Analysis of an Article R.E. Alfred Hitchcock

“Fashion Dreams: Hitchcock, women and Lisa Fremont” published in reputable journal called literary film quarterly in the year 2000 by John Fawell, who is a lecturer at Boston University, authored a novel concerning works of Hitchcock, in light of all of this one could assume that the content is both reliable and well-researched, and originates from a relatively contemporary source.

Briefly, although the article doesn’t address this, I feel it is important to enlighten you all on how important Alfred Hitchcock was to classic cinema. Classic Cinema, from the research I compiled, was quite simply a period in time from the 1920s to 1960s where film and cinematography was being developed and implemented into people’s lives and daily activities. Hitchcock, although produced work toward the end of cinema’s golden years, was so innovative that publications internationally named him as being one of the greatest most influential film directors of all time. He was known as the “architect of anxiety” and was notorious for his ‘glamourized’ thrillers. He had an acute sensitivity to the audience’s involvement and relationship with his characters and in turn developed a particular cinematography technique in which mimicked the persons gaze, this ultimately heightened the tension as it made one feel as though they were part of the scene. So, although brief, I hope that the relevance of Hitchcock’s work and his impact on Classic Cinema is clear, and how he really pioneered suspense films- and of note is that many of his techniques such as the camera angle mimicking a person’s gaze is still implemented today.

Now to the article, today ill be discussing “Fashion Dreams: Hitchcock, women and Lisa Fremont” a piece which addresses the somewhat sadistic and controlling tendencies of infamous classic film director Alfred Hitchcock, his approach to acting and relationship with his leading ladies, the role fashion played in his films and an analysis of what could be considered one of his greatest and most iconic films “Rear Window”.

The underlying message Fawell puts forward in his piece is that Hitchcock is a misunderstood individual whose career has been tarnished by misleading publications and sensationalised/exaggerated media reports. This said, the article does address the scandals and sadistic tendencies of the director and attempts to explain the reasons as to why he behaved in that manner.

I don’t known if anyone is aware of this, but Hitchcock particularly toward the end of his career in the late 1960s was seen as vindictive, and was accused by many critics as being misogynistic and a Svengali- (mysoginist- woman hating and Svengali- a manipulator, or obsessively controlling). Throughout the article Fawell pays particular attention to one specific author and body of work, an anthropology of the director “Alfred Hitchcock: The Dark Side of Genius” 1983 by Donald Spoto.