Vertigo was very different from what I had expected. It was definitely made in typical Hitchcock fashion. I loved the trombone shots, it really made me feel like that rush feeling of falling or dizziness and was very impressively done. However, I was not really in love with the film it self. The obsession that is felt for Madeline by Scottie is merely due to her beauty. He falls for her body for her face. He loves the way she moves and speaks. He becomes wrapped up in her to the point where he falls in love with her. He is hired by her husband to see why she is acting so strangely. Scottie follows her all over in her daily routine and watches her from a far. It's so strange that he falls for her through her motions and not through personality. It's creepy to watch Stewart play this type of character.
I honestly thought that Scottie was completely tricked by Judy and didn't think he was smart enough to catch on. It really seemed as if he had lost his mind and was going crazy. The scenes where Judy is being made over to look like Madeline are very disturbing and make me very uncomfortable as a viewer. He picks out clothes she already owns and things she already has yet when she puts on his versions of them we feel uneasy. She is obviously uncomfortable and doesn't want to do what he says yet she agrees to all of the changes that he insists upon. She's very insecure and weak as a character and just wants him to love her and she'll do anything to gain that love that she felt before. During the movie I felt like saying, JUST tell him already. As much as it would have angered him I feel that all of these catastrophic events at the end, especially her final death would have been avoided. I really thought this was a creative movie. It was a unique script and shot really well. It did what it was created to do, make the audience uncomfortable and feel vertigo. The movie isn't just about Scottie's vertigo but it's about the vertigo an audience feels while watching something that makes them uncomfortable. Midge's character also deals a bit with the theme of obsession. She is the type of girl that is comfortable in knowing that she can have Scottie if she wanted in the beginning, especially when he attempts to have her. She likes to toy with the idea of it but it too stupid or too shy to not go for him. Finally when he is moving on to someone new and ready to be with her, she freaks out and becomes horrified and jealous. She's the woman that wants a guy because he's taken. If he were still available she wouldn't be the least bit interested.
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I agree with the idea that Scottie was only in love with Madeleine because of her physical features. His obsession, i think, starts because she is so stunning to him. I don't think it's her character that really attracts him, it is her mannerisms and physical attributes.
ReplyDeleteI also am disturbed during the scene where Judy is being made up to look like Madeleine. I feel like it isn't meant to be. I get uncomfortable because Judy looks so different than Madeleine, yet is the same person. When i first saw it, i didn't know Judy and Madeleine were played by the same character.
I also wished that Judy would just tell Scottie who she was, so that he would stop being to tortured. That is what makes me think that Judy doesn't really love Scottie. I think no matter what, if she loved him, she would tell him.
I like how you make the distinction between the fact that the movie was effective for what it was made to do, but you didn't really like it because what it was suppose to do was really weird and unpleasant.
ReplyDeleteI have a really hard time assessing what the characters 'should' have done instead though. I mean its just a really really weird and awful situation that is so tangled and mixed up that I find it difficult to just say, 'If she REALLY loved him, she would do this...' and the like. Its just such a weird case that I think that trying to figure out people could have done better or what their intentions should have been is really a really difficult task.
I was also made very uncomfortable with the film and it's concepts. I was horribly disturbed by the end. I also agree with in terms of Scotty's love for Madeleine. You make a very valid point that he only loved her for her physical appearance because she didn't have much of a personality and was rather hollow. I felt that tied in, for lack of a better term, nicely to the Mulvey article in the sense that women are objects and that's really all that Madeleine seemed to be modeled after. She was as interesting as a lamp.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I feel that Midge was more of the girl next door type of character as opposed to someone who was actively manipulative and crazy. I just felt like she was that girl who always sort of in love with Scottie and it was unrequited. I can certainly relate. She just had an unfortunate character arc like every other character in the film.
I love the discussion here, and I really like some of your observations, Liz. I'd like to see you really pursue your thoughts though--especially your discomforts, which I think Hitchcock creates deliberately. Also, how does the reading fit into your discussion?
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