July 9, 2022
Hitchcock: Themes–Role Playing–Performative
In many of his films, the characters claim and/or know that they, like everyone else, are playing a role:
Murder: Theater setting
39 Steps:
Robert Donat in the first scene
Stage Fright:
The young detective, smitten with Eve Gills (Jane Wyman) remarks that she does not look like an actress
(she doesn’t have what it takes to act; and/or acting is not a proper vacation for a proper young woman
There’s combination of nastiness and protectiveness implicit in his comment.
North by Northwest–dialogue between James Mason and Cary Grant
Family Plot:
everyone is playing a role; people constantly change identity (Stteritt)
Blanche, fake medium; Lumley would be actor
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