Watch: Hitchcock Marnie (on Hulu, Amazon)
OR
Watch: Hitchcock Vertigo
Choose one of the films for your analysis.
Using Maya Deren’s definitions, analyze horizontal development in Hitchcock film (the plot) as opposed to the vertical development – an investigation of a particular moment in its (often complex, contradictory) meaning.
Maya Deren on Vertical Structure, 19:37 – 26:52 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HA-yzqykwcQ
Here’s a more specific prompt:
1. Summarize the film’s plot. Are there any problems — holes — in the plot. How would you say the plot different from the story?
2. Analyze the following scene:
-In Marnie – a honeymoon scene (which Hitchcock also calls a “rape scene”):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADM-fK3bzfE
OR
-In Vertigo – scene were Judy transforms into Madeline (the actual scene in the film is longer than this youtube version, so make sure to analyze the actual scene):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tesqTwX7cpc
I suggest you begin with analyzing the scene vertically, using Barthes structural analysis-close — but this time, applying it to the moving scene. What are the three levels of meaning in this scene (narrative, symbolic, and the obtuse)?
Can you detect some additional levels (layers) of meaning in the scene, in addition to these three? You can, for instance, look at the scene from the opposing points of view of a male character and then the female character. Which one do you identify with as the spectator? Watch the scene noting the shifts in your emotional reaction to what’s going on on the screen – what’s your “resulting” emotional response? Is it simple – ambivalent – something else?
3. Does this vertical analysis of this scene illuminate the story, its meaning for you – and how?
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