Vertigo - Hitchcock Defying Genres Essay Example for Free

Vertigo Hitchcock Defying Genres Essay Based on the French novel D’Entre les Morts by Pierre Boileau and Thomas Narcejac, Vertigo is arguably one of Alfred Hitchcock’s masterpieces and the â€Å"strangest, yet most hauntingly beautiful film he had ever made† (Adair, 2002). At the time, its far-fetched plot drew a mixed response from critics – Time magazine called the movie a â€Å"Hitchcock and bull story† – but today most agree that it is one of the director’s most deeply felt pictures. Vertigo very easily categorized into a specific genre – Thriller, a genre of movies that, in many ways, Hitchcock played a major role in defining. Thrillers are typically movies that attempt to create excitement and include stories about murder, conspiracies, violence, or, in the case of Vertigo, a psychological thriller with unusual characters with unstable mental states. Vertigo checks most of the boxes in defining itself as a thriller. However, simply labeling Hitchcock’s Vertigo a thriller will limit its contents, symbols, motifs and themes to just that of a thriller film. Very frequently, a â€Å"film can revise or reject the conventions associated with its genre† (Bordwell, 2001) Instead, in analyzing the film, we need to explore its mystery and romantic melodramatic themes Hitchcock used in creating this masterpiece which defies itself being categorized into a single genre. As the man who helped to shape the modern day thriller genre, Hitchcock was fluent in manipulating the audiences fears, and suturing them into a state of association with the characters and the world in which they exist. The main point of Vertigo being a thriller is the plot – Scottie, the protagonist and victim of a planned murder of an old friend’s wife – whom he falls in love with, an impossible love as she ‘dies’ and in turn, he continues his downward spiral into mad obsession. These semantic elements are true to psycho-traumatic thrillers, which are centered around the psychotic effects of a trauma on the protagonists (detective) current involvement in a love affair and a crime. The protagonist is always the victim generally of some past trauma which is Scottie’s acrophobia leading to his fellow police officer’s death, and often of villains who take advantage of his or her masochist guilt (Cook, 1999). These elements are evident of Vertigo being a thriller, but there is more . How Hitchcock defies Vertigo as being just a thriller is how the semantic elements fall short. Unlike typical thriller conventions, Vertigo has no happy ending. The flawed protagonist falls in love, which in turn became an obsession that ends in madness. He is guilty of all three deaths, and he stays in a state of transition the entire film. Hitchcock, who pioneered the use of morally ambiguous characters in cinema, filled Vertigo with such characters, especially the protagonist. The repeated motif of the spiral represents Scottie’s constant state of suspension and transition, all the way to the end of the film. Another major element that needs to be explored, is in fact the main motivation in the film – romance, or love, that eventually boils into obsession. Hitchcock uses the several cinematic techniques, music, and the motif of green to portray this element. The first time Scottie and the audience sees Madeleine, she is wearing green, she drives a green car, and when they visit the Sequoias, the name translates as â€Å"Always green, everlasting†. Scottie’s love for her was ‘everlasting’, even after death (Duncan, 2004). The notion of everlasting carries over to when Judy Barton appears, Scottie attempts, with succession to transform her. He changes her dressing, makeup, hair, and speech into his image of Madeleine. Perhaps the most impactful scene visually in the entire film was when Judy/ Madeleine emerges from the bathroom after Scottie convinced her to do up her hair, the final touch/ transformation into Madeleine. The sequence began with Scottie pacing in the apartment near the window as Judy was doing up her hair in the bathroom. He finally settles down onto the couch, facing away from the toilet door, waiting. As the bathroom door opens, he turns to his left, and we only see his left profile (Fig 1.), a mirror image to the first time he set eyes on Madeleine in the restaurant – unsure, and this time, full of anticipation. We are reminded of the green motif, by the neon light outside Judy’s apartment. As Scottie turns around to fully see the resurrected Madeleine, he slowly stands up and at this point the music starts to pick up, leading us to the point at which he sees his beloved. The camera tracks into a close up of Scottie’s face, with the green light reflecting off his eye, he almost looks like he has tears in his eyes (Fig 2.). Cut to Judy/ Madeleine stepping out of the toilet, it is Scottie’s POV of Madeleine bathed in ghostly green light. Similar to the scene in the cemetery where Madeleine was shot through a fog filter, which gave her the green glow, Judy/ Madeleine now had green light superimposed around her body, which gave her the appearance of a blurred, ghostly figure (Fig 3.). This reflected Madeleine coming back from the dead, now a ghost, as green is usually used to represent ghost or spirits in film. She then slips out of the blur and into focus, Hitchcock used this to indicate Scottie’s come back to reality, coming to his senses as he spots the locket in the next scene, realizing that Judy has been tricking him all along (Truffaut, 1985). There is a series of shot/ reverse-shots, as she walks toward Scottie, all the while with the green glow behind both. The walk toward Scottie was slow, as she pauses with a mid-shot, and eventually into a close up (Fig 4). In the close-up, she sneaks a smile, a slight smile indicating that she was happy that she was able to fulfill his request, of her transformation. Cut back to Scottie who takes a step toward her, he kisses her in close up (Fig 5). The dynamics of the music picks up as the camera starts to track around them, starting the 360-degree rotation sequence. The background starts to change, an illusion by Hitchcock to momentarily transform the mise-en-scà ¨ne of the present in Judy’s hotel room to a scene from the past. Scottie looks up from the embrace to see himself at the place where he first passionately kissed Madeleine. At this point, the camera slows the track and pulls back into a medium shot (Fig 6) and the music accelerates into a joyous tune. This shot was a visual externalization of Scottie’s thoughts and desire, while Judy was lost in her own world of denial, snuggled up, kissing his neck an overlap and irony of fantasy and reality. Scottie kisses Judy/ Madeleine again as the camera starts tracking once again as the music slows into the main melodic climax. The sequence is concluded a tight close up, once again with the green glow illuminating the background (Fig 7). Vertigo fulfills many elements that qualifies it as a psycho-traumatic thriller, but we cannot ignore the other (and maybe) more important aspects of the film, as discussed which were the romance, madness and obsession, which makes Vertigo the film that it is. Hitchcock also defies thriller conventions with the use of morally ambiguous characters, the tragic conclusion to the film, and other semantic elements, which deviates from the genre conventions. Vertigo defies genre, instead, it is a mix of genre. We have to look past genre conventions to fully explore and appreciate this â€Å"strangest, yet most hauntingly beautiful film he (Hitchcock) has ever made†. Adair, G. (2002). Alfred Hitchcock: Filming Our Fears. Oxford Univerity Press Bordwell, D. Thompson, K. (2001). Film Art: an Introduction. 6th Edition. New York: McGraw Hill. Cook, P. Bernick, M. (1999). The Cinema Book. 2nd Revised Edition. BFI Publishing. Duncan, P. (2004). Alfred Hitchcock. Pocket Essentials.

Oedipus Rex †The Conflict, Climax and Resolution Essay -- Oedipus the

Oedipus Rex – The Conflict, Climax and Resolution  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚        Ã‚   Sophocles’ tragic drama, Oedipus Rex, presents to the reader a full range of conflicts and their resolution after a climax.    Thomas Van Nortwick in The Meaning of a Masculine Life describes Oedipus’ tragic flaw:    As ruler, he is a father to Thebes and its citizens, and like a father he will take care of his â€Å"children.† We see already the supreme self-confidence and ease of command in Oedipus, who can address not only other people’s children as his own, but also be a father to men older than he is. But beyond even this there is, in the sretched posture of the citizens, the hint of prostration before a deity. We are â€Å"clinging to your altars,† says the priest. . . . That he also exudes a godlike mastery in the eyes of his subjects only strengthens the heroic portrait. . . .(21-22).    The â€Å"godlike mastery† to which Van Nortwick refers is the same mastery which Creon in his final lines designates as the cause of the tragic dimension in the life of the protagonist: â€Å"Crave not mastery in all, /For the mastery that raised thee was thy bane and wrought thy fall.† Oedipus’ total mastery of the investigation resultant from the Delphic oracle’s declaration, yes, his forceful â€Å"railroading† of the investigation against the wishes of Jocasta, Teiresias, the messenger and the shepherd, ultimately spells the downfall of King Oedipus.      Abrams says that the conflict is between the protagonist and antagonist (225). Is the antagoinst within Oedipus in the form of his â€Å"godlike mastery,† as Creon believed? Or is the antagonist weird/wyrd/fate, so that the oracle demonstrated the gods’ power to predestine their creatures? Frank B. Jevons in â€Å"In... ...shers, 1999.    Benardete, Seth. â€Å"Sophocles’ Oedipus Tyrannus.† In Sophocles: A Collection of Critical Essays, edited by Thomas Woodard. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1966.    Ehrenberg, Victor. â€Å"Sophoclean Rulers: Oedipus.† In Twentieth Century Interpretations of Oedipus Rex, edited by Michael J. O’Brien. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1968.    Jevons, Frank B.   â€Å"In Sophoclean Tragedy, Humans Create Their Own Fate.† In Readings on Sophocles, edited by Don Nardo. San Diego, CA: Greenhaven Press, 1997.    Sophocles. Oedipus Rex. Transl. by F. Storr. no pag. http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/etcbin/browse-mixed new?tag=public&images=images/modeng&data=/texts/english/modeng/parsed&part=0&id=SopOedi    Van Nortwick, Thomas.   Oedipus: The Meaning of a Masculine Life. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 1998. Oedipus Rex – The Conflict, Climax and Resolution Essay -- Oedipus the Oedipus Rex – The Conflict, Climax and Resolution  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚        Ã‚   Sophocles’ tragic drama, Oedipus Rex, presents to the reader a full range of conflicts and their resolution after a climax.    Thomas Van Nortwick in The Meaning of a Masculine Life describes Oedipus’ tragic flaw:    As ruler, he is a father to Thebes and its citizens, and like a father he will take care of his â€Å"children.† We see already the supreme self-confidence and ease of command in Oedipus, who can address not only other people’s children as his own, but also be a father to men older than he is. But beyond even this there is, in the sretched posture of the citizens, the hint of prostration before a deity. We are â€Å"clinging to your altars,† says the priest. . . . That he also exudes a godlike mastery in the eyes of his subjects only strengthens the heroic portrait. . . .(21-22).    The â€Å"godlike mastery† to which Van Nortwick refers is the same mastery which Creon in his final lines designates as the cause of the tragic dimension in the life of the protagonist: â€Å"Crave not mastery in all, /For the mastery that raised thee was thy bane and wrought thy fall.† Oedipus’ total mastery of the investigation resultant from the Delphic oracle’s declaration, yes, his forceful â€Å"railroading† of the investigation against the wishes of Jocasta, Teiresias, the messenger and the shepherd, ultimately spells the downfall of King Oedipus.      Abrams says that the conflict is between the protagonist and antagonist (225). Is the antagoinst within Oedipus in the form of his â€Å"godlike mastery,† as Creon believed? Or is the antagonist weird/wyrd/fate, so that the oracle demonstrated the gods’ power to predestine their creatures? Frank B. Jevons in â€Å"In... ...shers, 1999.    Benardete, Seth. â€Å"Sophocles’ Oedipus Tyrannus.† In Sophocles: A Collection of Critical Essays, edited by Thomas Woodard. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1966.    Ehrenberg, Victor. â€Å"Sophoclean Rulers: Oedipus.† In Twentieth Century Interpretations of Oedipus Rex, edited by Michael J. O’Brien. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1968.    Jevons, Frank B.   â€Å"In Sophoclean Tragedy, Humans Create Their Own Fate.† In Readings on Sophocles, edited by Don Nardo. San Diego, CA: Greenhaven Press, 1997.    Sophocles. Oedipus Rex. Transl. by F. Storr. no pag. http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/etcbin/browse-mixed new?tag=public&images=images/modeng&data=/texts/english/modeng/parsed&part=0&id=SopOedi    Van Nortwick, Thomas.   Oedipus: The Meaning of a Masculine Life. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 1998.

Theory Comparrison

Write 550- to 750 Provide a formal definition for ethics with citations, references etc. Describe the differences between theories Describe the similarities between each theory Describe how each theory addresses ethics and morality Tell me based on your own morals and ethics, which theories do you think you most closely follow in your life (there is no right or wrong answer) Ethics is the science of right and wrong in human action. (Boylan, 2009). Many theories exist that explores how people come to what they believe is the right or wrong decision.A few examples include virtue ethics, utilitarianism, and deontology. Virtue ethics’ position is that we become good when we cultivate excellence (virtue) by pursuing the moderate course between excess and defect. (Boylan, 2009, p. 133) This basically means that this theory considers how humans should interact with each other meaning that there is a right way and a wrong way. Utilitarianism suggests that an action is morally right wh en that action produces more total utility for the group as a consequence than any other alternative does (Boylan, 2009, p. 53) Those who practice utilitarianism take into consideration all of the consequences and each action. Utilitarianism can be divided into two theories; act and rule utilitarianism. Act utilitarianism is the interpretation of utilitarianism that says that each moral situation should be subjected to the utilitarian formula â€Å"the greatest good for the greatest number. † (Boylan, 2009, p. 164) This idea of ethical decision making seems to be the least emotional due to the fact that it is pure numbers in the equation. This might hurt one person but more people will benefit from it.Rule utilitarianism says that each moral situation should be guided first by prima facie rules (that themselves are justified by utilitarianism). Thus, the agent assesses a situation on act utilitarian principles but within a framework of prima facie rules that can override appa rent act-utilitarian outcomes. (Boylan, 2009, p. 164) Unlike, act utilitarianism, rule utilitarianism considers injustices of an individual for the greater good whereas act utilitarianism does not. Deontology is the moral theory that suggests that an agent’s duty is based upon principle.The theory bases its duties on the nature of human reason or on the nature of human action. It asserts the existence of moral facts and so is a moral realist theory. (Boylan, 2009, p. 171) This idea goes along with the notion that each person has a built in moral code. A person will do the right thing even though they know there will consequences. There are similarities and differences between virtue theory, utilitarianism, and deontological ethics. Each theory has it’s own ideas regarding ethics and morality regarding the individual and society.Consequences and benefits differ with each theory. Virtue theory states that humans have virtues for the sake of what is good and right and the se virtues are the supreme human good. Virtues drive our tendencies for behavior and control how we feel and interpet things. Living a good life is living a virtuous life within society. A person’s actions are the direct results and reflection of an individual’s morals and virtues. Utilitarian theory is concerned with the maximum benefit or good for the greatest number of people.The outcome with the greatest benefits for greatest numbers is always the desired result. However, the greatest good for the majority should not come at the expense of harming the minority. The minority may have to endure some individual sacrifice so that the greatest numbers in society can realize the greatest good. Deontology is concerned with the meaning behind ethical decisions and conduct instead of end results or outcome. It looks at how an individual is obligated to act in terms of right and wrong conduct.It is the individual’s duty and obligation to follow the law and it is accep table to harm some people for the greater good and benefit. Utilitarian theory is less concerned with the individual because all that matters is an outcome the benefits the most people. It focuses more on actions of the majority to create the greatest good and outcome. However, there is always a minority and those people will not always benefit under this system. The majority needs to have good values and morals for society to flourish and benefit. Virtue and deontology theories have more focus on the individual and.

Time Management Tips For Employers - 953 Words

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