Abstract
The film and fashion industries are two industries that compensate each other perfectly well. What we see in the movies, everyone tries to make it fashionable in their own lives. Likewise, what is currently coming out of the fashion industry makes little appeal if it is not available at the box office.
Due to this interrelationship of fashion and cinema, it is necessary to investigate issues that underlie the industries. To understand these issues I shall look back at the 50s and 60s with a special analysis of the works of Alfred Hitchcock. In this analysis, I will try to investigate the issue of stereotypes with special reference to the ‘rear window’ and ‘to catch a thief.
Sir Alfred Hitchcock is accredited as having been one of the world’s best film produces. He started his career in the United Kingdom although he later moved on to Hollywood, united states. While here, he directed movies mainly for paramount pictures and sometimes universal pictures.
Just like in many other industries or professions, the fashion and film industries do not lack their fine share of stereotyping. Stereotypes may be either positive or negative. In addition, some are inaccurate while others are accurate. This is because it depends on people’s imaginations. The fashion, clothing, and cinema industries are viewed by many to be involved with celebrity persons although it is not once or twice that we have seen leaders in those industries claim that they are not celebrities of any kind. It is just their profession, or so they claim.
Voyeurism is defined as a form of practice in which certain individuals derive sexual pleasures from observing other people’s activities. The people observed may be engaging in sexual acts, nude, or are scantily dressed. These sexual pleasures derived by the voyeurs have sometimes been represented as a form of illness. The term can also be used to describe or refer to a person who derives satisfaction or enjoyment from watching other people’s misfortunes.
Introduction
Definition
Stereotypes are social generalizations about certain individuals, groups of persons, professional bodies, or races. Unfortunately, stereotypes have widely been used to spread discriminatory utterances, vigilante violence amongst other social vices.
Voyeurism has been described as a disorder of sexual arousal. Among the indicating factors of voyeuristic disorder, include having intense sexual behaviors, desires, or fantasies for at least 6 months repeatedly. These usually arise after watching, listening to, or visualizing naked people, couples having sex, or disrobing. The disorder has been found to have some negative effects including work impairment, continuous distress amongst other factors.
The disorder may become chronic if it is exercised from an early age may be fifteen and then it is practiced as the sole sexual satisfaction means for the involved couple.
In his roles as director, Alfred Hitchcock is believed to have included some themes that contained some stereotypical messages and graphics about fashionable women. In a common setting, women are supposed to reflect a society’s culture, interests, respect amongst themselves as well as for others. As thus, fashionable women are supposed to encompass all this when it comes to displaying them in cinemas and fashion shows since they are supposed to act as fashion guides within the field of the audience.
This representation is quite different as compared to the Victorian fashion, although there are instances where Kelly and Jeffrey’s nurse in the movie ‘the rear window’ are represented wearing clothes similar to those of the Victorian era.
Alfred Hitchcock was born and brought up in London, England. He had a very lonely childhood. Regardless of this fact, he grew up to one of the world’s greatest movie producers and directors, directing over fifty movies before his death in 1980. He directed his first movie in 1925 the ‘pleasure garden’.
Gender stereotyping
Themes
In most of his movies, Alfred Hitchcock has been shown to favor the concept of stereotyping women. Most of his movies are claimed to have had some taboo behaviors. Among these themes that have been highly analyzed include the following.
Sexuality
Many of Hitchcock’s movies are claimed to be highly sexualized. For example, although the movie ‘the rear window’ does contain the theme of suspense it contains the theme of voyeurism as well. The story depicts the love lives of two different sets of people. It explores the lives of these people from the perspective of Jeffrey’s room. The movie revolves around the life of Jeff and his binoculars that he uses to spy on his neighbors. The sexual connotation o this movie is also illustrated through the use of the background music that is played in the entire length of the movie. The movie to catch a thief also explores a sexual line as Robbie the cat is traumatized by sexual advances from Gracie. Although the cat initially resists the advances, the stress becomes so huge that he bows down at last and concedes to her declaration of love.
Sometimes, the prudish conventions of his time made him express sexuality in some form of emblematic fashion. This is for example represented in the movie ‘North by Northwest. This is represented when the film cuts hurriedly from a scene of two aroused but still visually unsullied lovers to a scene of a train entering a tunnel. Hitchcock as a director and producer devised several channels of conveying sexuality without having to use disappointing graphic behaviors.
Some of these ways included the substitution of overt sexual obsession with passionate eating of food. In a certain scene from ‘Psycho’, Perkins carries on a conversation with Janet while at the same time one of his hands is busy stroking a dead animal while the other hand explores his crotch. In this case, Sexual feelings are strongly associated with violent behavior.
The use of blonde women
Hitchcock expands his theme of voyeurism with the use of blonde women in place of brown-haired women. In his defense for using blonde-haired women, Alfred argued that the audience would be more suspicious if he was to use brown-haired women. Surprisingly most of these blonde-haired women many reviewers have claimed that were of the grace Kelly variety ‘perfect and aloof’. These are the kind of superstars to make many people go voyeuristic. In addition, Hitchcock claimed that he used blonde women not because he felt voyeuristic for them or had any feelings for them but due to the reason that it was a tradition, he had inherited having been started by Mary pick ford.
Comparison with other movies
Alfred’s movies have been shown to have been shot during a time after the Second World War. During this time, women are shown to have been, only interested in realizing the tender love that had been absent during the period of the war. As compared to other movies and their themes, there is a big contrast. For example “Wal-Mart-the high cost of low living”. According to the director (Robert Greenward) of the movie Wal-Mart the high cost of low prices, the point he was trying to pass across is that not all that glitters is gold. This is because consumers of Wal-Mart products are some of the most satisfied. This is because they get the best goods, services, and even in some cases the best after-sales services. However, what is hidden from the ordinary eye are the processes that are involved in bringing about these products as near to them as possible. The director wanted the people to see and hear for themselves firsthand how the operations of Wal-Mart do even affect their lives indirectly in a negative manner.
If we were to compare Hitchcock’s movies with another love movie like Harold and Maude, you realize that their themes are quite different. Harold and Maude was a movie directed by Ashby in 1971, it was based on the works of Colin Higgins. It is a movie with mixed themes of suicide, neglect, life, and death. It can be classified as a love drama as it is both Dramatical in its setting with a main theme of love. It explores social Paradigms on the different views of different persons in society. The storyline is about a young man named Harold, who shares a sour relationship with his rich mother (Mrs. Chasen), who seems obsessed with the idea of match-fixing Harold with blind dates. On the other hand, Harold is not interested in these blind dates and ends up faking suicide to scare them away. In addition, Harold is obsessed with death and funerals and happens to attend strange funerals for fun. In the process of attending these funerals, Harold meets Maude an elderly ex-concentration camp woman. The main theme is fixed on Harold who befriends the 79-year-old woman named Maude. Harold lived in a big mansion with his mother where he attempts mock suicides and also attends funerals for people he did not know, he finally meets Maude the old woman and they become friends.
To avoid gender stereotyping
Gender stereotyping has been one of the many ways that certain groups of persons are discriminated against. To understand this we must apply the Intersectionality theory to avoid negative and inaccurate gender stereotyping. According to Crenshaw, Intersectionality holds that distinct forms, or terms, of oppression do shape, and are likewise shaped by each other. Intersectionality thus suggests that to understand the racialization of certain oppressed groups in the United States, a person should seek to investigate and or examine ways through which social processes, racializing structures, in addition to social representations are shaped by class, sexuality, and gender, amongst other factors. Likewise, according to color feminists, the major contributors to the theory of Intersectionality theory, experiences of sexuality, class, and gender, cannot be sufficiently understood except if influences of racialization are cautiously considered and examined.
“Intersectionality is a tool for analysis, advocacy and policy development that addresses multiple discriminations and helps us understand how different sets of identities impact on access to rights and opportunities” (Crenshaw, 2000).
Using the Intersectionality theory Crenshaw has identified that the issue of national identity usually comes up especially in gender issues involving women of color in the United States. As a result, many women’s groups have sprung up in defense of their rights and in support of efforts to eliminate discrimination.
Conclusion
Gender stereotyping is not limited to the fashion and cinema industries. Stereotyping has been very rife even in education centers as well as workplaces. For example, Institutional racism or discrimination is not foreign to American culture. African Americans have been on the receiving end and they have been highly affected by it. From this perspective, many African Americans have faced many occupational and educational disadvantages due to ingrained stereotypical views that are still deeply rooted in the American society like blacks are inherently criminals. This has denied many African Americans many privileges enjoyed by other races like good education, the best occupations as well as a just legal structure.
Voyeurism has been described as a disorder of sexual arousal. Among the indicating factors of voyeuristic disorder, include having intense sexual behaviors, desires, or fantasies for at least 6 months repeatedly. These usually arise after watching, listening to, or visualizing naked people, couples having sex, or disrobing. The disorder has been found to have some negative effects including work impairment, continuous distress amongst other factors.
The disorder may become chronic if it is exercised from an early age may be fifteen and then it is practiced as the sole sexual satisfaction means for the involved couple.
References
- Ron, Langevin 1983, Sexual Strands: Understanding and Treating Sexual Anomalies in Men, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
- McGilligan, Patrick 2003, Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light, Regan Books.