Essays on Alfred Hitchcock

Bicycle Thieves, also referred to as The Bicycle Thief is a film that tells the story of a father seeking to find a bike that has been stolen throughout Rome. The film has often been considered to be one of the most well-respected in the neorealism genre. Specifically, because of its depiction of harsh realities of life post World War II, and its effects on the conditions and psyche of individuals. A horror thriller masterpiece, Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho is noted for its distinctive subject matter and for spawning what is considered to be an extremely successful subgenre of the ...

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 ...

In DeMille’s “The Cheat”

The art is a magical invention of the mankind, although it is possible to say that the art has invented a human being in some strange way too – that human with a delicate vision of the beauty and with fascinating creative abilities. The cinematography is one of the greatest arts. However, it is important to note the fact that the modern cinematography has turned into a huge commercial business (but not the whole, of course). It is difficult to impress a contemporary representative of our consumer society because he is surrounded by the entertainment business everywhere. However, the movies ...

I. Introduction

In 1960, Alfred Hitchcock released the iconic film, Psycho, to an unsuspecting audience.

The film broke with narrative and cinematographic techniques that had been the Hollywood standard for decades. Produced and directed on a shoestring budget, the film garnered few positive reviews. However, it still stands as the most powerful influence on the suspense, and even horror, genre. Because Psycho debuted in 1960 (when theaters were much more popular), the film is best analyzed through the lens of mass communication theory. In James Kendrick's "Psycho and the Priming of the Audience", it is argued that the mass communication model is most effective at informing an astute analysis of the film. ...

Summary and Response Practice #2

In “Why We Love TV’s Anti-Heroes,” Stephen Garrett argues that the actual nature of the hero has changed over the past few decades, and as a result the protagonists that we embrace are largely different as well. Arguing that “the heroes of today are radically different from those of two or three decades ago [and that t]hey have evolved to represent a radically changed world,” (Garrett, p. 319) Garrett claims that empathy is more important than respect when it comes to choosing a hero to emulate. Consider the highly popular program House, M.D. Thirty years ago, the hero of the ...

The rage of Achilles is the rudder that steers the Iliad. By the time the heroes of Greek lore reach modernity and Percy Jackson emerges, the clothing has changed, but the resentments of both hero and villain have changed little. Both Percy and Luke, the primary villain, harbor anger against their fathers that provide just as much motivation to them as the loss of Patroklos spurs Achilles to strike down as many Trojans as he can before he receives that fated, fatal stroke to the heel. Stephen Garrett argues that modern heroes in television programs are more conflicted and ...

Vertigo is a brilliant piece of work that presents psychoanalytic issue in an efficient manner. Vertigo is a psychological thriller directed by A. Hitchcock. The movie was premiered during sixties and praised by the audience. The director utilized all film elements in a manner to create an impression on the minds of audience. All filmic elements such as sound, color, music makes the movie very remarkable. This paper presents a detailed analysis of movie Vertigo, and how director illustrated psychoanalytical issue in an impressive manner. Vertigo has great influence of 1920’s art and movies that emphasize on imagination and experiments. Vertigo ...

Shot in 1946, the spy thriller “Notorious” by Alfred Hitchcock is a beautiful love story in the frames of real historic events. The movie is the first mature work of the director where his style and specific features form in the manner of shooting and conveying the message to the audience. “Notorious” was nominated for Best Supporting Actor and Best Original screenplay at the 19th Academy Awards in 1947. The beginning of the movie coincides with the immediate introduction to the main characters, Alicia Huberman and T.R. Devlin. When the audience hears the judgment of the court and the ...

Introduction

Whalter White, Steve McGarrett, Gregory House and many others are amongst the most favorite fictional anti-heroes from the television series shown in today’s 21st century. They are not heroes because they do not possess the traditional heroic characteristics like perfection, brilliance, strength, etc but they are not villains either because they are not evil, immoral and diabolical. Anti-heroes first look like very wicked, uncaring, selfish or immoral but as their stories progresses, viewers get to learn how twisted their personalities are and what are the reasons behind it. They seem to purse adverse actions but their hearts are ...

Some movies mark their history not because of their cast, acting elements, good direction but also because they portray good themes and amazing subject that leave good message and ever lasting impression upon the audience. Psycho is considered as leading movies that are complex, psychological, and powerful thriller and suspense film, revolutionizing the history of English black and white movies. Psycho was a horror movie with amazing graphics that one had not even seen before and with shocking killings (Sterritt, 1993). It highlighted various themes and subjects such as vulnerability, corruptibility, past histories, murders, human victimization, dangerous impacts of money, ...

Psycho Movie Analysis

Psycho is a great and complex psychological thriller film from the 1960 by Alfred Hitchcock. It is known as the supreme of all modern horror suspense films, and ushered in a new kind of horror that the audiences had never seen or experienced before. It is not very well known, but this was Hitchcock's first real horror film, and he got labeled as a horror film director ever since. The film is centered on the encounter between a secretary who embezzles money from her employer and ends up at a secluded motel. She becomes the victim of Norman Bates, the motel's disturbed owner-manager, and ...

The thrillers of Alfred Hitchcock have not been strangers to unconventional protagonists – from Vertigo’s cowardly, power-hungry Scottie Thompson to Rear Window’s incapacitated paranoiac LB Jeffries, to the hapless journalists and playboys of his early British spy capers like Foreign Correspondent and The Lady Vanishes. Part of the thrill of Hitchcock’s thrillers is seeing a clear sense of comedy and irreverence mingling evenly with the serious, atmospheric cinematography of his films. North by Northwest is no exception, mining comedy out of an otherwise highly tense spy thriller through the haplessness of his protagonist, ad executive Roger Thornhill (Cary ...

[Writer Nаme] [Supervisor Nаme] [Dаte]

For centuries, scientists have been trying to map the concept of fear. This emotion is eminent from birth until death. Sociologists believe that this fear is what molds the society and the individual. It is the fear of the unknown that has forced us to develop medicine. Fear, like every other emotion, is developed due to thought. If thoughts did not exist, then the feeling of fear would not have existed either. Once we understand what fear is derived from, we comprehend that it is our own imagination, and ...

Provide critical analysis of a film, specifically in relation to elements of the film’s style and other topics you consider relevant. Psycho (1960) The film Psycho, by the stalwart director, Alfred Hitchcock, is one of the most iconic films in the history of cinema. The film bears the testimony to the aesthetic excellence and usage of quintessential film techniques by the director. The film has left an everlasting mark on the minds of the audience across the globe, and enjoys immense popularity even on the present day. The director places the audience away from the movie’ ...

Answer to Question 1

The novel-based movie Invasion of the Body Snatchers has featured an entirely outrageous concept in its storyline – the involvement of alien forces in the infiltration of a small fictional town of Santa Mira, California. The capability of the aliens to produce replicas of people through atomic-mutating giant plant pods have become the subject of fear among people in Invasion of the Body Snatchers, which they have sought all throughout to challenge. Turning people into empty replicas of their original selves, the alien forces have taken the form of “evil” that has taken over Santa Mira, erstwhile a peaceful and balanced town ( ...

Voyeurism towards Women in Film: Rear Window

In the contemporary society cinema offer images that are geared towards male viewing pleasure, this is within set psychoanalytic paradigm like the voyeurism and scopophilia. Arguably, the concept of gaze is basically about the relationship of images and pleasure. In psychoanalysis, scopophilia is defined as pleasure derived in looking while exhibitionism is the pleasure of being evaluated. Manlove (88) notes that these two terms acknowledges the manner in which reciprocal relationships of viewing can derive pleasure. As such, Voyeurism can be referred to as looking while one is not being seen; it carries an exceptionally negative undertone of a powerful ...

Vertigo Analysis

Vertigo is one of classic movies that audiences watched in sixties. This psychological thriller movie is directed by Alfred Hitchcock. This paper intends to discuss vertigo and further examines how several filmic elements illustrate a significant psychoanalytic issue in the movie, vertigo. Vertigo, like other Hitchcock made movies, appears to be influenced by 1920’s movement of art and film that used to focus on conducting experiment as well as use of imagination. One prominent idea, which strikes into mind after watching vertigo, is the portrayal of an ideal woman by Hitchcock. Hitchcock seems to be very attached with ...

Movie review

The paper seeks to review the movie strangers on a train directed by Alfred Hitchcock. The movie shows two strangers Bruno and Guy who meet when travelling their different ways. On his side, the author uses cinematic terminology and methodology through the plot. The paper discusses the plot of the movie in brief but from the start to the end. The paper explains the nature of the movie as a both work of art and entertainment. The paper discusses how the author uses different patterns, techniques, themes and meanings to make the movie successful.

The movie starts by showing two strangers ...

[Subject/Course] [Submission Date]

In his movies, The Birds (1963) and Psycho (1960), Alfred Hitchcock has been able to successfully depict how dysfunctional families are responsible for giving birth to a personality that is not one that can align with the normal people in the society. In The Birds, Alfred has terrifyingly depicted how the birds could take on the characteristics of human. He revealed their ability to commit such acts that were both violent and destructive in nature. The audience could see that the birds were shown to do brutal things to the power imbalance problem solved. It can ...

Introduction

Lara Mulvey is a renowned theorist of films who has written several articles about different aspects in the film industry. One of her most famous essays is Visual Pleasure in the Narrative Cinema that generally explores the roles played by women in the film industry (Thornham 25). Lara in this essay states that there are two general roles of women in the film industry. She outlines the male gender automatic power to look at women as desire objects by the passive observation of their bodies. In this case, the women become simple symbols or objects with no real power ...

Assignment One: Portfolio of work Maximum

Skyfall Plot

A hard-drive that contains vital information about all the NATO operatives, who are undercover in the terrorist organizations, has been stolen and the head of British Intelligence – M is put under an embarrassing scrutiny by bureaucrats. After a near near-death incident, an out of colour 007 is sent out to retrieve the drive, as he is led to a man called Silva, who is out on a revenge mission to destroy both MI6 and M.

Review

Sam Mendes seems to be playing with the old themes, as well as the new ones with the return of 007 on its 50th ...

Germany has produced many famous women in the entire genre, may it be art and literature, struggle for freedom, painting, film making, politics, top executive positions in organizations and so on. My goal in this paper is to describe one of the famous women from 1940’s to 1950’s.

Margarethe von Trotta, considered as the “world’s leading feminist filmmaker”, and the most supreme film directors from the Europe continent, was born on 21st February 1942 in Berlin. She is one of the most eminent female directors to arise from the New German Cinema movement. She started her ...

This Darren Aronofsky classic has left many a critic dumbfounded, not just after watching the movie for the first time, but even after the second, third or even tenth views of this film. The sheer techniques used in Requiem for a Dream hits the audience with so hard a punch that they are left dazed for a few moments, wondering what had hit them, before finally recovering their composure. Perhaps people would have been less horrified by the vivid imagery of this film had Aronofsky classified it as a “Horror Film”. But horror films do not make it to the Oscars, do they? In ...

Introduction

The movie Rear Window, which Alfred Hitchcock made in 1954 (Krinsky), was based on the short story It Had to be Murder, which was written by Cornell Woolrich in 1942 (“Rear Window”). Although there are differences between the movie and the short story, the story is basically about a man who is temporarily confined in a wheelchair because of his legs being in a cast. As such, he has nothing to do all day except look out his bedroom window and observe the goings-on in his neighbors’ lives through their windows. As the story goes on, Jeffries, the main character, begins to ...

Analysis of Vertigo’s opening sequence

The opening sequence of Vertigo is perhaps one of the finest ever seen in all of cinema. It brings about the main character’s fascination with vertigo and here one can observe James Stewart’s phobias and brilliance in portraying the main character which is Scottie who is a private investigator who suffers from agrophobia which is the fear of heights. The title clip was recorded in 1958 with Panavision cameras. The shot chosen focuses on Scottie who is seemingly dreaming and is reflecting on his fear of heights. The shot lasts no longer than 30 seconds and is ...

Movies have always been a brilliant reflection of reality. Many directors all over the world have done their best to create masterpieces, which would catch a person and would not leave him until the end of the movie. Undoubtedly, cinematography has always been a perfect tool to express the feelings and emotions of people by reflecting hem in the movies. It should be stated that thrillers and dramas are the genres of movies, which don’t but reflect all the aforesaid in a more vivid and bright way. Not only do these genres cover topics, which have always worried the society, but also ...