Alfred Hitchcock and the World of Violence
It is the nature of humanity to pursue the macabre, the unjust, and the horrifying. At one point in time, the horrifying nature of the world was kept separate from the minds of the average person but with the advancement of technology, the violence of the world has been shown, and the intrigue has risen, often to a fault. Alfred Hitchcock, the father of modern suspense and the slasher genre of horror, capitalized on this fascination with violence. His film Psycho (1960) was a paragon of horror, bringing forward the heinous world of violence to “the big screen”. It exposed a large audience to a horror that had previously been etched purely on the page. While films and media preceding it had similar forms of violence, Psycho (1960) brought with it a sense of intimacy that hadn’t been used by most of Hollywood at the time. Hitchcock’s work in the horror field is one that ultimately solidified the genre of horror and suspense a true contender for the history of film. But unfortunately, the violence of films like Psycho wasn’t restricted to film alone.
The horror of the modern age is not something to scoff at, while horrible instances of violence in times past were restricted to small-scale events in cities, or large-scale events during wartime, nothing could compare to the violence of today. Senseless violence, conflict, blood and gore galore are all things you can view every day, whether it be via movies or the internet itself. The proprietor of this senseless violence seems to be none other than firearms. Tools which have been utilized in recent years to cause senseless violence, senseless fear, to generate terror in people across the world, and for what? The wish to make a statement? To respond to bullying from peers? Underlying racist beliefs? Violent tendencies? All things which have been cited as possible causes for these terror attacks, some of which affected Alfred Hitchcock.
Alfred Hitchcock’s films are filled to the brim with suspense and tension, oftentimes utilizing items (such as firearms) to generate tension and suspense based off of the threat of violence. His films utilize the tension generated by these threats to help emphasize the plots of his films. Each work is heavily calculated, and each item is brought in to serve a purpose, in order to advance the story and to generate more tension. He had gone against the societal norms of his time regarding suspense in cinema and brought with it violence, which helped propagate the advancement of the genres of horror and suspense in media, however, it is questioned whether or not violent media leads to violent people (Huesmann and Taylor, 2006).
With the recent rise in violence from youth who are in the age bracket that primarily consumes violent media (films, games, television shows), it is only natural that it has inspired inquiry into whether or not the violent media is the cause of violent tendencies in the youth. Recent arguments against video games cite the violence in them as being a proprietor of violence in the youth, citing increased irritability and aggression as results from these forms of media as direct symptoms of the violence in them. However, studies have shown that violent media does not necessarily equate to violent people, rather it varies from person to person on what their reaction to violent media is (Ybarra et al, 2022). Alfred Hitchcock’s films may, in some cases, seem overly violent, especially when you look at the time period the films originate from, a time where depictions of violence (in the caliber that Alfred Hitchcock utilized it) were generally unheard of. Imagine visiting a cinema to view a new movie that has become extremely popular. Your only real exposure to the violence of the film would be (aside from personal circumstances) mostly restrained to a book page, words and letters on a piece of paper with little to no artist depictions of it. You watch the film and are exposed to the violence of it, violence that was not hidden behind writing, instead you could view it, not just read it. It would be an entirely new way to immerse yourself in the experience. Now look at it from a modern perspective: Thousands of films exist now that depict the violence that was so shocking to viewers of Hitchcock’s films as common place. You can watch television shows, read books, or even see the violence of the films in places like social media and the nightly news and yet, despite all of this, there is still an air of intrigue behind it. What exactly draws so much fascination? What inspires investigation into the horrors of the world? And most importantly: What inspires the horror itself?
Alfred Hitchock’s genre of horror relied heavily on the influences of the time. Thousands of people were returning from the Second World War, more from prison camps and war zones themselves. Thousands of people returning from the horrors of real life, and yet? Horror films surged, violent media surged, and coincidentally so did violence in average places. Racial violence, political violence, hate related violence. All of this is violence that never really ceased to exist. Still today you’re able to hear about cases of violence, be near these cases of violence, or even at times find yourself becoming a part of the violence. The rise in violence in society seemingly connects to the violence in media, but that poses the question: Is real life reflecting the media? Or is the media reflecting real life? It seems that the rise in violence is directly connected to the rise in violent media, however it has been shown that violence has been on the decrease lately (Sumner, 2015), and while it may seem at times like the rate of violent crime is increasing, that is not if fact, the case. People are now able to access information about violent crime more readily than they have been in the past. The advancement in social media, newscasting, and more has allowed the public to view more violent crimes than ever before, which makes it seem like these violent crimes are all too common, when in reality they might not be as prevalent as they may seem.
Alfred Hitchcock was certainly not the best person in the world, old Hollywood lore suggests that Hitchcock’s films specifically utilized female antagonists in a demeaning light, implying an underlying misogynistic belief system (Erens, 2021), but all of the violence in his films contained a sense of purpose, all of the violence was set in a way to advance the story, unlike the violence of the modern age which simply exists for the satisfaction of the person committing the violence. Alfred Hitchcock would view the modern violence as senseless, without purpose, and utterly disgusting
Sources
Erens, Patricia. “Issues in Feminist Film Criticism.” Issues In Feminist Film Criticism, 11 July 2021, muse.jhu.edu/pub/3/oa_edited_volume/chapter/2963836.
Huesmann, L. Rowell, and Laramie D. Taylor. “The Role of Media Violence in Violent Behavior Annual Reviews.” Annual Reviews, 2006, www.annualreviews.org/content/journals/10.1146/annurev.publhealth.26.021304.144640.
Sumner, Steven A. “Violence in the United States.” HHS Public Access, 2015, pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4692168/pdf/nihms745385.pdf.
Ybarra, Michele L, et al. “Violent Media in Childhood and Seriously Violent Behavior in Adolescence and Young Adulthood.” The Journal of Adolescent Health: Official Publication of the Society for Adolescent Medicine, U.S. National Library of Medicine, Sept. 2022, pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10177625/.