SSC Film Studies

Representation of Scotties masculinity in the opening scene of Vertigo

When the scene starts. We immediately see Scottie playing around like a child. We clearly see that Midge is employed as she is sitting there getting on with her work, as Scottie messes about; this emasculates Scottie, as typically the men have jobs, and the females are stay at home.
When Scottie is playing with the cane, he drops it, this is a metaphor for Scotties lack of virility, as the cane is a phallic object and represents a penis, and Scottie physically cant keep it up, which shows the castration anxiety, and his masculinity is removed.
As he drops it we find out that he is physically injured, and that he has to wear a corset. Corsets are typically feminine clothes, and the fact that he is wearing such a thing further diminishes his masculinity. Midge’s role in this scene is very maternal, she asks Scottie questions about his future, and what he wants to do; she patronises his and talks down to him like a child, and even gives him a childish nickname. In acting maternal, she emphasises some of his feminine characteristics, she has to explain to a middle aged man what a bra is. We also find out that they were engaged, and that Midge was the one to call of the wedding, which is a very masculine thing to do. When asked if she would like to go out on the weekend by Scottie, Scottie is rejected; being rejected emasculated his, as he is unable to acquire a relationship, when he asks her if there is anyone else, she replies that he is the only man for her, and yet he is still rejected.

After this Scottie begins to talk about his psychological disability, agoraphobia and the symptom vertigo. When he finally starts to be active in the scene, he is shot at a low angle, typical of a protagonist and a dominant male, but in the end he fails to conquer his fear of heights, and dramatically falls in to the arms of Midge. The faint he portrays is very reminiscent of the golden era of films, and the female characters that used to enact such faints; this further diminishes his masculinity, as he is directly related to a woman in this scene. Other feminine features that Scottie portrays through the scene is the fact that he moans throughout the scene, this is stereotypical of a female character, and unlike the male character who is supposed to be stoic and emotionless.

Midge in the scene is represented, not only at motherly, but due to the fact that she is motherly she is represented as unattractive. This is through mise-en-scene and cinematography. We never get a P.O.V shot of her through Scotties eyes, showing that she is undesirable to Scottie, yet he tries to get back with her anyway. She is wearing yellow throughout the scene, yellow connotes a neutral nature to her, and she looks rather dowdy and bookish. She encourages Scottie throughout the scene like a mother does to her child, and in catching Scottie, he is represented as the damsel in distress in this scene, and he is passive. The relationship between Scottie and Midge is unusual, and is quite familiar to Hitchcock’s relationship.