Alfred Hitchcock and Film Theory
Alfred Hitchcock’s work is crucial to the idea of cinema as a popular art form. His development as an artist and entertainer is integral to the development of the dominant 20th century art form. Hitchcock’s films have prompted the key movements in film theory and have fundamentally shaped our understanding of visual and narrative language.
This course looks at some of these theories and considers them in relation to Hitchcock’s provocative creativity. Hitchcock was a theorist himself, and we will examine his own engagement with montage, expressionism, auteur theory, psychoanalysis, gender and spectatorship as a portal to the different critical approaches he has inspired.
“I am interested not so much in the stories I tell as in the means of telling them”.
From The Lodger (1926) to Frenzy (1972), Hitchcock’s transgressive work pushes at stylistic and ethical boundaries, and manipulates audience reaction, within a determinedly commercial aesthetic. He was very happy to describe, explain and promote his films. We will discuss what they tell us now about how cinema works.
Course Objectives
- To develop skills of analysis, argument and research, focusing on the creative and critical understanding of film language and theory
- To develop an appreciation of popular cinema
Intended Audience
This course is aimed at anyone interested in understanding and enjoying popular cinema. It may be of particular interest to film and media majors.
Previous Knowledge
This course assumes no prior subject knowledge and offers an introduction to film analysis and critical theory.
Transferable Knowledge and Skills
Students will have the opportunity to develop skills of textual analysis, critical theory and debate.
Mr Charlie Ritchie
Mr Charlie Ritchie directed the Film Studies Certificate Course for the University of Cambridge Institute of Continuing Education, and is the producer of D. H. Lawrence and the Culture Industry and Making Shakespeare. He was an Associate Lecturer in English and Media at Anglia Ruskin University, and has taught and examined Film and Media Studies with International Programmes at Pembroke College and other schools and colleges in Cambridge. He is a moderator in Film Studies and is the Short Film judge for the WJEC Moving Image Awards. He specialises in critical theory, documentary, and world cinema.