Female characters as neurotic male projections in Alfred Hitchcock's "Vertigo" and Francois Truffaut's "La Sirène du Mississippi"

Femininity and the male gaze

Trabajo , 2012 , 21 Páginas , Calificación: 1,0

Filología inglesa - Literatura

This paper will try to illustrate the basic concepts of negative femininity and positive
masculinity in film noir created by the male gaze. By making use of feminist film
theory and especially Laura Mulvey’s essay “Visual Pleasure and the Narrative Cinema”
(1975), Alfred Hitchcock’s acclaimed film noir Vertigo (1958) will be compared to
François Truffaut’s very own version of a film noir, La Siréne du Mississippi3 (1969).
The focus of the comparison will lie on the display of misogyny in order to hold up male
hegemony and hide male neurosis and dependency.

Table of Contents

1) Introduction

2) Feminist film theory and the male gaze

3) Female representations in film noir

4) Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo (1958)
4.1 Abstract plot
4.2 The neurotic male
4.3 Female characters as ideal illusions and projections of the male protagonist

5) François Truffaut’s La Sir è ne du Mississippi (1969)
5.1 The neurotic (fe)male
5.2 The female character: a male illusion or a female performance?

6) Conclusion

7) Filmography

8) Bibliography

• Universidad: University of Würzburg (Neuphilologisches Institut)
• Calificación: 1,0
• Autor: Sema Kara (Autor)
• Año de publicación: 2012
• Páginas: 21
• No. de catálogo: V267435
• ISBN (Ebook): 9783656579854
• ISBN (Libro): 9783656579830
• Idioma: Inglés
• Etiqueta: female, characters, neurotic, male, projections, alfred, hitchcock, vertigo, francois, truffaut, sirène, mississippi, femininity, gaze