The Feminist Vanishes
Paper by Lia Durham.
Alfred Hitchcock is a true auteur. His unique vision is the driving force behind all of his films. He is a great influence on filmmaking to this day. While making over 60 films during his career his themes, motifs and signature point of view shots have deemed him the “Master of Suspense”. One of the most common themes in his films was the punishing of out of control women. In Johannes Bockwoldt’s review of the book “Spellbound by Beauty—Hitchcock and His Leading Ladies”Bockwoldt shines a light on the passages that refer to the lack of recognition Hitchcock had for the actresses that played his leads. Stating that “Hitchcock maintained an insistent silence about the quality of their performance”. It’s no secret that Hitchcock had an obsession with blonde actresses that lasted the length of his career. According to Bockwoldt most of his lead female characters were “desperate dubliciotious blondes”. Yet Patricia Ferrara who reviewed the book “The Women Who Knew Too Much” praises Hitchcock for not hiding femininity from his films. She argues that even with his fear and loathing of women Hitchcock has a sympathy and understanding for women and their problems in a patriarchal society. However in the films The Lady Vanishes(1938), Vertigo(1958), and The Birds(1963) all three leading ladies are stripped of their power and autonomy and become dependent of the male lead. They are broken down from the free women they once were to obedient and cautious by the end of the films.
In The Lady Vanishes Iris’ loss of power is subtle and disguised as love. We first see her as independent and adventurous. She has been everywhere and done everything and now she thinks she must settle down. In the beginning of the film she tells her friends “I’ve eaten caviar at Cannes, sausage rolls at the dogs. I’ve played baccarat at Biarritz and darts with the rural dean. What is there left for me but marriage?”. When she first encounters Gilbert she is the one with more power and influence. She has the hotel manager wrapped around her finger and she has the ability to bribe him to get Gilbert kicked out of his room. When he barges into her room he tries to assert his dominance by making her uncomfortable and annoyed, but he still needs her to get his room back. This dynamic switches as soon as they get on the train. Iris now needs Gilbert since he is the only one that is willing to help her. Throughout the rest of the film Iris loses more and more control and becomes weaker. In the hotel she was taken seriously and held in high esteem and Gilbert was the nuisance. On the train Gilbert is the one that is respected and Iris is kind of a joke. For example the scene in which Gilbert and a man get into a fight in the storage area. It should’ve been an easy fight, two vs one, but instead of helping Iris is falling over herself, getting in the way and even accidently kicking Gilbert. Hitchcock hides this loss of power inside the love story of Iris and Gilbert. With every misplacement of Iris’ autonomy she and Gilbert grow closer and she doesn’t seem to suffer for it but rejoices in the end when they couple up. Amid all the joy, and even unknown to Iris she does suffer. At the end of the film she has lost her independence and is now controlled.
I n Ve r t i g o a n d T h e Bi r d s t h e p u n i s h i n g o f t h e f e m a l e l e a d s i s q u i t e m o r e c l e a r . I n Ve r t i g o we are introduced to Madeleine in a restaurant. Hitchcock uses a panning shot of a crowded restaurant and before the camera zooms in we have already spotted her. Her back is to the camera and she is left of center but her bright blonde hair and emerald wrap has her standing out from the rest. Then with a point of view shot from Scottie’s perspective we see her face. As she walks by him there is a close up profile shot of her with the red background of the restaurant behind her and Scottie is looking with his peripheral vision. From that moment on Madeleine has the power in her relationship with Scottie. He is madly in love with her and she has the ability to manipulate him. The red background in the restaurant is symbolic of her untrustworthiness, it represents danger and lust. Even though the Madeleine that scottie falls in love with is not real, Judy’s portrayal of her is powerful. Just like Iris, Madeleine is independent and wealthy, she has a husband but she does her own thing. The character of Melanie from The Birdsshares these characteristics as well, young, beautiful, and rich. After this selfsufficient big city woman arrives in the small town of Bodega Bay they start to experience horrific attacks. In one scene a local woman hysterically accuses Melanie of being the cause. With a point of view shot in an extreme close up the woman looks right into the camera and screams “Who are you? What are you? Where did you come from? I think you’re the cause of all this. I think you’re evil! EVIL!”. This is the most straightforward Hitchcock is with feelings about his lead female characters and i n t h e e n d o f b o t h Ve r t i g o a n d T h e Bi r d s h i s l e a d i n g l a d i e s a r e p h y s i c a l l y p u n i s h e d . S c o t t i e h a s finally figured out that Judy was Madeleine and takes her back to the bell tower at Mission San Juan Bautista where “Madeleine” died. He berates her and she explains how she loves him, they kiss and then she is startled by a nun and falls to her death. In her final moments their positions have switched Judy/Madeleine is the one in the palm of Scottie’s hand he holds the power and the ability to forgive but in Hitchcock’s eyes she deserves death instead of forgiveness. The Birds ends with Melanie completely losing all sense of who she is. After the attack in the attic she can barely speak and is in a catatonic state. According to the subliminal narrative of the film this is her own fault. Instead of allowing Mitch to have the power as a man and follow his lead she decides to go investigate the attic on her own while everyone is sleeping. Her selfreliant ways ended up getting her mauled by a swarm of birds and Mitch had to come save her. In the beginning Melanie was sassy and quick witted, she seemed to be always one step ahead of Mitch with her pranks and at the end Mitch is the one ahead. Melanie has lost all her spunk and who knows if she’ll ever be the same again.
No matter what Hitchcock should be applauded for having women at the helm of most of his films. His female characters are transcendent, passionate and compelling to watch. They are truly unique and often more interesting than their male counterparts. Iris made Gilbert more than just a pompous ass, she made him charming and likable. John became exciting due to his strong reaction towards Madeleine, that’s what made him gripping. Also it’s hard to even remember Mitch, as a character he was very superficial, Melanie was the engaging one. It is apparent that none of these films would have been as entertaining without the fascinating lead female characters. It’s important to see strong female characters in films. However it’s less of an accomplishment when all the strong female characters transform into weak female characters. The power shifts to reflect the stereotypical gender roles and a patriarchal ideology wins out in the end. In the beginning of Hitchcock’s films the women are feminists and at the end poof the feminist vanishes.
Works Cited
Johannes Bockwoldt. “Spellbound by Beauty—Hitchcock and His Leading Ladies(review).” Journal of Film and Video62.3 (2010): 6364. Project MUSE.Web. 2 Jun. 2015.
Hitchcock and Selznick: The Rich and Strange Collaboration of Alfred Hitchcock and David O. Selznick in Hollywood by Leonard J. Leff; The Women Who Knew Too Much: Hitchcock and Feminist Theory by Tania Modleski; Hitchcock as Activist: Politics and the War Films by Sam P. Simone
Review by: Patricia Ferrara South Atlantic Review
Vol. 54, No. 1 (Jan., 1989), pp.157160
Published by: South Atlantic Modern Language Association Stable URL:http://www.jstor.org/stable/3200099
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