Practice essay on
Hitchcock
The topic I have decided to focus on is “How Hitchcock
portrays women as disposable” I have chosen this area because I personally love
Alfred Hitchcock as a director and I think the genre he is known for is
extremely exciting. My focus film is the controversially shocking “ Psycho
1960” I think this film really reinforces my hypothesis for example the leading
lady Janet Leigh is brutally murdered with in the first 45 minutes of the
classic horror. If this doesn’t scream disposable I don’t know what does. Also
another scene that really caught my eye was the scene where Marion Crane and
Sam loomis are discussing him leaving his wife for her I honestly believe this
shows just how Hitchcock disposes women over and over again. It could be
suggesting that Hitchcock believes it’s okay to have affairs and just dump
women when they are no longer seen as his play toy. My supporting films are
“the Birds” and “Frenzy I chose these films because I think they fit in nicely
with “psycho” and really back up my topic. I think Frenzy will be vital to my
research task because there is some very important scenes for example Brenda
runs a matchmaking service which I thinks relates back to my hypothesis because
I think this could suggest that Hitchcock sees women as objects and sources of
fame and fortune.
Other sources of research that I will be exploring is
autobiographies because I believe this will be reliable research and really
show Hitchcock as a person and what he really thinks of women. I have also
found interviews/articles with the leading ladies because I think it will give
me an idea how Hitchcock treat them. I have found an article about Janet Leigh
she clearly states “Whatever I put you in, the audience would immediately think
of “psycho” it wouldn’t be fair to the picture or the character.” This is a
direct quote from Hitchcock himself stating that he would never work with Janet
Leigh again which I feel it reinforces the fact that Hitchcock sees women as
replaceable. I also found an article from Tippi Hedren who quoted that she
thought Hitchcock was a "sexual predator". I have found articles and
news clippings against Hitchcock but also articles that prove him innocent such
as story wrote about him telling that he was actually scared of women so you
wouldn’t think the above statement is true
So I have come to the conclusion that some of my hypothesis
could be true about Alfred Hitchcock but I have found several sources of
research that defends Hitchcock and fights against the accusations of Hitchcock
being a "sexual Predator". However the problems I have come across in
finding my research are if the sources are actually true or a scam to earn
money. Also I have found it difficult to find interviews with Janet Leigh and
other actors who stared in the actual Hitchcock films this happened because I
could only really locate interviews with Scarlett Johansson who portrays Janet Leigh
in the new cinematic release of Hitchcock’s life.
