Vertigo - Gavin meets Scotty

The purpose of this scene is to establish Scotties role as a passive character and assert that Gavin has everything, that he is the polar opposite to Gavin. We can see this from Gavins office, he is rich, successful and owns a lot of material possessions, he is stereotypically what makes a man. He is dominant financially, and has a lot of confidence in himself. He is also framed to be taller than Scotty, when they are shot together, Scotty is usually sitting down while Gavin towers above him. We can see at this point that Gavin and Scotty are polar opposites, Gavin is the man who has everything, while Scotty is the man who has lost everything. Scotty has lost his job, he is single and he doesn't talk to any of his friends from his college days. Gavin is successful, owns vast amounts of money and industry, and has a beautiful wife. We can also use the background to establish Gavins masculine dominance, through the window we see cranes and construction equipment, a lot of which could be considered to be phallic imagery, showing Gavins dominance and superiority over Scotty. Once again we can tell Gavin is a confident man, he manipulates Scotty to do what he wants, he uses the ideal woman to do this by giving Scotty the chance to be able to save someone in distress, something he was unable to do at the start of the film. We can also suggest that there is a father/son dynamic between Gavin and Scotty, we can tell this from the encouragement that Gavin gives Scotty to help him. Finally, the quick cut to Gavins face as he says "Someone dead" emphasised what Robin Wood says is "the result of Gavin dominating and imposing his story on Scotty"