Ideas of gender in Alfred Hitchcocks Vertigo
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Alfred Hitchcock's film 'Vertigo' presents its audience with stunning, and often haunting, views of gender, femininity, reality and reflection. Hitchcock has constructed his film with narrative, images, sounds, and concepts that leave the audience with a sometimes confusing representation of not only women, but female identity itself, whether it be present in the female characters, or Scottie, the male antagonist. In Vertigo, women are represented in several different ways within different roles. One of these representations includes the timeless concept of the 'mother' figure, the expectations of such a role in society and the implications of it on the story. Another is woman as a possession; the theme of men needing a female reflection in order to sustain their own existence is an important one in the film, as each female personality either is, or perhaps somehow desires to be, possessed by a man, moulded and influenced. Though, the result of such a situation could be seen as disastrous, the death of Judy and Madeleine being an interesting demonstration of how gender expectations and needs can crush the existence of the individual.
Scottie Ferguson, the main character, is a parallel between gender ideals and roles. His transformation from a police officer to something of an emotional invalid due to his acrophobia, sets the film up to explore representations of women and their possible connections to men. The opening of the film is allusive to many of the filmic themes. The credits themselves are evocative, as we see a woman's face scanned slowly, first her lips, her cheeks, finally her eyes...