Vertigo Review- The Male Gaze

Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo and the Male Gaze

The representation of women in Vertigo is a very clear-cut and vivid selection. Hitchcock is seen throughout his films as choosing the main female parts in his films as blond very pretty and slim- his 'ice maidens'.

The male gaze is very much visible throughout the film. As the audience you cannot help but wonder whether Hitchcock is using the aspect of narcissistic viewing to compare himself to Scottie. The film itself presents as a tool for Hitchcock to build his own ideal fantasy to imagine himself in. Hitchcock was adamant that Kim Novak's suit was grey, despite numerous suggestions of other colours and advice that it was draining when put together with Kim's blond hair. Yet Hitchcock had his vision and would not be swayed from it- similar to how Scottie in the film is adamant that Judy wears the very same suit. This also holds the fetishistic traits of the male gaze, as being the director Hitchcock was able to put all his favourite things about a woman- his ideal woman- into his starring actress' role.

The film itself is very much dominated by Scottie's fetishes and sheer obsession, something we might see in Hitchcock as all of his lead women roles had the same look to them- perhaps Hitchcock himself was also a man of obsession.

Laura Mulvey’s ‘male gaze’ is the theory which states that traditional films are directed by men for an audience of men. The focus on women is viewing them as sexual objects, or over sexualising them so that they are seductive and pleasing to the male eye. By making women attractive towards men this gives the man power over them.

In Hitchcock’s classic ‘Vertigo’ the male gaze shows us a two-sided form of fantasy. As a common trait of the gaze is to fantasize and put yourself in the male protagonist’s shoes as a tool to imagine yourself with the beautiful woman he finally manages to get hold of, we see that in Vertigo the woman Scottie falls for is essentially also a mere fantasy.

Mulvey states that ‘pleasure needs to be destroyed and that this destruction is a radical weapon’. In Vertigo, both of the women (or illusions) which Scottie is attracted to are destroyed. This may seem to dim his power over the women as they die and this seems for once beyond even his power of control, yet we could see this as his victory twinned with his downfall. His controlling power and persistence is what brings Judy up to the bell tower which she tragically slips and falls off of when startled. So in a sense the obsession of Scottie is what murders Judy, bringing the film full circle and highlighting the male dominance and influence over women as both women are killed by the actions and power of men.  We see this representation of Scottie being powerful still after Judy’s death as the shot showing him looking down at where she has fallen is showing him in a fairly powerful stance, despite his helplessness in regards to the situation.