Alfred Hitchcock: Unreeled

There is one crucial film maker, who I have failed to look at and focus on in the past. His name is Alfred Hitchcock. Due to my limited knowledge of this famous film maker and documentarian, I inquired the help of an individual to help restore knowledge of him.

Dr. Paul Tiessen, a Professor of the Department of English and Film Studies at Wilfrid Laurier University Waterloo, Ontario campus enlightened me on the works and primary controversies and affects of Alfred Hitchcock.

I initiated the conversation by asking Dr. Tiessen if he could enlighten me on whether or not he feels that Hitchcock's work was controversial at some point.

He responded, "Hitchcock made films from the mid-1920s to the mid-1970s -- first mainly in England (where he was born in 1899) and then, after 1939, in the United States -- and much of his work was fairly controversial. With his 1960 American film, Psycho, in particular, he shot into the foreground as a controversial director. It made ordinary things, not only those drawn from the American way of life, but also movie-going itself, seem something other than what people had come to expect. It made movie-going seem more openly dangerous, more openly illicit, than what it had been".

On that note, do you believe in your opinion that Hitchcock's films had any effect on his audience, for example Americans, Canadians or the world at large?

Dr. Tiessen added that, "With Psycho, and also later films like The Birds, Hitchcock's work changed the way people in North America in particular came to understand movies, and opened up new doors for the horror film, for example".

Additionally, do you feel that his work contributed to the many different and unique films that we see in the contemporary film world?

"Hitchcock increased the emphasis on what any given director could produce as an "auteur" or "author," and helped to intensify society's interest in the work and vision of any given filmmaker throughout the course of his or her filmmaking career".

What is your overall take on documentaries, particularly controversial films like Fahrenheit 9/11? Do you think they are essential in terms of bringing awareness to compelling issues in today’s society? Or do you think they can be damaging and manipulate society into believing things that could or not be accurate?

"The documentary tradition goes back to the 1920s and even earlier, and reserved for itself a place outside the movie mainstream. However, in recent years, the documentary -- through filmmakers like Michael Moore -- has moved closer to mainstream methods of distribution and exhibition. Certainly documentaries, like any film, can manipulate viewers; hence documentary filmmakers, as well as film critics and viewers, have to be alert to their responsibility to speak honestly and critically and intelligently to each other".

Lastly, what is your overall opinion on Hitchcock's films, and why? "Hitchcock's films are, generally, enormously interesting, not simply because they are often so entertaining, but also because they make the moviegoer aware of her or his role as moviegoer -- for example, as voyeur -- and the kinds of responsibilities that go along with that"(Dr. Paul Tiessen).

-C.M.L