LinguistDick

I don't feel drawn to any particular character in The Lodger. The opening seems to be more about mood and tone; objects and sound more than specific human emotion. Even though it opens with a silent scream, the character screaming could be anyone and I feel removed from her. For me, the score and the juxtaposition of images communicate more in this opening than anything else. There is more mood than story here. I'm curious how that might have been accomplished without the edits. I appreciate the different perspectives that Hitchcock forces and allows the audience to experience even in this short clip. As the audience tries to orient itself, it is likely uncertain about its role. And I would guess that was part of his design.

I'm not as familiar with the scope of Hitchcock's career, so it's hard to recognize the "Hitchcock touch" in this clip from The Pleasure Garden. But something that struck me was the idea that the object of desire is more than an object; it is a thing with agency and perspective of its own. The men (the audience) in the scene come across as leering spectators of the women (the performers) who are there for their pleasure, and then the interactions between the women and men "off-stage" challenge or directly contradict those roles. For example, the sassy blonde with the removable curl presents as clever and unaccommodating. Since I am more familiar with Psycho than most other Hitchcock films, I am reminded of Marion Crane and her interactions with the men in her life before she meets Norman Bates. She is initially presented as an object of desire and an employee playing the role of a woman with little agency, which she quickly contradicts with her actions. So I guess I am seeing here a theme of how what we actually see is shaped by what we want to see, and how that can often lead to ... trouble.