Hitchcockian
Hitchcockian is a general term used to describe film styles and themes similar to those of Alfred Hitchcock's films. Elements considered Hitchcockian include:
- The cool platinum blonde (often a central figure of Hitchcock's films).
- The presence of a domineering mother in her son's life (e.g. Psycho).
- An innocent man accused (again used in many of Hitchcock's films).
- Characters who switch sides or who cannot be trusted.
- Tension building through suspense to the point where the audience enjoys seeing the character in a life-threatening situation, such as the windmill scene from Foreign Correspondent or the crop-duster plane sequence from North by Northwest.
- Characters generally get out of sticky situations by using their wits, rather than just shooting the place up.
- Average people thrust into strange or dangerous situations, such as in North by Northwest or The Man Who Knew Too Much.
- Bumbling or incompetent authority figures, particularly police officers.
- Use of darkness to symbolise impending doom (dark clothing, shadows, smoke, etc)
- Strong visual use of famous landmarks (Statue of Liberty, Mount Rushmore, Forth Rail Bridge, Golden Gate Bridge, Albert Hall, British Museum, Piccadilly Circus, etc)
- Mistaken identity, such as in North by Northwest.
- The use of a staircase as a motif for impending danger or suspense.
- Undertones of or characters implied as being homosexual, such as Mrs. Danvers in Rebecca, Bruno Anthony in Strangers on a Train, Vandamm and Leonard in North by Northwest, or the murderers in Rope.
Some films or scenes considered Hitchockian, aside from Hitchcock's own films, include:
- Charade
- Niagara
- Clue
- Dressed to Kill
- Body Double
- Blow Out
- Hanky Panky
- Flightplan
- Foul Play
- Frantic
- Wait Until Dark
- Dead Again
- Midnight Lace
- Disturbia
- Shining Through
See also
External links
- [1]- Entertainment Weekly's EW.com feature: What, exactly, makes a film "Hitchcockian?"
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