"We All Go a Little Mad Sometimes:" Representations of Insanity in the Films of Alfred Hitchcock.

Abstract

Themes connected with mental illness and psychiatry frequently feature in the works of Alfred Hitchcock. Some critics believe it is a reflection of the director's own mental health issues. Yet, it is more likely that Hitchcock was inspired by the Gothic tradition and the legacy of Edgar Allan Poe as well as the popularity of psychoanalysis in post war U.S. culture. This article looks at Hitchcock's feature-length films in order to analyse the representation of psychopathic characters as perpetrators of crime and the disturbed mother-child relationships which may lead to mental aberrations. Furthermore, it presents the ways in which Hitchcock subtly undermines popular conceptions about the relationship between mental illness and crime, and the role of psychiatry in explaining unusual behaviour.