“director of audiences”: a study of alfred hitchcock's - WIReDSpace

415 Pages·2007·1.7 MB·English

“DIRECTOR OF AUDIENCES”: A STUDY OF ALFRED HITCHCOCK’S
MANIPULATION OF HIS AUDIENCES.

Rebecca Webber (97 00 33 7X)

A dissertation approved for the degree of Master of Arts by the University of the
Witwatersrand.

Johannesburg, 2007
Abstract

This Master’s thesis identifies and elucidates upon the motifs/themes/images, which
Hitchcock utilized in his films to ultimately manipulate and thereby direct his
audience’s perception and understanding of his films’ narratives.

The devices that are described and investigated in detail in this thesis are found to be
recurrent in most of Alfred Hitchcock’s films. That highlights the question: why are
they recurrent? What purpose do they serve? I believe that the answer to these
questions is that these devices were used by Hitchcock to serve the end of
manipulating the audience.

The efficacy of these devices as used by Alfred Hitchcock is elaborated on in each
chapter that addresses each motif in turn. Each chapter which deals with one of the
motifs Alfred Hitchcock used in his manipulation of his audience contains examples
from films and investigates how the motifs are used within each film to manipulate
audience comprehension. These examples are strengthened with theory from
academics, theorists and critics who have made a life-long study of Hitchcock.
My theoretical framework includes audience research and Metz’s theory of ‘suturing’
which addresses the meaning of camera position and the different point of view that
the audience take up. By means of this research I aim to explain the way in which
Hitchcock consummately manages to manipulate the audience to follow ‘red
herrings’ and ultimately surprise the audience.

This thesis acknowledges the premise that all film directors manipulate the audience
and does not attempt to persuade the reader that Hitchcock was unique in this. It does
aim to explore and explain how Hitchcock’s unique use of specific motifs was
utilized in order to manipulate audiences.

This thesis resulted in my understanding Hitchcock’s method of directing his
audiences as much as his films and I think that in a broader context explains the use
and need (both Hitchcock’s and the films narrative’s) for the repetitive devices for
which Hitchcock is renowned, rather than merely investigating them as isolated
pieces in Hitchcock’s films.

I would suggest that there is evidence in these films of a repetition compulsion, as if
the films are attempting to solve a conundrum very much in the way that academics
have attempted to solve the conundrum that is the work of Alfred Hitchcock.
Search words: Hitchcock, director, film, thriller, manipulation, audience, double,
Psycho, scatology, voyeurism, auteur, spectator theory, Truffaut, narrative,
scopohilia.
Declaration

I declare that this dissertation is my own unaided work. It is submitted for the degree
of Master of Arts in the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. It has not
been submitted before for any other degree or examination in any other university.

day of 2006
Rebecca Webber
Dedication

To my family
with sincere thanks
for their love and encouragement
during the writing of this thesis
Acknowledgements

I would like to acknowledge and thank my supervisor, Prof. Jane Taylor for her
support and intellectual assistance in the preparation of this dissertation.

CONTENTS

1. Parts of the thesis

1.1 Title Page………………………………………………………………….1
1.2 Abstract…………………………………………………………………....2
1.3 Declaration……………………………………………………..………….4
1.4 Dedication…………………………………………………..……………..5
1.5 Acknowledgements……………………………………..…………….…...6
1.6 Contents………………………………………………………..…………..8

2. Introduction………………………………………………………………10

3. Audience…………………………………………………………………15
3.1 Understanding the Audience…………………………………………..…22

4. Use of the ‘Star System’…………………..………………………………….37

4.1 Casting and Physical Types……………….....………………………37

5. The Homosexual Other ……………………………………………………….49
6. The Role of Women…………………..……………………………………...63
6.1Scopophilia………………………………………………………………..63
6.2 Performances within Performances………….…..……………………….64
6.3 Hitchcock’s Cameos...…………………………………………………..77
6.4 The Figure of the Voyeur…………………………………………...…..82
6.5 The Elusive Blonde…………………..………………………………….91
6.6 Characters present in absence…………………………………..………100
6.6.1 The Vanishing Lady………………………………..…………………100
6.6.2 The Mother Figure……………………………………………………110

7. Scatology………………………………………………………………....127

8. The Double……………………………………………………………….168

9. Conclusion……………………………………………………………....182

10. References……………………………………..………………………..186

11. Bibliography…………………………………………………………….191
Appendix A…………………………………………………….…………...200
Appendix B…………………………………………………………….…...208