accused for the murder of Annabella Schmith. In The Lady Vanishes the idea of the wrong accused man is not that explicit, in fact in this film is shown the idea of the wrong woman, when someone in the train tells Alice that Miss Froy is back in the compartment and results to be Madame Kummar with the English lady´s clothes. Similarly in Rebecca the wrong woman is buried in the family grave while Rebecca´s body is in a boat in the bottom of the ocean, still in this film Maxim De Winter is wrongly accused for her death when is found that she was suicidal. The idea of wrongness in Hitchcock´s films is applied not only in terms of justice but also of relationships and the way the audience judges the characters. In the majority of the mentioned films the couple relationships at the beginning are form for convenience and are wrong in appearance, as the man is older than the woman and the relationship formed lacks of true feelings. Regarding the wrongness in the audience, Hitchcock manipulates the emotions and the information they receive, so that the characters are severely judge by the audience even though they are

    Read More

  • Microcosm In Hitchcock's Rear Window By Alfred Hitchcock

    734 Words  | 2 Pages

    As the paradigm in which this curiosity is exposed inhabit the human being, that voyeurism that uncounted of us have inside. Hitchcock is able to use this element to catch the spectator, building a devilish and fascinating tale of suspense set in a microcosm. In which there reflects the intimate and daily life of the current man, where the protagonist observes from his window. The viewer sees what Jeff (the protagonist) observes, has the sensation of being the protagonist, observing through his window.

    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

  • Psycho, The Movie

    2312 Words  | 5 Pages

    This was no news to Hitchcock's fans. In a 1947 press conference the great director laid out his philosophy of the mystery-horror genre: "I am to provide the public with beneficial shocks. Civilization has become so protective that we're no longer able to get our goose bumps instinctively. The only way to remove the numbness and revive our moral equilibrium is to use artificial means to bring about the shock. The best way to achieve that, it seems to me, is through a movie."

    Read More

  • Freudian Psychology In Rear Window, By Alfred Hitchcock

    712 Words  | 2 Pages

    As a filmmaker, whose individual style and complete control over all elements of production, Alfred Hitchcock implied a great deal in the motion pictures that he made.

    Read More

  • A Proposal to Reverse Obesity Rates

    1830 Words  | 4 Pages

    Obesity is a huge problem that needs to be resolved because it affects all people, unlike most issues. People of every gender, every age, and every race are at risk of being obese. Obesity rates in America have nearly doubled within the last twenty years. Something must be done not only to prevent obesity rates continuous rising, but also to dramatically increase the percentage of obese people in America altogether.

    Read More

  • Psycho: The character of Norman Bates

    802 Words  | 2 Pages

    Anthony ‘Tony’ Perkins was well known for his roles in romantic comediess. The attractive, shy, well-intentioned young man not only captured the hearts of many teenage girls, but the eye of Alfred Hitchcock when looking for the perfect Norman Bates. Hitchcock’s clever choice of actor immediately threw off the audience and made them ask what is Anthony Perkins doing in a horror film? Perkins' shy personality and slightly awkward movements did him well in his usual genre but did him even better when playing a homicidal schizophrenic. In fact, Perkins' portrayal of Bates made people second guess themselves as to who murdered Marion and Arbogast. This makes the movie significantly more thrilling.

    Read More

  • The Blues Music

    859 Words  | 2 Pages

    Both B.B King and Muddy Waters have had a huge impact on the blues culture and will remembered as major contributors of not only the blues genre but of music in general.

    Read More

  • The Economic Origins of the French Revolution

    2737 Words  | 6 Pages

    Marking a significant beginning stage of the economic downturn was the Seven Years’ War, a battle that saw few positive achievements, but several losses both in terms of land and money, which had been acquired through loans that would establish France’s first significant debt. The reign of Louis XVI would further this debt, while also creating a greater divide between the estates of France by placing the heavy burden of repaying much of the new debt on the poorest class of France, the Third Estate. Participation in another war, only ten years prior to the French Revolution would create even more debt for France as they entered the American War of Independence, again with funding from loans that would need to be paid soon thereafter. Throughout this period of debt creation within France, society worsened in many ways due to the inability of the nation, from royalty to the Third Estate, to evolve economically, socially and agriculturally. With this overall sense of decline throughout France, a nearly unanimous desire amongst France’s Third Estate, the most populous, was to pa...

    Read More

More about Deviation from Genre in Hitchcock’s Movie, Vertigo

Open Document