Vertigo male gaze

When we first see Madeleine in Ernie's restaurant, we can apply the Male Gaze and get a brand new reading to the scene.

The very first shot goes from a medium shot of Scottie, then tracks left to show Madeleine then tracks slowly forward towards her. This shot could have been done a number of ways, for example, a standard cut between the two, but if there was a cut, it would connote something completely different. Hitchcock used the single tracking shot to show literally that Scottie can't take his eyes off Madeleine, he is obsessed from his first gaze at her. The tracking also gives the spectator no choice but to gaze at Madeleine, both making us obsessed with looking at her, but also aligning us with Scottie, whilst it isn't a POV shot, we both share the fact we can't look elsewhere, we are both gazing at Madeleine.

The camera tracking doesn't just show Madeleine and Scottie in the same shot, we visually, almost physically see the connection between the two in a room full of people, right from the start.

The camera visually establishes a link between the two, just as it does throughout the film. As the camera slowly tracks towards Madeleine, we as the spectator are physically drawn towards her, as she stands out, still forcing us to look at nothing but her.

The walls in the restaurant are all red, connoting the love, passion, lust and danger the connection between Scottie and Madeleine as these four are prominent themes throughout the film.

Madeleine stands out from the whole restaurant because whilst everyone there is wearing black and has dark hair, she is the only blonde at a table, and she is wearing a green dress. This aids her in standing out and magnifies the attention that the spectator and Scottie give her. The green colour of her dress connotes jealousy and envy, one of the seven deadly sins. This connoting the jealousy she causes as a character between Scottie being jealous of Gavin.