Hitchcock Lecture

Part of our fall film series on Hitchcock was a lecture given by noted film scholar and Hitchcock expert Dr. William Rothman. Last Thursday's lecture was an in-depth look at the Master of Suspense. Being a long time student of film, I saw the lecture as very in depth indeed, perhaps at times too much so for the casual Hitchcock fan. I suppose I have trudged through so many pages of French theory that I am a bit immune to certain directions a professor will go with a lecture.

That said, I found the lecture very informative and deep. Dr. Rothman’s mastery of Hitchcock’s history and of film theory in general is obvious. But I did feel for those who thought they were attending a light hearted survey of one of film’s auteurs. Perhaps it is possible to be a bit too informed on a subject.

Here are some notes I took during the lecture, which I thought really stood out.

- How Hitchcock was very aware of what he was doing with the camera. “The camera is registering the subjective state of James Stewart in Vertigo, and if the camera would just stop moving, then he could stop feeling that way.” We are not asked to totally suspend our disbelief, but rather to be aware of what the camera on set is doing, to know Hitchcock is behind the camera.

- This is linked to our role as an audience while watching a Hitchcock film – we need to be actively engaged in the film, and to become emotionally involved. His films will seem contrived unless we do so.

- That many film critics have tried too hard to see Hitchcock as an artist who could explain himself outside of his films. French theorists would interview Hitchcock, expecting the artist to appear in the interview. Rather, we should see the artist on screen.