The issue of feminism in the film industry is a common topic for controversial discussions. Many writers are more popular than others because of the ways in which feminism surfaces as the driving force behind their presentations. Feminism can be classified as a social movement that has created an enormous impact on culture of film, the theories of films and the critical reviews of films. A number of films represent the myths that reveal ideas on women and their femininity. In addition, there are films that speak to men and their masculinity. The issues of representation and spectatorship form an integral part of the understanding of feminist film theory and criticism. This paper will explore the role of women in Hitchcock’s films in argument that his films present a thinly veiled patriarchal agenda. Through analyzing Hitchcock’s female characters in “Rebecca (1940)”, “Shadow of a Doubt (1943)”, “Psycho (1960)”, “The Birds (1961)” and “Marnie (1964)” the researcher hopes to assess Hitchcock’s treatment of women as objectified or punished.
Anneke Smellik writes that “feminism is a social movement which has had an enormous impact on film theory and criticism” (Smelik n.d) and gives a look at the cultural practice that represents the myths surrounding femininity and women, as well as masculinity and men. Historically, the early representations of women in the film industry revolved around the stereotypical presentations of women. These “fixed and endlessly repeated images of women were considered to be objectionable distortions which would have a negative impact on the female spectator” (Smelik n.d). Over the years, the classical film narrative showed that women are the natural, attractive and realistic illusionism of classical cinema (Smelik, n.d).
Many film theorists have criticized Hitchcock’s presentation of women based on the erotic and strong impact of the presence of women in these films. This portrayal leads to the embodiment of women as the sexual desires of men and lack the fundamental purpose in the plot of these films. The spectator is now placed in the situation where there is the need to view and accept the patriarchal “male gaze,” and experience the actions of a passive but powerful female character. In addition, Mulvey notes that women have become the fundamental ambiguous character that combines the image of seduction and attraction (Mulvey 1999). Based on his associations with the Hollywood film industry, Hitchcock was able to reveal women as the target of this feminist theory and the “repetitive violent exertion on his female characters with such a schematic routine that only sadistically dispositional women could be able to enjoy” (Pluskovich, 2011). The women’s fate and guilt are reflected in their punishment as in the woman’s death in Psycho or face salvation as with marriage in Marnie.
The modern film industry in Hollywood has created a number of these sadistic films that place women in the position to reverse their roles and become sadists. Hitchcock’s works continue to influence these films. Rear Window (1954), and The Birds (1963) show the “complexity of the female lead characters that make it impossible for the film analyst to discount them as mere misogynistic portrayals of women” (Pluskovich, 2011).authors such as Robert Phillip Kolker argue that although Hitchcock is a misogynist his films have created a greater level of misanthropy that reveals characters who make mistakes which lead to many critics misinterpreting these actions (Kolker 140, as cited by Pluskovih, 2011).
Clearly, these incorrect interpretations of the films reflect the diversity and the complexity of the way in which Hitchcock presents women in his films. One is left to assume that Hitchcock intends for his viewers to assess the roles of gender from a deeper and more meaningful perspective. The analysis of the selected films will allow critics to examine these films according to the principles of the feminist theories and their views on the male gaze. In addition, it will also allow for the assessment of the related gender identification and the reality that the female characters are aware their roles even as the movement of the camera allows for the understanding that the films are stigmatized as misogynistic portrayal of women in their gender defined roles.
These selected films evolve from a classical realist tradition where women are often investigated, saved or punished, or fetishized as pure spectacle (Mulvey, 1999). Sexual differences are common in the classical narratives presented by Hitchcock and form an interpretive reflection of the cinematic manifestations of the passive female desires and female subjectivity. Many feminist theorists have attempted to understand the patriarchal imagery that is present in films. These feminist theorists have also attempted to assess the psychoanalytic and semiotics of the structuralism theories on women in these films. But, Hitchcock intertwines the psychoanalytic and feminist beliefs into films that have caused much criticism because of hybrid sexuality masculinity and ethnicity in the films.
Ryan Riduck cites Modleski’s thesis to strengthen his views that “the strong fascination and identification with femininity revealed in [Hitchcock films] subverts the claims to mastery and authority not only of the male characters but of the director himself” (as cited by Riduck 2006). Clearly, Hitchcock creates Marnie (1964) as one of the films that would leave the viewers with a dual reflection on the implicit and explicit intentions of the feminist beliefs. The lead character in this film is a true reflection of Hitchcock “overtly obsessive foray on an insatiable cinematic audience” (Diduck 2006). This style and character would form the framework of the films that would guarantee the financial successes of Hitchcock’s future works. In fact, much of the classical films in the past form the adaptation of the males who have dominated the society in the patriarchal presentations (Diduck 2006). For many writers, male spectatorship and the view of women engaging in their male sexual fantasies is a common trend in the film industry. In fact, Jane Sloan and Robert Kapsis argue that critics believe that the cinematic apparatus in the industry and the darkened theaters along with the viewing practices are imbedded in the male dominance in the society (Sloan & Kapsis, n.d).
One of the most important aspects of feminist criticism is that it centers on the stereotypical image of women and understanding the underlying structures in film that produce patriarchal imagery. These structured and endlessly repeated images of women in films are objectionable distortions that have created a negative picture of the female spectator. Hitchcock presents his women as being full of treachery and weakness on the inside and perfect on the outside. This image lends itself to prove the misogyny that exists in Hitchcock’s writing. In addition, Hitchcock uses his literary skills to show the readers that he has placed these women into a category that is the stereotypical image of the women as the femme fatale.
Many critics have described Marnie as the film that showed Hitchcock being wedged between a war of the acolytes and the enemies. Upon its first release, Hitchcock shows the kleptomaniac (Tippi Hedren) who is married to a businessman (Sean Connery) who has varying degrees of psychiatric aspirations (Croce 2006). At the time of the release of the film, “Hitchcock was at the difficult time in the artist's career when critics' and viewers' familiarity with the auteur's themes and style led to a hardening of expectation” (Croce, 2006), and his entrance into the new material was presented as a failure.
Hitchcock was known for his ability to create thrillers that would hold strong appeals for his audience and many critics questioned the plot of the Marnie and Hitchcock’s ability to show a frigid woman's stunting traumas (Croce, 2006). Four years after its release, the film became a prominent feature as a “piece of conventional suspense” (Croce, 2006) that probes the mind of a woman with a troubled psyche and the mysteries surrounding her actions. Arguably, the early reviews of the film changed significantly after four decades and Marnie even more that The Birds became popular as the “director's definitive late-period masterpiece” (Croce, 2006).
The term feminism is often seen as an ambiguous expression that describes any person who sees woman as equal to men. In essence the feminist is one who believes that women should be allowed the same treatment as men in politics, economic and social issues. Feminism as an element of Hitchcock’ work is clear in the presentation of Marnie, played by Hedren. The author first shows her walking away from the viewers’ vision and the viewers wonder as the strength she displays as she depicts the poetry that Hitchcock presents through his characters. This poetic element is not lost in the film as the author shows Marnie as the epitome of poetry through the lens of Hitchcock’s camera.
Many women would argue that the role that Marnie plays in the film is best suited for a man as she holds her composure after she robs her boss. Instead of running away from the criminal activity, Marnie goes to visit her mother and later changes her appearance after the viewers experience the frustration and anger that Marnie feels towards her mother and her lack of affection. The distance between the two women could account for Marnie’s actions as one could argue that she steals from her employers in order to gain the ultimate attention that her mother would not offer. She does not stop at stealing the first money, but instead after changing her appearance to a brunette, the viewers can safely conclude that Marnie is a troubled woman. Her troubles run deeper than the arguments with her mother and the readers see that the absence of Marnie’s father in her life, she becomes a creature that waits to be tamed by his master.
The themes in the film creates an “avalanche of formal signifiers, are all fused together in the magisterial hunting sequence” (Croce, 2006). The fact that Marnie becomes a part of the fox hunt is significant as most women cannot bear the thought of hunting more so become actively engaged in the hunt. Here, the viewers begin to see Marnie as a strong woman who works towards finding equality in a man’s world. Her transgressive violence is even more apparent as the viewers see that Marnie has repressed her inner violence despite the society's organized violence. These events form the trigger to her breakdown and lead to her admitting that she is a liar, a thief and a cheat. But, these events are only the minor views of Marnie as an imbalanced woman. She reflects the “morality and perversion, oppression and release, image and meaning” (Croce, 2006) that reflects the instances of unresolved issues and tensions in her early life.
Hitchcock’s views of men and women is clear in his films as he delves into the depths of the human psyche to reveal the mystery and the suspense that pulls viewers to his style. The 1960 film, Psycho is popular for its intense mystery, suspense, and the electrifying murder in the shower. Aside from the drama and the intrigue, there is the strong presence of female and male commentary. The men are depicted as being damaged and as such they need help. Women on the other hand, are the traditional care-givers. Men believe that the average woman is only interested in success, money or status, but these women are merely interested in giving and receiving love.
The women in these films inspire the men as they men are often unwilling to take actions until the women’s desire to solve the mystery forces the men to take action or confront the problem at hand. This assertion of the role of the women is not as dominant in Psycho, there is the element of women being in a position to exact control. Arguably, Hitchcock is never quite content to allow his audiences to simple arrive at a conclusion regarding the events that leads to the conflict. In fact, Hitchcock is forthcoming in his views of women and men and ensures that at least one of the characters make straight or accurate comments about the role of men and women in his films.
In this particular film (Psycho), the audience draws the conclusion early in the story as Hitchcock forces the viewers to see women as the objects of the sexual desire that men crave. Within the first eleven minutes of the film, the viewers see Marian shirtless on two occasions. Clearly, Hitchcock wants the audience to see women who work as flirts, and their male counterparts as wealthy, charismatic men who chase women. In addition, Hitchcock presents women as manipulative liars who are conniving and cannot be trusted. The women in a number of Hitchcock’s films think with their emotions instead of using a logical approach as their male counterparts. She creates a number of false identities that allows her to become unrecognized. But, despite these crafty thoughts and emotions, the audience realizes that women are emotional thinkers that spend most of their time thinking about their roles in their needs to create false identities to help them to hide their guilty actions.
The gender role conflict is a common element of the film Psycho (1960) and there is no question of the mother’s overbearing nature to her dutiful son. Marion proves to be the typical weak female as she appears trusting and reckless as she deliberately sets a trap that shows she attempts to trap her male counterpart. But, Hitchcock proves that men seek to dominate women and that murder is the primary form of domination in women. This idea is common in the three men in the film Psycho. There is the car salesman, the police officer and Detective Milton Arbogast.
The police officer in the film does not deviate from the expectations of the society as he becomes suspicious and yet he performs as the typical man who does nothing to clear his suspicions. The car salesman on the other hand attempts to questions her actions but eventually gives up because of her strangeness and his business. But, Abrogast is the rare male character that takes the action and uses his suspicions to build on his actions. This change in the perception of how men deal with problems is a change in the way that Hitchcock drives his audience to recognize that men can adapt to new changes and principles.
The diversity of women’s and their presentation in Hitchcock’s films are clear in the film renditions of Rear Window and The Birds. Many feminine theorists have reviewed Rear Window and have revealed that there is a clear structure in the film that allows the viewers to define the ways in which women are represented as the mysterious and dangerous femme-fatale. These women serve as the “embodiment of men’s sexual desire, with the independent and intellectually superior woman, whose intelligence is not recognized by the men” (Pluskovich 2011). One can easily compare and assess the misogynistic stereotypes based on the context in which Hitchcock presents the characters.
Rear Window creates a simple target for the theory on the male gaze through the lead male narrator. L. B. “Jeff” Jeffries (James Stewart) appears as a cripple who “is confined to his wheelchair after an accident, with the story being seen through his eyes, or binoculars” (Pluskovich 2011). The lead protagonist is successful as a photographer, but his state of being crippled emasculates him. It is important to accept this emasculation as it moves the story into a realm where the women, Stella (Thelma Ritter) and Lisa Fremont (Grace Kelly) reveal that they act in a manner that is beyond the commonly defined gender roles. Based on this premise, the viewers can appreciate the reversal of the gender and the point where Hitchcock creates symmetry in the relationship of Lisa and Jeff’s relationship and the relationship of Mr. and Mrs. Thorwald. The wheelchair in the film acts as a highpoint to the idea that the man in the wheelchair-bound and the loving care taking woman are opposite and yet they create a high level of harmony in the film.
The reference to Lisa as the stronger and more active character is strengthened later when she takes the initiative to solve the murder, whereas Jeff can only stand – or better, sit – on the sideline when his girlfriend is in danger. The danger to women is imminent and yet Hitchcock makes this the center of his films. Feminist theorist finds this as the least popular criticism of the film and least justifiable based on the feminist theory. The Bird’s is the ideal representation of the feminist arguments on the violence on women and despite the strong presence of this presentation in the film, the hero in this film suffers regardless of gender. The lead female character Melanie Daniels (Tippi Herden) gives the readers a clear view of “the psychological insight into the females’ character that makes it less misogynistic” (Pluskovich 2011). Melanie appears as an independent woman who is quite capable of taking care of herself. She is able to navigate a boat to the location of her future lover and spy on his house. Melanie embraces the role reversal or male strength as she is able to maneuver the boat effectively.
Such strength is unexpected in women on a whole, but Hitchcock reveals that women can be as effective as men in any role or capacity. In addition, the controlling of the boat is an unexpected feat for a woman of her class. Her strength also reflects the common and recurrent theme of women being strong. The relationship between the mother and the daughter helps to concretize the feminist theories that look at the importance of women in the society. The scene between Mitch’s mother Lydia and her look alike, Melanie shows the strength of the women even though Mitch’s mother wishes that she was stronger physically. Her strength would mean that she would be able to possess some amount of power over Mitch.
Conversely, Hitchcock does not intentionally make feminist assertions in his films, but he accounts for the complexity of the round female characters that offer a deeper understanding of the psychoanalytic explanations which helps to support Hitchcock’s technical mastery. At the time that The Bird and Rear Window were released, there was a significant decline in the presentation of women’s films. But, Hitchcock created the personas of beautiful women who simply misogynistic representations of women who were highly important to the understanding of the plot and structure of these films.
Bidisha and Douglas Gordon assert that Psycho is the ideal reflection of the issues that Hitchcock has with women and mothers in general (Bidisha & Gordon 2010). While the film is perhaps one of the simplest films in Hitchcock's career, it forms the foundations of the psychologically and realistic dynamics that are different from the Jungian panic of The Birds (Bidisha & Gordon, 2010). Similarly, Shadow of a Doubt reveals much about the role of women and their unflinching “representation of the dullness and drudgery of women’s lives” (Mariah 2012). The film is a dark presentation of the ways in which the patriarchy develops and supports the wrongful behaviors of men. The film continues and reveals the allegorical presentations of incest and sexual abuse against women. Charlie reflects men’s need to fulfill their sexual desires and become sexual predators. He reveals the masculine desires to have control over women as he strangles the women. Hitchcock allows the viewers to now accept the possessive and physically domineering actions of the males against women as by raping women, men draw on their control of the sexual object.
Interestingly, Shadow of a Doubt delves into the common “assumption that women are expected to live through men, but are punished for making the “wrong” choices and for wanting more than they should have” (Mariah 2012). This realist views are also common in Rebecca as the film evolves through the classical realist traditions and redefines the conventions of the genre (Jacobwitz 2015). Sharon Tay suggests that the psychoanalysis structure of Hitchcock films allows for the delineation of oppression and the inherent masculinity which does not support the productive feminist discourses in relation to female subjectivity and pleasure (Tay 2003). In other words Hitchcock films such as Rebecca reveal the role of the female as a heroine and one that is subjected to the problems of males and their need to dominate women. Additionally, the film reflects the ways in which the female’s voice is suppressed.
In concluding, critics of the feminist theory point to the power of control in the movies as the camera is directed towards the specific object and in turn creates an objectification that is clear in the fetishism in the story. The women in Hitchcock’s films become the object of their male sexual fantasy and objectification help to create woman as the spectacle of the challenges. In addition, the identification allows the viewers to appreciate that the resistance in the cinema helps to show women as desirable sexual beings who must assume the position that will allow them to resist the male gaze.
Clearly, Hitchcock reveals an image of his greatness through his style, pace, guile and pitch. These techniques are important to understanding and appreciating Hitchcock’s representation of women in the films. His women often are selective in their choices and are often picky in their choice of terrible and deceitful experiences and pathologies. The choices are often humorous, and yet the cinematic presentations of the films do not allow the fans of Hitchcock to embrace this humor. Throughout his works, Hitchcock presents the women in a variety of roles as he shows them as tramps, witches, double crossers among others. Despite the hard hitting female characters and their terrifying roles, Hitchcock ends with the women being punished for their actions eventually.
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