Abstract

As a filmmaker who frequently enjoyed unusual artistic control over his output, Alfred Hitchcock was known for appearing not only in his films but also in their trailers. But while the studios understood that Hitchcock’s appeal was a key part of his films’ selling points, his role in such content was, for the most part, a corollary to the task of having to sell a motion picture. As the director’s influence began to grow and his own sense of authorship began concomitantly to develop, in these trailers (filmic paratexts), Hitchcock, as the author argues, increasingly makes the case for his artistic intentions, mirroring the ambiguous and excessive style of his contemporaneous filmmaking in such promotional material. In so doing, Hitchcock promotes ostensibly ‘closed texts’ not open to interpretation while offering the potential for polysemantic renderings of such texts – opening the paratext. In this way, the trailer serves as both promotional product and critical (self-)appraisal, suggesting in the textual and paratextual construction of the Hitchcock trailer an intersection of the materialism of the commercial package and the abstraction of artistic ambition.

Highlights

  • As a filmmaker who frequently enjoyed unusual artistic control over his output, Alfred Hitchcock was known for appearances not merely in his films and in their trailers

  • Marnie and its attendant publicity comes when Hitchcock is at the peak of his powers: he was already enjoying unfettered artistic freedom and personal expression that had begun with his move to Paramount

  • For the studio, its release marked the perfect storm of necessary banker and dangerously unrestrained auteur – and here I focus on the trailer of that film and others produced during Hitchcock’s ascendant position given their symbolic role in this dynamic, and how they differ from trailers that precede and follow it

Read more

Summary

Introduction

As a filmmaker who frequently enjoyed unusual artistic control over his output, Alfred Hitchcock was known for appearances not merely in his films and in their trailers. From the paratextual materials of his works following The Birds there is a palpable shift in his ‘allegiance from the general public to a more elitist and or intellectual audience.’ (Kapsis, 1992, p.67) And, in Marnie, this reaches its height as Hitchcock’s excessive style begins to render his text open.

Results
Conclusion
Full Text
Paper version not known

Talk to us

Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have

Schedule a call