Hitchcock/Descartes - 924 Words

Hitchcock/Descartes Am I really awake typing a paper for philosophy? Did I just watch the Hitchcock film Shadow of a Doubt or did the â€Å"not so supremely good God† plant a reel of thoughts in my head (Descartes16)? That would be ironic since the themes of the film are based upon human understanding of doubt, dreams, good, evil, ignorance and knowledge. The film portrays a neat staircase that leads into the house of an all American family and a rickety set of stairs off the side of the house that are private and used for escape. After watching the deep hidden meanings and symbolism in the film, one could perceive the image of the parallel staircases like a metaphor for the human mind. This would bring the audience into a deeper place, dark,†¦show more content†¦She now truly sees the differences between herself and Charlie. It is not just Young Charlie living in a dream, for while Old Charlie is accusing Young Charlie of this, he himself presides in a state of illusions. He just sees things from the opposite angle; for him, â€Å"good† is a mask for evil and reality lies in a hellish place, almost the exact binary opposition to Young Charlie’s small town world. In fact, the whole family is separately locked in their own dream world; this is apparent when Charlie comes to town and things are obviously amiss. There are undeniable clues that Charlie is hiding something that the family remains oblivious to. The fact that Charlie shows up, out of the blue at the same time the authorities are searching for a widow murderer does not seem strange to them. Maybe the connection gets lost, but surely they must wonder about the amount of money that Old Charlie carries; the father who is a banker and spends his free time solving mysteries does not ask any questions. Then there is the moment at the dinn er table when Charlie goes off in a fit of madness and pretty much confesses to the crime and all his sister says is that he should refrain from saying such things like that at the ladies conference. The child Anne has some intuition, but she spends the majority of time hiding in fictional stories. This dream like state definitely disconnects the family members from the world andShow MoreRelatedMetz Film Language a Semiotics of the Cinema PDF100902 Words   |  316 Pagesand no voices besides those that would be strictly diegetic (onscreen voices), etc. But such a film would hardly resemble the cinema —it would be more like a play (and an exceptionally linear one at that) recorded by the camera. Even films like Hitchcock s Rope or Jean Rouch s Gare du Nord would seem like truculent semiological orgies next to this imaginary film. But the point is that such a film is possible, whereas nothing similar is imaginable, mutatis mutandis, in a book. The fact is that even