Hitchcock's MotifsAlfred Hitchcock’s films are renowned the world over, and a mountain of literature has detailed seemingly every facet of them. Yet remarkably few studies have solely focused on the recurring motifs in Hitchcock’s films. Michael Walker remedies this surprising gap in Hitchcock literature with an innovative and in-depth study of the sustained motifs and themes threaded through Hitchcock’s entire body of work. Combing through all fifty-two extant feature films and representative episodes from Hitchcock’s television series, Walker traces over forty motifs that emerge in recurring objects, settings, character-types, and events. Whether the loaded meaning of staircases, the symbolic status of keys and handbags, homoeroticism, guilt and confession, or the role of art, Walker analyzes such elements to reveal a complex web of cross-references in Hitchcock’s art. He also gives full attention to the broader social contexts in which the motifs and themes are played out, arguing that these interwoven elements add new and richer depths to Hitchcock’s oeuvre. An invaluable, encyclopedic resource for the scholar and fan, Hitchcock’s Motifs is a fascinating study of one of the best-known and most admired film directors in history. |
Contents
Acknowledgements | 13 |
Introduction | 15 |
Part I Hitchcock Motifs and Melodrama | 23 |
Part II The Key Motifs | 55 |
TV Episodes | 401 |
Articles on Hitchcocks motifs | 416 |
Definitions | 418 |
References | 421 |
Filmography | 431 |
List of illustrations | 463 |
| 467 | |
| 481 | |
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Common terms and phrases
Alfred Hitchcock Alicia Alma Reville Art director associations bedroom Birds Blackmail blonde brunette Bruno cameo camera Cary Grant Catch a Thief chaos world characters Charles Charlie’s cinema climax confession corpse Danvers death discussed disturbance double Elster emphasises examples fall figure film’s Frenzy Grace Kelly guilt Guy’s handbag handcuffs hands hero hero’s heroine heroine’s Hitchcock’s films homosexuality husband Jamaica Inn Jeff Jeff’s jewellery John Johnnie Judy killed Lady Vanishes linked Lodger look MacGuffin Madeleine male man’s Marion Marnie Marnie’s Melanie Miriam mother motif murder narrative Nevertheless North by Northwest Notorious overtones Paradine Photography police portrait Psycho Rear Window Rebecca repressed Robert Roger Rusk Sabotage Saboteur Scottie Screenplay secret sense sexual shot Spellbound staircase stairs Strangers suggests symbolic Thorwald tion Tippi Hedren Tony Topaz Torn Curtain train Uncle Charlie unconscious Verloc Vertigo villain VOYEURISM wife woman Young and Innocent