Film 43.04 –01: Hitchcock in England and America

Film 43.04 –01: Hitchcock in England and America

10A Fall 2017

Professor Paul Young, Department Chair

This course examines important Hitchcock films produced in both the UK and the US, with three critical approaches to guide us:

1. Hitchcock as a cinematic pioneer, an innovator in film form and style;
2. Hitchcock as an auteur whose thematic and aesthetic concerns unify his films; and
3. Hitchcock’s films as a career-long critique of participatory democracy—its benefits, its limits, and where and how it breaks down. 

Critical and theoretical texts on Hitchcock (including historical, ideological, and feminist interpretations of his work) will be read and discussed along with the films. Your work will be evaluated based on your application of concepts and interpretive strategies from the readings to Hitchcock’s work, your ability to develop productive research questions about his films, and your curiosity, scholarly energy, and creativity.