Hitchcock's Moral Gaze (SUNY series, Horizons of Cinema)

Offers new and compelling perspectives on the deeply moral nature of Hitchcock’s films. In his essays and interviews, Alfred Hitchcock was guarded about substantive matters of morality, preferring instead to focus on discussions of technique. That has not, however, discouraged scholars and critics from trying to work out what his films imply about such moral matters as honesty, fidelity, jealousy, courage, love, and loyalty. Through discussions and analyses of such films as Strangers on a Train, Rear Window, Vertigo, North by Northwest, and Frenzy, the contributors to this book strive to throw light on the way Hitchcock depicts a moral—if not amoral or immoral—world. Drawing on perspectives from film studies, philosophy, literature, and other disciplines, they offer new and compelling interpretations of the filmmaker’s moral gaze and the inflection point it provides for modern cinema. R. Barton Palmer is Calhoun Lemon Professor of Literature at Clemson University. His previous books include Invented Lives, Imagined Communities: The Biopic and American National Identity (coedited with William H. Epstein) and Hitchcock at the Source: The Auteur as Adaptor (coedited with David Boyd), both also published by SUNY Press. Homer B. Pettey is Professor of Film and Literature at the University of Arizona. His previous books include Film Noir and International Noir, both coedited with R. Barton Palmer. Steven M. Sanders is Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at Bridgewater State University. He is the author or editor of many books, including The Philosophy of Michael Mann (coedited with Aeon J. Skoble and R. Barton Palmer) and The Philosophy of Steven Soderbergh (coedited with R. Barton Palmer). Contents Illustrations Acknowledgments Introduction An Unrivaled Figure A Philosophical Filmmaker Hitchcock and Catholicism Moralism, Not Moralizing I Confess: What We Say, Whom We Tell Notes Works Cited Skepticism 1. Jealousy and Trust in The Lodger Factual and Fictional Sources for the Film Hitchcock and Stannard’s Script Jealousy and Trust in the Film Postscript Works Cited and Consulted 2. Fun with Suspicion Works Cited 3. Heroic Satans and Other Hitchcockian Heresies Notes Works Cited 4. “Guilt, Confession, and ... Then What?”: The Paradine Case and Under Capricorn Note Works Cited 5. The Forgotten Cigarette Lighter and Other Moral Accidents in Strangers on a Train Works Cited Immorality 6. Hitchcock’s Immoralists Matters of Morality Three Immoralist Perspectives Two Immoralists Why Be Moral? Morality and Rationality Morality and Advantage Self and Others How to Do Things with Hitch Notes Works Cited 7. Hitchcock the Amoralist: Rear Window and the Pleasures and Dangers of Looking Note Works Cited 8. Voyeurism Revisited Defining Voyeurism Cine-voyeurism The Fictional Voyeur Rear Window Ethics Note Works Cited Moralizing 9. Alfred Hitchcock as Moralist Wrong Men Natural Expression A Surface Life Morality in The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956) Lodging in Guilt Note Works Cited and Consulted 10. The Deepening Moralism of The Wrong Man Notes Works Cited 11. Hitchcock and the Philosophical End of Film Danto on the End of Art Danto and the Philosophical End of Film Deleuze on Hitchcock Keaton’s Spectator Cinema Rear Window and Sherlock Jr. Two Forms of Film Dialectic Psycho North by Northwest Rope The Birds After the End of Film Note Works Cited Moral Acts 12. The Dread of Ascent: The Moral and Spiritual Topography of Vertigo Therapeutic Dead-Ends Psychological Adolescence Symptomatic Conflicts Out of the Past The False Mirror of Possibility Circles of Futility Notes Works Cited 13. The Philosophy of Marriage in North by Northwest Notes Works Cited 14. “The Loyalty of an Eel”: Issues of Political, Personal, and Professional Morality in (and around) Torn Curtain Works Cited 15. Hobbes, Hume, and Hitchcock: The Case of Frenzy Notes Works Cited Bibliography Alfred Hitchcock Selected Filmography Films, as director (listed chronologically) Television Series Contributors Index Introduction / R. Barton Palmer and Steven M. Sanders -- Skepticism -- Jealousy and trust in The lodger / Graham Petrie -- Fun with Suspicion / Thomas Leitch -- Heroic satans and other Hitchcockian heresies / Nick Haeffner -- "Guilt, confession and then what?": The Paradine Case and Under Capricorn / Brian McFarlane -- The forgotten cigarette lighter and other moral accidents in Strangers on a train / George Toles -- Immorality -- Hitchcock's immoralists / Steven M. Sanders -- Hitchcock the amoralist: Rear window and the pleasures and dangers of looking / Sidney Gottlieb -- Voyeurism revisited / Richard Allen -- Moralizing -- Alfred Hitchcock as moralist / Murray Pomerance -- The deepening moralism of The wrong man / R. Barton Palmer -- Hitchcock and the philosophical end of film / Jerold J. Abrams -- Moral acts -- The dread of ascent: the moral and spiritual topography of Vertigo / Alan Woolfolk -- The philosophy of marriage in North by northwest / Jennifer L. Jenkins -- "The loyalty of an eel": issues of political, personal and professional morality in (and around) Torn curtain / Neil Sinyard -- Hobbes, Hume, and Hitchcock: the case of Frenzy / Homer B. Pettey