Universidade de Aveiro Departamento de Línguas e Culturas Ano 2017 Mark William Poole Os Filmes de Hitchcock no Sofá: Leituras Freudianas e Lacanianas do Espaço Simbólico Hitchcock’s Films on the Couch: Freudian and Lacanian Readings of Symbolic Space Universidade de Aveiro Departamento de Línguas e Culturas Ano 2017 Mark William Poole Os Filmes de Hitchcock no Sofá: Leituras Freudianas e Lacanianas do Espaço Simbólico Hitchcock’s Films on the Couch: Freudian and Lacanian Readings of Symbolic Space Tese apresentada à Universidade de Aveiro para cumprimento dos requisitos necessários à obtenção do grau de Doutor em Estudos Culturais, realizada sob a orientação científica do Doutor Anthony David Barker, Professor Associado do Departamento de Línguas e Culturas da Universidade de Aveiro o júri Doutor Carlos Manuel da Rocha Borges de Azevedo, Professor Catedrático, Faculdade de Letras, Universidade do Porto. Doutor Mário Carlos Fernandes Avelar, Professor Catedrático, Universidade Aberta, Lisboa. Doutor Anthony David Barker, Professor Associado, Universidade de Aveiro (orientador). Doutor Kenneth David Callahan, Professor Associado, Universidade de Aveiro. Doutor Nelson Troca Zagalo, Professor Auxiliar, Universidade do Minho. presidente Doutor Nuno Miguel Gonçalves Borges de Carvalho, Reitor da Universidade de Aveiro. agradecimentos Primarily, I would like to thank Isabel Pereira, without whose generosity this entire process would not have been possible. She believes in supporting all types of education and I cannot express my gratitude enough. I express equal gratitude to Marta Correia, who has been the Alma Reville of this thesis. She has had the patience to listen to my ideas and offer her invaluable insights, while proofreading and criticising the chapters as this thesis evolved. As with my Master’s dissertation, Professor Anthony Barker’s suggestions, acumen, criticisms and words of encouragement have been timely, pertinent and truly appreciated. I would also like to thank the teaching staff of the Programa Doutoral em Estudos Culturais of Minho and Aveiro University, in particular Professor Maria Manuel Baptista, whose comments when I defended my initial proposal motivated me to explore further the ideas of Jacques Lacan. Oh, and thanks to Dean, Tracey, Bernard and Sam for being themselves and patiently listening to me when I might have seemed obsessed, before offering understandings I would otherwise have been unaware of. palavras-chave Alfred Hitchcock, Sigmund Freud, Jacques Lacan, conteúdo simbólico, Ego, Superego, Id, Imaginário, Simbólico, Real. resumo Alfred Hitchcock realizou cinquenta e três filmes num período de cinquenta anos. Perante um corpus tão vasto e um interesse, popular e académico, contínuo na sua obra, um dos objetivos desta tese é tentar descobrir quais as componentes dos seus filmes que conduziram a este fascínio. Consequentemente, esta tese pretende refletir, através de uma análise que utiliza metodologias psicanalíticas, sobre dezanove destes filmes e elementos que neles se repetem. A abordagem psicanalítica foi escolhida para perceber se existe um uso coerente de certos elementos que cria um significado simbólico nos filmes em discussão. Haverá elementos usados de forma consistente, com um significado simbólico estável que podem ser interpretados simbolicamente da mesma forma em dois ou mais filmes? E, caso contrário, que diferenças de significado se nos põem? Esta análise é baseada em elementos estruturais repetidos na mise-en-scène dos filmes, tais como escadarias ou quartos de dormir, que foram usados como termos gerais com o intuito de facilitar a investigação dos méritos simbólicos que estes, e outras componentes relacionadas, possuem. As metodologias psicanalíticas usadas incluem conceitos-chave de Sigmund Freud, como o Ego, o Superego e o Id, e de Jacques Lacan, como o Imaginário, o Simbólico e o Real. Ao usar os conceitos que estes dois pensadores psicanalíticos desenvolveram, é esperado que certos padrões simbólicos e temáticos nos filmes de Hitchcock que foram no passado sub-explorados, surjam para uma discussão mais alargada keywords Key words: Alfred Hitchcock, Sigmund Freud, Jacques Lacan, symbolic content, Ego, Superego, Id, the Symbolic, the Imaginary, the Real. abstract Alfred Hitchcock made fifty-three feature films over a fifty-year period. In view of such a large corpus and continued popular and academic interest in his work, one of the aims of this thesis is to attempt to discover what components in his films have led to such an interest. As a result, this thesis considers, through an analysis using psychoanalytic methodologies, nineteen of these films and elements which are repeated across these films. This psychoanalytic approach has been chosen to examine if there is a coherent use of certain elements to create symbolic meaning in the films under discussion. Namely, are there elements that can be interpreted symbolically being used consistently with the same stable symbolic meaning in two or more films? And if not, what differences in meaning are there? To aid with this analysis, repeated structural elements in the films’ mise-en- scène, such as staircases or bedrooms, have been explored to investigate the symbolic readings they and other related components might offer. The psychoanalytic methodologies being used include key concepts of Sigmund Freud and Jacques Lacan, such the former’s Ego, Superego and Id and the latter’s Imaginary, Symbolic and Real. By using these, and other concepts these two psychoanalytic thinkers developed, it is hoped that certain symbolic and thematic patterns in Hitchcock’s films that have previously been under- explored can be brought to light and discussed. Hitchcock’s Films on the Couch: Freudian and Lacanian Readings of Symbolic Space TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION i SECTION ONE 1. HITCHCOCK AND GENRE 1.1 Introductory Remarks 1 1.2 Hitchcock and the Production Code 1 1.3 The Hitchcock Thriller 3 1.4 The Hitchcock Narrative 7 1.5 The Hitchcock Couple 9 1.6 Production Design 11 1.7 The MacGuffin 14 1.8 The Hitchcock Cameo 17 1.9 The Team 21 1.10 Closing Comments 22 2. REVIEW OF RELEVANT LITERATURE 2.1 Introductory Remarks 23 2.2 Hitchcock Biographies and Films 23 2.3 Hitchcock’s Interviews, Scripts and Writings 27 2.4 Essays on Hitchcock (Anthologies and Single Authors) 29 2.5 Closing Comments 54 SECTION TWO 3. AN OVERVIEW OF PSYCHOANALYTIC FILM THEORY 3.1 Introductory Remarks 56 3.2 Laura Mulvey and “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema” 57 3.3 Christian Metz and The Imaginary Signifier: Psychoanalysis and the Cinema 63 3.4 Raymond Bellour and “Symbolic Blockage” 69 3.5 Joan Copjec and “The Orthopsychic Subject” 76 3.6 David Bordwell, Noël Carroll and Post Theory: Reconstructing Film Studies 79 3.7 Slavoj Žižek 83 3.8 Todd McGowan and Psychoanalytic Film Theory and The Rules of the Game 86 3.2 Closing Comments 90 4. THE WORK OF SIGMUND FREUD 4.1 Introductory Remarks 92 4.2 Freud and Style in The Interpretation of Dreams 92 4.3 Irma’s Injection: Art and Science 97 4.4 Hitchcock and Quests 101 4.5 Freudian Concepts - Ego Superego and Id 102 4.6 Hitchcock and the Superego 105 4.7 Dream Symbolism and Freud 105 4.8 The Unconscious 110 4.9 Hitchcock and the Unconscious 113 4.10 Hitchcock and Flashbacks 114 4.11 Closing Comments 118 5. THE WORK OF JACQUES LACAN 5.1 Introductory Remarks 119 5.2 Mythology and Perspective 119 5.3 Style in Speech and Writing 122 5.4 Applying Lacan 126 5.5 Parole Vide/Parole Pleine 128 5.6 The Mirror Stage and Beyond 130 5.7 The Trouble with Mrs. Thorwald 133 5.8 The Master Signifier 138 5.9 Desiring L’objet petit autre 140 5.10 Lacan’s Unconscious 143 5.11 Closing Comments 144 6. THE SYMBOLISM OF WORDS IN HITCHCOCK 6.1 Introductory Remarks 145 6.2 A Suspicion of Words 145 6.3 The Spoken Word as Saboteur 153 6.4 The Word Vanishes 163 6.5 Closing Comments 176 7. DREAMS/VISIONS 7.1 Introductory Remarks 178 7.2 Under the Influence: What Hetty Sees 178 7.3 The Woman Scottie Dreamt Twice 181 7.4 The Spellbinding Dream 188 7.5 You Freud. Me Dream 191 7.6 Closing Comments 192 SECTION THREE 8. THE HOUSE 8.1 Introductory Remarks 193 8.2 Under Capricorn: “Miyago Yugilla: There’s something queer about that place” 194 8.3 Rebecca: “Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again.” 196 8.4 The Birds: “Are you coming to my party tomorrow?” 198 8.5 Psycho: “We have twelve vacancies. Twelve cabins. Twelve vacancies.” 205 8.6 Closing Comments 207 9. THE STAIRCASE 9.1 Introductory Remarks 209 9.2 Marnie: “Why don’t you love me, Mama?” 209 9.3 Psycho: “I will not hide in the fruit cellar.” 210 9.4 Spellbound: “People fall in love, as they put it.” 211 9.5 Under Capricorn: “Ah! The good old balustrade!” 216 9.6 Notorious: “I’ll show you the wine cellar door.” 220 9.7 The Paradine Case: “Time we were in the gondola.” 224 9.8 Closing Comments 231 10. THE HOTEL 10.1 Introductory Remarks 232 10.2 Psycho: “Hotels of this sort are not interested in when you come in, but when your time is up.” 233 10.3 Marnie: “So nice to have you back, Mrs. Edgar. We’ve put you in your same room.” 234 10.4 Vertigo: “Who has the room on the second floor?” 236 10.5 North by Northwest: “You’re the gentleman in room 796, aren’t you?” 238 10.6 Closing Comments 249 11. THE BEDROOM 11.1 Introductory Remarks 251 11.2 Rebecca: “It’s the most beautiful room in the house.” 252 11.3 Marnie: “Your sleep seems even less agreeable than your waking hours.” 257 11.4 The Paradine Case: “I will tell you about Mrs.