Vertigo Easter Homework

Vertigo Essay.

How far has your wider Film Studies contributed to a better understanding and appreciation of your chosen film?

Vertigo is a film made in 1958 and is a mystery romance. It is based on 3 Characters Scottie Madeleine and Judy. The many shots which is used in Vertigo consist on Close ups of Scottie gazing at Madeleine and Judy, as we align with Scottie we adopt his way of seeing everything such as we see Madeleine as an erotic sexual object in which Scottie has control over towards the end of the film when he controls Judy into turning back into Madeleine. Scottie starts of as a police detective who loses his masculinity after nearly falling of a roof and gains Acrophobia which prevents him from saving the person he loves, After he loses her he gradually gets his masculinity back from gaining power over a look a like of his lover.

When Scottie is in Midges Flat after the accident it is commented on that Scottie is wearing a corset which it is very lady like to be wearing a corset so this can be an indication on how Scottie has been shown as this non masculine man who wears corsets, When Midge speaks to Scottie she speaks to him as if he is a child and that she is his mother and we don’t see her as this sexual object because Scottie sees her more as a friend/motherly figure  and he has no feeling towards her so we get the same perspective as Scottie and we see everything through Scottie.

During the scene in Ernie’s when Scottie first sees Madeleine she is seen differently then everyone else in there, she is wearing a green dress which can symbolise Jealousy and her shoulders are showing which automatically associates her with being an erotic object in which Scottie wants. The walls are red which means love and passion and everyone in the restaurant is with a partner and then Scottie is there alone showing that he has lost his masculinity when he got Vertigo. After Judy is transformed back to Madeleine and comes up into the flat were Scottie is waiting he Gazes at her because he has got what he wanted and has got his Women back in which he is obsessed with, After she walks into the flat he demands that Judy changes her hair to how he wants it and this shows Scotties Masculine roll because she conforms to what Scottie tells her to do. After doing her hair green tint is used this would symbol that Madeleine is back from dead and that Scottie has got what he wanted out of Judy.

During the scene when Scottie goes to see Midge straight after the accident she isn't seen as a Sexual Object because we see her how Scottie sees her and that is as a motherly figure. When both Midge and Scottie are in the same scene Midge is always higher than Scottie showing that she is more masculine then Scottie due to Scottie getting castrated after falling of the building and getting acrophobia. The first POV which we get of Scottie is when looking at Madeleine from a distance in Ernie’s bar and then when she approaches we see the side of her face in which Scottie is gazing at which shows he has fallen in love with at first sight, She is surrounded by red showing love and passion and Scottie cannot take his eyes of her this is the starting of his obsession of his perfect woman.

Whilst Following Madeleine in her green car which can symbolise Obsession, he isn't following her for the job he is following her due to his obsession he has with her during the whole film he doesn't make contact with Elster after the first meeting this is because the obsession has over ruled everything else that Scottie for such has his job and Midge.

The many different POV’s in which we see from Scottie are very voyeuristic when looking upon Madeleine because he is looking at without her knowing that he is following her. Hitchcock is obsessed with the women in his films they have to meet the correct requirements Blonde and have to conform to everything he says. Scottie can be seen as following Hitchcock’s obsession with women because after he believes that it was his fault on how Madeleine died he wants to correct the past by reinventing Judy and transforming into Madeleine, this is shown when Scottie takes Judy into the shops to buy new clothes and he demands she wears what he wanted which was Madeleine’s clothes.

After Scottie has saves Madeleine from drowning you see her in the red dressing gown in which us as an audience find this attractive due to us adopting Scotties thoughts as we see what Scottie sees. The Red dressing gown that Madeleine wears can be seen as Love, Passionate and romantic Scottie then asks her to sit next to the fire, Scottie is then shown in a low angle shot to show that he has now got his masculinity back and is falling in love with her.

Towards the end of the film we notice that Scottie has control over Judy/Madeleine after we find the truth that the whole Madeleine murder was staged he becomes this aggressive male which he forces Judy/Madeleine to go back up the bell tower which turns to him Pushing and Pulling her up because he wants the situation which happened when he thought Madeleine died the first time he wants to change the outcome because he gets his masculinity back and defeats his Acrophobia and this time he wants to be able to save Madeleine from jumping off the bell Tower, before they get to the top of the bell tower you see Scottie pulling  Madeleine up the stairs because her feet just get dragged up this shows is showing the male gaze because the men have the power over  the women’s body.