Why are viewers drawn to the work of Alfred Hitchcock long after the director’s death? Why do the films call us back, even when their secrets are no longer secret, their shocks now familiar and expected? What could there possibly be left to see and say? This module addresses the ongoing appeal of Hitchcock’s work by examining closely the textuality of a selection of his films. We will study these films for the moments at which they establish a relationship with their viewers that leaves audiences wanting more. The module’s commitment to close textual analysis takes explicit issue with the psychoanalytic and biographical approaches that have often dominated the study of Hitchcock’s films (and to which students will be introduced briefly at the beginning of the module). No prior experience of studying film is necessary: the module will introduce the analysis of cinema by building upon the skills developed elsewhere by students of English Literature.

• demonstrate a familiarity with the textuality of selected films by Alfred Hitchcock;
• discuss the relationship between that textuality and the popularity of the films;
• understand the limitations of psychoanalytic and biographical approaches to Hitchcock’s work.

Timetabled sessions include lectures and discussion sessions where students may have the opportunity to make presentations and/or lead discussion. Sessions are normally supplemented with handouts and slides with content of a reasonable level of detail. Extensive use will be made of film clips and stills, and students will be asked regularly to examine their precise visual qualities. Handouts are usually made available to students on Learning Central at least 24 hours before the session. Film clips will be subtitled whenever this is possible and appropriate. It will not be possible to provide transcripts or audio-described versions of the clips or to post clips on Learning Central.

Students will receive two weekly lectures and a supporting weekly seminar. The lectures aim to provide key knowledge and critical perspectives on all the texts on the module; the seminars provide the opportunity for closer textual analysis and small-group discussion.

The particular skills of the module bear upon close analysis of a number of films by Alfred Hitchcock. This requires careful scholarship, an attention to textual detail, and sensitivity to the specificity of film. Employability skills include the ability to synthesise information, to analyse in detail, operating in group-based discussion involving negotiating ideas, and producing clear, informed arguments in a professional manner.

Essay (3200 words) = 100%

 

The primary texts for the modules are films, which students are expected to watch before the lectures/seminars, and in their own time. (The module is not accompanied by arranged screenings.) DVDs with optional subtitles are widely available. It will not be possible to provide transcripts or audio descriptions of the films.

Films (all directed by Alfred Hitchcock)

Psycho (1960)

Rear Window (1954)

Rope (1948)

Under Capricorn (1949)

North by Northwest (1959)

The Birds (1963)

(Indicative primary texts are outlined above under ‘Syllabus Content’.)

Indicative secondary reading list:

Richard Allen, Hitchcock’s Romantic Irony (New York: Columbia University Press, 2007).

John Belton, ed., Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000).

David Boyd and R. Barton Palmer, eds., After Hitchcock: Influence, Imitation, and Intertextuality (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2006).

Tom Cohen, Hitchcock’s Cryptonymies, 2 vols. (Minneapolis and London: University of Minnesota Press, 2005).

Marshall Deutelbaum and Leland Poague, eds., A Hitchcock Reader, 2^nd ed. (Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2009).

John Fawell, Hitchcock’s Rear Window: The Well-Made Film (Carbondale and Edwardsville: Southern Illinois University Press, 2001).

Nicholas Haeffner, Alfred Hitchcock (Harlow: Pearson Longman, 2005).

Helen Hanson, Hollywood Heroines: Women in Film Noir and the Female Gothic Film (London and New York: I.B. Tauris, 2007).

Tania Modleski, The Women Who Knew Too Much: Hitchcock and Feminist Theory (New York and London: Routledge, 1988).

John Orr, Hitchcock and Twentieth-Century Cinema (London: Wallflower, 2005).

Camille Paglia, The Birds (London: BFI, 1998).

Murray Pomerance, Alfred Hitchcock’s America (Cambridge: Polity, 2013).

Stephen Rebello, Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho (London and New York: Marion Boyars, 1998).

Stefan Sharff, The Art of Looking in Hitchcock’s Rear Window (New York: Limelight, 1997).

Philip J. Skerry, Psycho in the Shower: The History of Cinema’s Most Famous Scene (London and New York: Continuum, 2009).