Classical Myth in Four Films of Alfred HitchcockClassical Myth in Four Films of Alfred Hitchcock presents an original study of Alfred Hitchcock by considering how his classics-informed London upbringing marks some of his films. The Catholic and Irish-English Hitchcock (1899-1980) was born to a mercantile family and attended a Jesuit college preparatory, whose curriculum featured Latin and classical humanities. An important expression of Edwardian culture at-large was an appreciation for classical ideas, texts, images, and myth. Mark Padilla traces the ways that Hitchcock’s films convey mythical themes, patterns, and symbols, though they do not overtly reference them. Hitchcock was a modernist who used myth in unconscious ways as he sought to tell effective stories in the film medium. This book treats four representative films, each from a different decade of his early career. The first two movies were produced in London: The Farmer’s Wife (1928) and The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934); the second two in Hollywood: Rebecca (1940) and Strangers on a Train (1951). In close readings of these movies, Padilla discusses myths and literary texts such as the Judgment of Paris, The Homeric Hymn to Demeter, Aristophanes’s Frogs, Apuleius’s tale “Cupid and Psyche,” Homer’s Odyssey, and The Homeric Hymn to Hermes. Additionally, many Olympian deities and heroes have archetypal resonances in the films in question. Padilla also presents a new reading of Hitchcock’s circumstances as he entered film work in 1920 and theorizes why and how the films may be viewed as an expression of the classical tradition and of classical reception. This new and important contribution to the field of classical reception in the cinema will be of great value to classicists, film scholars, and general readers interested in these topics. |
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Contents
| 1 | |
Chapter One Hestias Hearths and the Judgment of Paris in The Farmers Wife | 49 |
Chapter Two Eleusinian Mysteries and Heroic Catabasis in the 1934 The Man Who Knew Too Much | 97 |
Chapter Three The Heroine Pattern of Cupid and Psyche in Rebecca | 151 |
Chapter Four Crisscrossing Strangers on a Train with the Homeric Hymn to Hermes | 211 |
Appendix Story Summaries | 269 |
| 277 | |
| 287 | |
About the Author | 295 |
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Abbott Albert Hall Alfred Hitchcock Alma Alma Reville amusement park ancient Apollo Apuleius archetypal Aristophanes Art Resource Athena becomes Betty Betty’s British Bruno catabasis Cinema classical Clive Collection at Art comedy comic context Cook’s Cupid and Psyche Danvers daughter Demeter Dionysus director discussed earlier Eleusinian elite event evokes father Favell female figure film film’s filmmakers goddess Greek Guy’s Hades Hera Heracles Hermes hero heroic Hestia Highsmith Homeric Hymn idea included Jill Jill’s Judgment of Paris Kobal Collection London male Manderley marriage Maxim Minta Miriam mother motif movie murder Museum myth mythic narrative neoclassical neoclassicism Nurse Agnes Odysseus offers Olympian Persephone Photo credit photo gallery play present Psyche’s Ramon Rebecca relationship role romantic Sam’s scene Selznick sequence sexual shares shot source novel story STUDIOCANAL suggests symbolism Tale themes Thirza tion Train University Press Venus Victorian visual woman young Zeus
Bibliographic information
| Title | Classical Myth in Four Films of Alfred Hitchcock |
| Author | Mark William Padilla |
| Publisher | Lexington Books, 2016 |
| ISBN | 149852916X, 9781498529167 |
| Length | 336 pages |
| Subjects | › › Philosophy / History & Surveys / Ancient & Classical Social Science / Media Studies |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |