Double or nothing? Filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock believed having a double persona in his movies made them twice as suspenseful. The motif of doubling characters is common in the Hitchcock films Psycho, North by Northwest and Vertigo; each film uses the doppelganger technique of portraying figures in the film as a double or second self. In literature, the doppelganger character is often presented as a twin, a shadow or mirror image of the central character. The doppelganger figure characteristically appears as an identical closely resembling the protagonist. By morphing of two characters in his films, Hitchcock doubled the thrill factor for his viewers.
The famous Hitchcock film Psycho depicts an encounter between a travelling secretary, Marion Crane, and troubled motel owner Norman Bates. Crane, frustrated with her life and prevented from marrying her lover due to financial issues, seeks refuge at the isolated motel after embezzling money from her employer. Tired after a long night’s drive, she pulls off the main highway and into the Bates Motel. Bates, a shy, reserved young man whose life is dominated by his worthless mother, welcomes Crane to the hotel.
Psycho uses the split personalities of two distinctive characters combined into one male figure. Throughout the film viewers are led to believe that Bates lives with his mother in the house across from the motel. Later in the film, after Crane is killed during her stay at the Bates Motel, Bates’s mother is first suspected as the murderer. We watch as Norman Bates cleans up after the murder, perhaps to protect his mother. As the investigation unfolds a new discovery is made. Detectives learn that Norman’s mother passed away years ago and Norman is immediately identified as the m...
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...aldes and Madeline. The second and main double is between Madeline and Judy. While Judy pretended to be Madeline, Elster had her act like a ghost, Carlotta Valdes, was taking over her mind and body. The doppelganger figure in Vertigo takes over the film by twisting the plot in an unpredicted way.
Some doppelganger or doubles are true characters in their own right; others are mysterious projections of the protagonist’s inner psyche. In these films, the doppelganger technique is used by the filmmaker to make visual a conflict that would otherwise be internal. As you’ve read, Hitchcock’s films expose doubles in extraordinary ways. The double trait is woven through Psycho, North by Northwest and Vertigo, affecting both the characters and the outcome of each story. From the thrill of the plot to the unexpected endings, the motif of doubling truly enhances these movies.
Psycho is a suspense-horror film written by Joseph Stefano and directed by Alfred Hitchcock. This film was loosely adapted from Robert Bloch’s 1959 suspense novel, Psycho. A majority of the movie was filmed in 1960 at Universal Studios in Los Angeles. Psycho is about Marion Crane (Janet Leigh), a secretary from Arizona who steals $40,000 from her employer’s client. She takes that money and drives off to California to meet her lover Sam Loomis (John Gavin) in order to start a new life. After a long drive, she pulls off the main highway and ends up taking refuge at an isolated motel owned and managed by a deranged Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins). In Alfred Hitchcock’s film, Psycho, symbols, character and point of view are three literary aspects used in the film to manipulate the audience’s emotions and to build suspense in the film.
Though complex and brilliantly written for its time, the plot of Alfred Hitchcock’s film, Vertigo, is only half of the genius behind it. Alfred Hitchcock’s unique presence as an auteur is truly what sets his films apart. There is symmetry to his shots that give the film an artistic feel, as if each frame were a painting. Many times, within this symmetry, Hitchcock places the characters in the center of the frame; or if not centered, then balanced by whatever else is adding density to the shot. For example, as Madeline sits and looks at the painting in the museum, there is a balance within the frame. To counter-act her position to the right of the painting, Hitchcock puts a chair and another painting on the left side, which is visually pleasing to the eye of the audience. The use of red and green not only adds a visual effect as well, but later serves as a clue that Madeline is not actually dead, when the women who looks like her is wearing a green dress.
Now we will address a few of these from the film. First, Drawing parallels between characters with a difference, usually a negative one, is a repeated concept in Hitchcock films. Such as in the film “Strangers On a Train”, where Bruno ends up killing Guys’ wife while Guy had himself been desiring to be rid of her somehow. Here in “Rear Window” early in the film we can see this between Lisa and Jeff to Thorwald
Eventually word got out he was in fact lying. so Alfred Hitchcock had to give another descirption of the movie Quote"Story of a young man whose mother is a homicidal maniac". The word psycho also means split personality. Alfred Hitchcock gives clues for this. e.g the word "Psycho" which is featured on the promoting poster has been completly shattered, which makes you think that the film is about split personalities.
Suspense is only one of Hitchcock’s many techniques and themes. His themes range from the obvious violence, to the depths of human interaction and sex. From Rear Window to Psycho, Hitchcock’s unique themes are present and evident. Rear Window starts with something we all do at times, which is nosing in and stalking on others business, and turns it into a mysterious investigation leaving the viewer second guessing their neighbors at home. Psycho on the other hand, drags
One major attribute in Hitchcock films is how creatively Hitchcock tricks the audience about the fate of the characters and the sequence of events. Many people argue that it is a tactic by Hitchcock to surprise his audience in order to increase the suspense of the movie. For example, in Shadow of a Doubt, the audience assumes that young Charlie is an innocent young girl who loves her uncle dearly. However as the movie progresses, Young Charlie is not as innocent as the audience suspects. Young Charlie, once a guiltless child, ends up killing her evil uncle. In Vertigo, the same Hitchcock trickery takes place. In the beginning, the audience has the impression that the Blond women is possessed by another woman who is trying to kill her. The audience also has the notion that the detective is a happy man who will solve the murder case correctly. Just before the movie ends, the audience realizes that the detective was specifically hired by a man to kill his wife. The detective, in the end, seems to be the hopeless, sad victim.
The two films Psycho and The Birds, both directed by Alfred Hitchcock, share similar themes and elements. These recurring themes and elements are often prevalent in many of Hitchcock’s works. In Psycho and The Birds, Hitchcock uses thematic elements like the ideal blonde woman, “the motherly figure”, birds, and unusual factors that often leave the viewer thinking. Hitchcock’s works consist of melodramatic films, while also using pure cinema to help convey messages throughout the film.
Alfred Hitchcock developed his signature style from his earlier works The Lodger and Blackmail. These films were the framework for his signature films later on. His themes of “an innocent man who is accused of a crime” and “the guilty woman” were first seen in these two films and are repeated throughout Hitchcock’s cinematic history
“He [Norman] only half-existed,” the psychiatrist stated after taking a look at Norman himself (Psycho). Norman Bates is a character in the movie Psycho, whose mental illness caused him to turn murderous. Psycho is not the only film that uses a mental illness to produce a villain. The Joker from the Batman series is diagnosed by the viewers to be psychopathic, and he is known to be a mass murderer. From the 1960 film to modern movies, many producers create their villains with mental disabilities. Because the mentally ill are portrayed as villains, this causes the viewers to classify them as capable of turning monstrous and harming those around them. This stereotype leads to the vilification of all those with a mental illness. Producers create
Stephen King says “We make up horrors to help us deal with the real ones” and Heidi Strengell wrote an essay called “The Monster Never Dies” were she discusses the gothic double. She says “the gothic double reveals our inability to evolve past our base instincts, to purge them form the human psyche.” A gothic double is something found in all sorts of literature. A gothic double would be opposites that are related, whether it be a person, a setting, a group, ect. For example good and evil, or right and wrong. They are connected because they have some form of conflict or tension with one another but also share a commonality. There are examples of gothic doubles everywhere. One example that first pops in my head that people should know is Dr Jekyll
In Alfred Hitchcock’s famous “slasher” movie, Psycho, the audience is introduced to Norman Bates. Like many ot...
Perhaps no other film changed so drastically Hollywood's perception of the horror film as did PSYCHO. More surprising is the fact that this still unnerving horror classic was directed by Alfred Hitchcock, a filmmaker who never relied upon shock values until this film. Here Hitchcock indulged in nudity, bloodbaths, necrophilia, transvestism, schizophrenia, and a host of other taboos and got away with it, simply because he was Hitchcock.
PSYCHO is a unique film because it is a black and white film in the
Because Alfred Hitchcock implied a great deal in his films, his films may have implied a great deal about himself. If this is true, Alfred Hitchcock had a cryptic way of expressing who he
Norman Bates is arguably the most unforgettable character in the horror genre. His movements, voice and aura at first radiate a shy young man but transform into something more sinister as the movie Psycho (Hitchcock, USA, 1960) progresses. How has the director, Alfred Hitchcock, achieved this? Norman Bates was a careful construct: the casting, body language, lighting and even the subtle use of sound and mise-en-scène created the character.