Alfred Hitchcock Is Notorious For His Use Of The Ideal Hitchcockian Woman, Many Of The Female Protagonists

Alfred Hitchcock is notorious for his use of the ideal Hitchcockian woman, many of the female protagonists or figures of romance in Hitchcock movies look incredibly similar. An example of the “ideal Hitchcock woman” is Madeline in Vertigo (Hitchcock, 1958), her hair is blonde and she wears a tight, almost fetishised, suit. Tippi Hedren matched this criteria and her relationship with Hitch become one of great controversy. During the filming of The Birds (1963), Hitchcock became incredibly controlling over Hedren, particularly controlling what she ate and drank. He reportedly told cast and crew they were not to talk to Hedren and furthermore, Hedren claimed that Hitchcock tried to kiss her in the back of a car.

This behaviour only enhanced during the shooting of Marnie (1964), a film that can be read as solely about Hitchcock’s fear of female identity and his need for control over Hedren, specifically her sexuality.  Hedren said, “Everyone - I mean everyone - knew he was obsessed with me. He always wanted a glass of wine or champagne, with me alone, at the end of the day…he was really isolating me from everyone”. The relationship reached a climax when Hitchcock refused to allow Hedren the opportunity to visit New York, Hitchcock claimed that he’d ruin Hedren’s career, before it had truly started.

Hitchcock’s control over Hedren’s contract allowed him to decline or accept offers as he wished, he turned down several offers on Hedren’s behalf.

also i watched room!!!! 

Brie Larson is genuinely one of my favourite actresses but particularly as a comedy character, I was amazed at her performance in Room- it was genuinely one of the most intoxicatingly beautiful films I’ve ever watched. It perfectly encapsulated the moments where you want to look away but the films interpellates you to the point that you still feel it, despite not looking at the screen. Jacob Tremblay gave one of the best child performances, i’ve never identified with a child’s character as much. (also he’s 9!!! wtf that’s incredible)

but yeah, incredible.

“Judy, please, it can’t matter to you.”

Vertigo (Hitchcock, 1958) and the colour green

Rushmore (Anderson, 1998)

“Tell that stupid Mick he just made my list of things to do today”

Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960) is notable for a number of reasons, one of these is the first use of the “man gone wrong” antagonist. Although this is a common and popular narrative device in many modern Horror films, such as Patrick Bateman in American Psycho and Michael Myers in Halloween, at the time Norman Bates was a revolutionary character as he would change the role of antagonists forever. Norman’s name was chosen simply because it would close to the word “Normal”.

Hitchcock was obsessed with the idea of verisimilitude throughout the filming of Psycho, he used television actors from his series “Alfred Hitchcock Presents” rather than high profile actresses and actors, as he had done in films such as Vertigo (1958) and Rear Window (1954). The audience is encouraged to identify with Norman as soon as Marion leaves the narrative, the spectator follows Norman cleaning the mess and film critic Zizek argues that we identify with this as he undertakes cleaning jobs like the spectator.

Hitchcock’s innovation with the “man gone wrong” antagonist has changed horror films and furthermore, highlighted the horror of true life. Part of the attraction in horror films is that fact that, most of the time, the antagonist is caught and the spectator revels in the idea that the protagonists are safe. However, in real life this is rarely the case, numerous murderers and criminals are not caught and this was what the man gone wrong antagonist proves- it points out that serial killers/murderers/general criminals look like the everyman and we are living amongst them, just as Marion lived next door to Norman Bates.

“In fair Verona, where we lay our scene”

Romeo + Juliet (Luhrmann, 1996)and the colour blue