"They're remaking everything of his now...And they'll never "capture" it. Like the new Psycho...They'll never get it the way he got it. They'll never get anything the way he got it. Because what he had was something "between the lines"...It was an overtone...something in the way he saw things..."
- Norman Lloyd discusses director Alfred Hitchcock in Starlog #257 with interviewer extraordinaire, Tom Weaver (December 1998, page 73, "Times Traveler").
I've been watching 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents' every night on Encore. I cannot help but notice how morally ambiguous or outright stupid the female characters are on this show. Adulterers, thieves, murderers, con artists, nagging wives, the women in AFP are often portrayed as being shady. The same goes for his films, Psycho, Marnie, The Birds, Rear Window, Vertigo, North by Northwest, the women are evil or nags. Master filmmaker would now be called a misogynist by feminist groups, the same as DePalma when 'Body Double' was released.
ReplyDeleteHi Trent,
DeleteI've been watching some of Alfred Hitchcock Presents on Netflix too, over the last few weeks. I can see what you mean.
I think Hitchcock probably would be termed a misogynist by today's standards, but we must remember that he came out of a different historical context. Many of these episodes aired over fifty years ago, in the late 1950s and early 1960s when there were different cultural and societal norms. That doesn't make the attitudes right, but it does make them commonly held.
So sexist, definitely, misogynist, I don't think so. But yeah, he would face today the same brickbats that De Palma has (and still does...)
Very interesting observation...
best,
John