Comparative study.

• Social and political context - vertigo

  - hays code refelcts american values of the time

  - post war anxiety

  - entrenchced sexism at the time

  - bringing back gender norms of woman being domesticated and men being the providers

  - white middle class world, not long after segregation

  - fear of woman gaining power
• Representation of gender and ethnicity - vertigo

  - men presented unstereotypically through Scotty - undermined for his weakness - post war - masculinity in crisis.

  - film noir - femme fatal - woman seen as manipulative and dangerous - this came out of masculinity in crisis.

  - woman seen as sexual objects and a use for the male gaze.

  - lack of representation of ethnic minorities due to segregation.
• How much does vertigo reflect classical Hollywood

  To a certain extent

  - alternative ending - hays code

  - actress Kim Novak

  - relationship between Madeline and scotty

  - churches influence.

  - jimmy stuart - type cast everyday man

  - factory like method of shooting - shot in studio but also shot on location

  - budget is reflective of classical hollywood $2.5 million
• Hitchcock level of auteur influence

  - hays code restricted his auteurship.

  - significantly an auteur film with a collaborative process

  - Bernard Herman adds to the pure cinema and Saul bass did the colours and use of technology

  - auteur debate - Andrew saris and Pauline Kael
• Hitchcock auteur traits

  - red and green colour scheme

  - voyeurism ( POV shot in Ernie's from scotty)

  - master of suspense - tension straight away in opening sequence

  - blonde woman in peril

  - pure cinema - started in silent cinema - 'sound can go off and audience should still know what's going on' - lack of dialogue in Ernie's sequence.

  - use of technology - vertigo shot
• Alternate ending - vertigo

  Why does it reflect the hays code?

  - law and order is upheld

  However this never got used.
• Ken keasy - OFOTCN

  - grew up in the 1950

  - book was published in 1962

  - he wanted his story to be about the oppression from the government on the individual and how industrialisation dehumanised society.
• Authenticity - oflotcn

  - shot on location - Oregon state hospital.

  - cast actual patients and staff for the films extras

  - lead actors except for Nicholson to live and rehearse among the patients in the hospital for a significant period prior.

  - however this caused problems for example Danny devito who played martini got medical help after believing he was developing mental illnesses as he spoke regularly to a imaginary friend

  - so the director got the actors to improvise all the time so they could film without them know they're being filmed. - so the film had a more authentic production.
• Milos Forman


  - grew up in Czechoslovakia until 1968 he moved to America to escape the soviet invasion of Prague

  - Forman doesn't have a signature visual style, instead he obeys many classical Hollywood rules to create a naturalistic feeling.

  - 'all the faces in the crowd' telling the stories of whole groups of characters and not just the protagonist, wanting to reflect the counter culture rebelling against authority.

  - the quiet auteur.
• 1975 - OFOTCN

  - counter culture, JFK assaination, civil rights movement, Vietnam war - people didn't trust the government any more.

  Attack on totalitarianism.
• Milos Forman films


  - hair - exploring rebellious natures of subcultures - anti war message.
• OFOTCN budget


  $4.4 million

  Made $163 million - huge success

  Won the big 5 at the Oscar's
• Jack Nicholson


  - manic, dynamic screen persona

  - could jack Nicholson be the auteur of the film?

  - his performance has a very significant impact on the success of the film, but this has been enhanced by formans preference of naturalistic acting and the quiet auteur which allows the enigmatic performance to engage the audience emotionally in their brief moment of freedom and joy.
• Cinematography - OFOTCN

  Remarkable for its realism

  Filmed on location - film is largely shot in a clinical, high key lit environment.
• Mise en scene - OFOTCN

  - everyone wears a uniform - emasculated

  - when macmurphy enters dressed in darker civilian clothes and with the prop of dirty playing cards, he re-introduces a rough masculine sexuality that has been repressed by the hospital.
• Representation of gender and ethnicity - OFOTCN

  - most of the men having pshycological and sexual issues with women.

  - woman presented as a means of sexual liberation and freedom - when billy looses his virginity - he looses his stutter.

  - rasicm - takes place in 1962 - ward orderlies all played by black men - still oppressed as their roles are non-professional even though they have institutional power.
• Quiet auteur - OFOTCN

  - conventional cinema techniques such as close ups and mid shots, continuity editing and shot reverse shot. This allows the themes and performance to come to the fore front
• Themes - OFOTCN

  - all the faces in the crowd

  - authority figures abuse position

  - rebellion

  - living to loudly
• World Series therapy sequence.

  - conventional use of close ups and mid shots, most notably the shot reverse shot between nurse Ratched and Billy which brings forth the theme of abuse of authority as she interrogates billy.

  - reflective of the 60's negative image of woman - books release.

  - institution seen as ineffective - going over the same content

  - scared to disagree with ratched.

  - Staff - listening to baseball game.
• New Hollywood vs old Hollywood

  - control over star personas and typecast roles - CLASSICAL

  - allowed creative freedom for stars and no longer contracted to studios - NEW