Depiction of Men and Women in The Films of Alfred Hitchcock

The Birds is a film produced in 1963, based on a 1952 story written by Daphne du Mauier, and directed by Alfred Hitchcock. This film showed great cinematography based on the characters and intense scenes. His films have stood the test of time as they are still relevant in the movie industry today and are some of the staples that many movies attempt to emulate. From the beginning of the film, he showed his skill when it came to recording the scene of the woman on the boat. It shows the water moving, a clear view of her front and what was behind her. His most fascinating technique is believed to be how colorful and vibrant he captures the scenes. He uses the characters' feelings and behaviors to create the overall atmosphere. The film showed an adept use of camera angles in addition to the thrilling plot and script.

The best part had to be the mystery embedded in the writing. In the film, the birds could attack at any moment, leaving people scared and afraid of the unknown. In most thrilling movies, the horrible things mostly happen at night which has become a predictable trope. In this movie, everything was in the daytime. It became more thought provoking as the movie unfolded because the audience and the characters in the movie were constantly wondering what caused the birds to act as they did.

Throughout the movie, the main focus is on the mysterious birds attacking random people and young kids all throughout the setting in Bodega Bay, California. The birds had taken the life of some people like the farmer and Annie the teacher. The main idea of the movie The Bird, is about birds attacking innocent people. But something that is constantly going on is the shared connection between Mitch and Melanie, who are the main characters. They kick it off when they meet inside of an animal store when Mitch is buying love birds to gift to his young daughter as a birthday gift. Melanie acted like works at the shop to impress him. But she loses all of her confidence when she tries to impress Mitch who she didn’t know had more knowledge about birds than she did. Mitch played along just to tease and mess with her. This goes to show that Hitchocks perspective on women at the time was that they were nowhere near as intelligent as men.

The Pscyho-analytic perspective can be used to analyze the way the characters are written in the film. In the film, most of the men sexualize women and, as a whole, have a gendered superiority complex. In the film, while they were inside of the pet store, Mitch puts her down and really brings down Melanie's confidence.. Prior to that, she was strong and seemed really outgoing. She enjoyed what she was doing. The scene at the shop allowed Mitch to turn the tables on her and demonstrate his ego and superiority complex. This perspective also emerges from the sexualization and objectification of women during that cultural period. In this film, the point that Mitch was constantly bringing different women around came up. He couldn’t stay committed to one woman, other than his mother, who constantly needed him. Mitch was a womanizer, and Melanie began to realize that. This just goes to show that in this film, the men are narcissistic and only care about what's best for them and objectify women instead of treating them as equals and caring about their feelings and emotions.

The other film that also showed a lot of this perspective with the male ego and there tendencies was Trouble with Harry. In this movie, when Sam met Jennifer at her home, he was really pushy and began flirting and touching her. He began by flirting with her and explaining how he would like to draw her naked. Normally people don’t say that the first time they meet a woman. Secondly, he began grabbing her dress and touching her. She would say things like, “Would you like some lemonade” and other ways to distract him and change the subject, but he would keep insisting. She didn’t do much to stop him. That’s the consistent trend that the director is constantly showing. Women seem powerless in the hands of a predatory man who doesn’t see them as another person, only an object.

In the movie, the men are a lot more caring and show bravery and empathy for the woman and try to protect them. In all of Hitchcock's film, this trend is shared. All of them men are masculine and carry themselves as if there better and smarter than everyone else. To add to that, he never lets women share the spotlight with the men, they are instead objectified and sexualized. The women in his films are all looked at as inferior to the male gender. From the Psycho-analytic perspective, Alfred Hitchcock shows men as self-centered and egotistical in a world where they hold most of the power.

As can be seen, Alfred Hitchcock did great works. He was ahead of his time and his cinematography was remarkable. He revolutionized film and set the bar high for other filmmakers. He was called the master of suspense. Alfred Hitchcock won many accolades, including multiple golden globes. Additionally, he came up with and perfected many different techniques with his camera. His films were thrilling, mysterious and suspenseful. In Most of his films he embedded really dark stories and murderers. In his film, he constantly put women down and made them seem as if they were less than men. In all of his films, they include the male dominance aspect. He depicted women as weak, and insecure. That was his distinct style. He incorporated this because that’s what was going on during the 1930’s through the 1970’s. In reality, women shouldn't be viewed any way different than men. In modern day, they can work and do the same things. Women have the same rights that men do. Woman shouldn’t be depicted so poorly in any films. All of this changes once new laws and regulations are put into place.

References

• Biography.com Editors. “Alfred Hitchcock.” Biography.com, A&E Networks Television, 22 Oct. 2019, www.biography.com/filmmaker/alfred-hitchcock.
• “Alfred Hitchcock.” The Official Website of Alfred Hitchcock, www.alfredhitchcock.com/life-and-legacy/biography/.