Hitchcockian
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
(Difference between revisions)
| Revision as of 16:14, 12 January 2014 Jahsonic (Talk | contribs) (→See also) ← Previous diff |
Current revision Jahsonic (Talk | contribs) |
||
| Line 14: | Line 14: | ||
| *Bumbling or incompetent authority figures, particularly police officers. | *Bumbling or incompetent authority figures, particularly police officers. | ||
| *Use of darkness to symbolise impending doom (dark clothing, shadows, smoke, etc.) | *Use of darkness to symbolise impending doom (dark clothing, shadows, smoke, etc.) | ||
| - | *Strong visual use of famous landmarks ([[Statue of Liberty]], [[Mount Rushmore]], [[Forth Rail Bridge]], [[Golden Gate Bridge]], [[Albert Hall]], [[British Museum]], [[Piccadilly Circus]], etc.) | + | *Strong visual use of famous [[landmark]]s ([[Statue of Liberty]], [[Mount Rushmore]], [[Forth Rail Bridge]], [[Golden Gate Bridge]], [[Albert Hall]], [[British Museum]], [[Piccadilly Circus]], etc.) |
| *Mistaken identity, such as in ''North by Northwest'' and ''The Wrong Man''. | *Mistaken identity, such as in ''North by Northwest'' and ''The Wrong Man''. | ||
| *The use of a staircase as a motif for impending danger or suspense. | *The use of a staircase as a motif for impending danger or suspense. | ||
Current revision
|
Related e |
|
Featured: |
Hitchcockian is a authorial descriptive used to describe film styles and themes similar to those of Alfred Hitchcock's films.
[edit]
Characteristics
Elements considered Hitchcockian include:
- The cool platinum blonde (often a central figure of Hitchcock's films).
- The presence of a domineering mother in her child's life (e.g. Psycho).
- An innocent man accused (again used in many of Hitchcock's films).
- Restricting the action to a single setting to increase tension (e.g. Lifeboat, Rear Window, Rope).
- Characters who switch sides or who cannot be trusted.
- Tension building through suspense to the point where the audience enjoys seeing the character in a life-threatening situation, such as the windmill scene from Foreign Correspondent.
- Average people thrust into strange or dangerous situations, such as in North by Northwest or The Man Who Knew Too Much.
- Bumbling or incompetent authority figures, particularly police officers.
- Use of darkness to symbolise impending doom (dark clothing, shadows, smoke, etc.)
- Strong visual use of famous landmarks (Statue of Liberty, Mount Rushmore, Forth Rail Bridge, Golden Gate Bridge, Albert Hall, British Museum, Piccadilly Circus, etc.)
- Mistaken identity, such as in North by Northwest and The Wrong Man.
- The use of a staircase as a motif for impending danger or suspense.
- Use of a macguffin or plot device that remains unexplained, such as the microfilm in North by Northwest.
[edit]
Films
Some films or scenes considered Hitchockian, aside from Hitchcock's own films, include:
- 12 Monkeys
- Basic Instinct
- Body Double
- Blow Out
- Blood Simple
- Cape Fear
- Caché
- Charade
- Clue
- Collateral
- Dead Again
- Disturbia
- Dressed to Kill
- Fatal Attraction
- Final Destination
- Flightplan
- Foul Play
- Frantic
- Gaslight
- Hanky Panky
- Marathon Man
- Midnight Lace
- Misery
- Niagara
- No Way Out
- Orphan
- Panic Room
- Paycheck
- Phone Booth
- Presumed Innocent
- Shallow Grave
- Shining Through
- Shutter Island
- The Ghost Writer
- The Spanish Prisoner
- The Talented Mr Ripley
- Tell No One
- The Third Man
- Wait Until Dark
- Perfect Blue
- What Lies Beneath
[edit]
See also
Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "Hitchcockian" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.
