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In his book Everything you Always Wanted to Know about Lacan: But Were Afraid to ask Hitchcock, Slavoj Zizek comments on the pre-established harmony between Hannay and Pamela. Zizek argues that English films of the late 1930s (of which The 39 Steps is a member) aimed to fit within the confines of the classic narrative, and consequently that their plot was only useful as a device to bring the protagonist and his female interest to a successful conclusion.
Zizek has found that English films of the late 1930’s seem bound to “Oedipal story of the couple’s initiatory journey,” a classic narrative of two people bound by fate to fall in love with one another. The couples of these films are bound by fate or, in the case of The 39 Steps, a pair of steel handcuffs and mature together through a series of ordeals towards the “fundamental motif of the bourgeois ideology of marriage.” This fundamental motif is played out in The 39 Steps as Pamela and Hannay are first bound together against their will and then, as they overcome obstacles together, become closer to each other. Just as Hitchcock has given us the stereotype of masculinity and painted a picture of the strong, dominant man, so has he shown us the classical ideal of two unwilling people coming together through a period of uncertainly and trials.
Slavoj Zizek’s comments on the stereotype of the relationship between Pamela and Hannay strike a chord next to the classical portrayal of Hannay as a dominant male. In appropriate fashion, the classic man has fallen into the classic, stereotypical “bourgeois ideology of marriage.”
tagged hitchcock identity marriage masculinity oedipus by loftusme ...on 05-DEC-08
Mulvey, Laura. Citizen Kane. Great Britain: BFI, 1992. 49-57.
Orson Welles, himself, discounted the idea that Rosebud was in some way conclusive insight into the character of Charles Foster Kane, denouncing that such a straight-forward analysis would be simple “dollar-book Freud.” However, in part of this essay, Laura Mulvey goes about doing just that, only deeper, applying thoroughly supported psychoanalysis to some of the films most important scenes and explaining the significance that they play in the deeper level of the story.
Mulvey asserts that the informed view can and should attach significance to the sled because the scene in which the sled is introduced is very important in establishing Kane as a character. From a Freudian perspective, we see Kane’s closeness to his mother and the role that Thatcher plays in tearing young Kane away from her, setting up a type of Oedipal triangle that causes Kane to rebel against Thatcher and “everything [he] hates.” Because Thatcher, in contrast to Kane’s real father, represents capitalism, emotionless financial analysis, and crude decision making, Kane comes to despise these things, stuck forever in his childish past that must rebel and wants to be close again to his mother. As the scene comes to a close, the sled is the only thing left among a blanket of white. Mulvey mentions that in Freudian psychology, a memory is something that can be formed and forgotten, only to resurface again at a later time.
This trend of Oedipal aggression against the variety of father-figures in the film further exemplify the role that Mulvey’s psychoanalysis plays in interpreting the film.
tagged freud oedipus psychoanalysis rosebud thatcher by marcinuk ...and 1 other person ...on 10-APR-08