"Director of audiences": a study of Alfred Hitchcock's manipulation of his audiences.
Date
2008-06-30T08:56:30Z
Authors
Webber, Rebecca
Journal Title
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Abstract
Abstract
This Master’s thesis identifies and elucidates upon the motifs/themes/images, which
Hitchcock utilized in his films to ultimately manipulate and thereby direct his audience’s
perception and understanding of his films’ narratives.
The devices that are described and investigated in detail in this thesis are found to be
recurrent in most of Alfred Hitchcock’s films. That highlights the question: why are they
recurrent? What purpose do they serve? I believe that the answer to these questions is
that these devices were used by Hitchcock to serve the end of manipulating the audience.
The efficacy of these devices as used by Alfred Hitchcock is elaborated on in each
chapter that addresses each motif in turn. Each chapter which deals with one of the motifs
Alfred Hitchcock used in his manipulation of his audience contains examples from films
and investigates how the motifs are used within each film to manipulate audience
comprehension. These examples are strengthened with theory from academics, theorists
and critics who have made a life-long study of Hitchcock.
My theoretical framework includes audience research and Metz’s theory of ‘suturing’
which addresses the meaning of camera position and the different point of view that the
audience take up. By means of this research I aim to explain the way in which
Hitchcock consummately manages to manipulate the audience to follow ‘red herrings’
and ultimately surprise the audience.
This thesis acknowledges the premise that all film directors manipulate the audience and
does not attempt to persuade the reader that Hitchcock was unique in this. It does aim to
explore and explain how Hitchcock’s unique use of specific motifs was utilized in order
to manipulate audiences.
This thesis resulted in my understanding Hitchcock’s method of directing his audiences
as much as his films and I think that in a broader context explains the use and need (both
Hitchcock’s and the films narrative’s) for the repetitive devices for which Hitchcock is
renowned, rather than merely investigating them as isolated pieces in Hitchcock’s films.
I would suggest that there is evidence in these films of a repetition compulsion, as if the
films are attempting to solve a conundrum very much in the way that academics have
attempted to solve the conundrum that is the work of Alfred Hitchcock.
Search words: Hitchcock, director, film, thriller, manipulation, audience, double, Psycho,
scatology, voyeurism, auteur, spectator theory, Truffaut, narrative, scopohilia.
Abstract
This Master’s thesis identifies and elucidates upon the motifs/themes/images, which
Hitchcock utilized in his films to ultimately manipulate and thereby direct his audience’s
perception and understanding of his films’ narratives.
The devices that are described and investigated in detail in this thesis are found to be
recurrent in most of Alfred Hitchcock’s films. That highlights the question: why are they
recurrent? What purpose do they serve? I believe that the answer to these questions is
that these devices were used by Hitchcock to serve the end of manipulating the audience.
The efficacy of these devices as used by Alfred Hitchcock is elaborated on in each
chapter that addresses each motif in turn. Each chapter which deals with one of the motifs
Alfred Hitchcock used in his manipulation of his audience contains examples from films
and investigates how the motifs are used within each film to manipulate audience
comprehension. These examples are strengthened with theory from academics, theorists
and critics who have made a life-long study of Hitchcock.
My theoretical framework includes audience research and Metz’s theory of ‘suturing’
which addresses the meaning of camera position and the different point of view that the
audience take up. By means of this research I aim to explain the way in which
Hitchcock consummately manages to manipulate the audience to follow ‘red herrings’
and ultimately surprise the audience.
This thesis acknowledges the premise that all film directors manipulate the audience and
does not attempt to persuade the reader that Hitchcock was unique in this. It does aim to
explore and explain how Hitchcock’s unique use of specific motifs was utilized in order
to manipulate audiences.
This thesis resulted in my understanding Hitchcock’s method of directing his audiences
as much as his films and I think that in a broader context explains the use and need (both
Hitchcock’s and the films narrative’s) for the repetitive devices for which Hitchcock is
renowned, rather than merely investigating them as isolated pieces in Hitchcock’s films.
I would suggest that there is evidence in these films of a repetition compulsion, as if the
films are attempting to solve a conundrum very much in the way that academics have
attempted to solve the conundrum that is the work of Alfred Hitchcock.
Search words: Hitchcock, director, film, thriller, manipulation, audience, double, Psycho,
scatology, voyeurism, auteur, spectator theory, Truffaut, narrative, scopohilia.