Hitchcock’s Women: Independent and Strong

Paper by Wendy DeLoughy.

While doing research on Hitchcock films and women, the majority of information that initially surfaces is negative – usually centered around the comments that Hitchcock was a misogynist, had strange infatuations with his actresses, and that the sole purpose of the females and how they are portrayed in his films is for the male viewer and his enjoyment – as Greg Garrett writes in his article “Hitchcock’s Women on Hitchcock”: “The final reputation of Alfred Hitchcock — arguably the greatest film director who ever lived — today seems to be haunted by the noisy ghosts of misogyny and cruelty”. However, after further digging for information, the opposite opinions and viewpoints can be found – ones that state that the female characters have a sense of power over the males in Hitchcock’s films and are competent, capable characters who become the focus, and at times the star, of the story. In the films The Lady Vanishes (1938), Rear Window (1954) and Vertigo (1958), female characters have a dual role of victim and aggressor. The females that are victims wind up dead (it is a Hitchcock film after all) but the female characters that are not victims have power, sometimes equal to or greater than their male counterparts, and are the focus of the audience’s attention not just because of their beauty, but because of their part in carrying out the story and their persuasion over their male counterparts.

In the film The Lady Vanishes (1938), there is the traditional female victim – the missing Ms. Froy (Dame May Whitty). However in Iris Henderson (Margaret Lockwood) there is a much less traditional role for a woman. In Iris, there is a female character that, as Nancy Waring puts it in her article “The Lady Vanquishes: Hitchcock’s Female Troubles”: “celebrates the moments in director Alfred Hitchcock’s films when women resist capitulation to male designs and male power”. Iris does this by being a very independent, strong, willful and successful female who is not too keen on marrying and settling down. She further exerts her power and independence by insisting that she is correct in thinking that Ms. Froy has gone missing. In the scene on the train after she wakes to find Ms. Froy gone, everyone she asks, from her companions in the train compartment to the waiter that served her tea, tells her that she is imagining things and that there never was a Ms. Froy. Iris does not give up so easily however, and along with a little evidence of a tea label stuck to a window, convinces Gilbert (Michael Redgrave) to help her find the vanished lady. Throughout the movie, Iris becomes secondary to Gilbert in the search, he takes the lead and solves the crime, but before the film is over Iris once again asserts her strength and independence by leaving her intended fiancée and choosing to be with Gilbert. The female character of Iris as directed by Hitchcock, for a time at least, resists the typical woman’s role of being dependent on a man, settling down and marrying, and raising a family. Instead, she initiates and helps solve the crime of the missing Ms. Froy, and ultimately, helps a spy to deliver valuable information to her home.

To further show the central importance of Iris’ character, the majority of the subjective views in the beginning are from Iris’ point of view. We look through her eyes when she sees that Ms. Froy is missing, as she is looking around the cabin, when she feels dizzy due to being hit on the head with the flowerpot. The subjective shots from Iris’ perspective disappear once Gilbert takes the lead in the investigation, but it is because of Iris and her desire to find Ms. Froy, that we are in the story to begin with.

In the second film used to analyze female characters, Rear Window (1954), we again have the typical female victim – Mrs. Thorwald (Irene Winstead) is killed by her husband Lars Thorwald (Raymond Burr). The suspicious night activity of Thorwald, noticed by Jefferies (James Stewart), begins the investigation into the murder. The second female character, Jefferies’ love interest, Lisa Freemont (Grace Kelly) is anything but a victim. Lisa is an example of how female characters “subtly [question male authority] in Hitchcock’s films, undercut by a clear, subversive message which gives women spectators a foothold from which to resist assimilation into patriarchal systems” (Abbot). Lisa, like Iris, is very strong willed and independent. The scene which epitomizes these traits in her character is when she, of her own initiative, climbs the fire escape into Thorwald’s apartment, goes in through the window and begins looking through the purse for evidence. She ultimately puts herself in danger and is caught by Thorwald, while a watching Jefferies is completely powerless to do anything to save her but call the police. In this scene, Lisa has all the power and bravery. Jefferies, due to being immobile in a wheelchair, cannot take charge of the investigation and is left helpless in his apartment while Lisa takes over. Lisa completely ignores the directions of Jefferies and takes matters into her own hands, ultimately finding Mrs. Thorwald’s wedding ring, evidence that leads to the solving of the crime and the confession of Mr. Thorwald.

The character of Lisa sets an example for women of how they can be their own source of power and bravery and not dependent on a man. There is nothing of weakness in Lisa’s character, and she does not lose any of her feminine qualities to gain or retain her power. As a matter of fact, in the last scene when she switches from reading an outdoor sports type of magazine to Harper’s Bazaar, she is showing us that she will not give up her own independent personality to be with Jefferies. She is a strong, independent woman who gets the man she wants, solves the crime, and does so while looking beautiful.

In the film Vertigo (1954) there is still the traditional female victim, but she is fleeting and the audience never actually meets her. The true victim of the film is a male, Scottie Ferguson (James Stewart). The co-conspirator and source of power in the film is the female character of Madeline/Judy (Kim Novak). The character of Madeline/Judy is an example of what Modleski writes in her book The Women Who Knew Too Much: Hitchcock and Feminist Theory (2005): “Hitchcock’s great need to insist on and exert authorial control can be related to the fact that his films are always in danger of being subverted by females whose power is both fascinating and seemingly limitless”. Madeline/Judy is certainly the focus of the movie for the audience and for the male protagonist. When she is on screen, everyone is watching her and Scottie becomes powerless due to his attachment for her. “Moving into a realm even more unsettling for male spectators is Hitchcock’s Vertigo, in which male identity comes to be defined by the central character’s identification with the woman he is obsessed with” (Abbot). Scottie ultimately loses himself to his infatuation with Madeline/Judy and she has all the power in the film. Not only was she responsible for carrying out the plot to frame Scottie as a witness to the real Madeline’s murder, but in doing so she takes over Scottie’s life, heart and mind.
Scottie’s obsession with Madeline/Judy becomes most apparent to the viewer in the scenes following his reuniting with Judy. In the time that follows, Scottie takes her to department stores to get her a grey suit and shoes that were like Madeline’s, takes her to a salon to have her hair dyed, nails and make up done like Madeline – he is so obsessed that he all but forces Judy to transform back into Madeline. Scottie has completely and utterly lost himself in his guilt and longing for the woman of the past, and Judy, although shaky at times, is the point from which all things revolve around.

The three characters of Iris, Lisa and Madeline/Judy show how Hitchcock’s female characters were not only beautiful women and the object of the male gaze, but were also strong willed, independent, powerful characters in many ways. Iris starts the investigation of a missing woman and exerts her independence and strength. Lisa shows power and bravery while going after evidence that will solve the crime of the murdered Mrs. Thorwald. And Judy/Madeline not only makes a victim out of Scottie, but becomes his obsession that is in control of his life. Hitchcock gave his female characters power and resistance to traditional women’s roles. As Greg Garrett states in his article “Hitchcock’s Women on Hitchcock”: “Whatever Hitchcock’s inner demons, women in Hitchcock films are often the focus of the audience’s strongest sympathy and are, indeed, the main characters in films”.

Works Cited

Abbott, Rebecca. “Women Watching Hitchcock.” Literature Film Quarterly 19.4 (1991): 277. ProQuest. Web. 28 May 2015.
Garrett, Greg. “Hitchcock’s Women on Hitchcock.” Literature Film Quarterly 27.2 (1999): 278-89. Proquest. Web. 27 May 2015.
The Lady Vanishes. Dir. Alfred Hitchcock. Perf. Margaret Lockwood, Michael Redgrave. The Criterion Collection, 1938. DVD.
Modleski, Tania. The Women Who Knew Too Much: Hitchcock and Feminist Theory. 2nd ed. New York, London: Routledge, 2005. Print.
Rear Window. Dir. Alfred Hitchcock. Perf. James Stewart, Grace Kelly. Universal Studios, 1954. DVD.
Vertigo. Dir. Alfred Hitchcock. Perf. James Stewart, Kim Novak. Universal Studios, 1958. DVD.
Waring, Nancy. “The Lady Vanquishes: Hitchcock’s Female Troubles.” The Village Voice 33.25 (1988): 55. WorldCat [OCLC]. Web. 28 May 2015.

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Published:
07.28.15 / 9am
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Academic Papers, DVD, Films