The Blondes Who Knew Too Much - The Hitchcock Women during the Monroe Era.

Seminar paper from the year 2001 in the subject American Studies - Culture and Applied Geography grade: 20 (B) LMU Munich (American Studies Institute) course: Hauptseminar: Women Sexuality and Popular Culture in Twentieth Century America language: English abstract: Thesis Statement: Hitchcock's Blondes were a formation of the director's own creative vision the image of women in film during the Monroe Era did not influence him in his depiction of womenWithout question Alfred Hitchcock is considered one of the most important and most influential film directors of the Twentieth Century. Throughout his career which lasted more than 50 years he directed over 50 feature films many of which are now considered classics. Interestingly he directed his most critically acclaimed movies during the relatively short life and career of one distinctive actress: Marilyn Monroe. It is a striking fact however that Marilyn Monroe never starred in a Hitchcock film although it seems that her blond hair and her star-status would have made her the perfect 'Hitchcock Blonde'. In this paper I will attempt to compare Hitchcock's female characters during the Monroe Era with the image of women in film and how they differed from each other. For this purpose it is necessary to first take a closer look at Marilyn Monroe and the image she embodied as well as women's role in general during that period. In addition Hitchcock's background education and attitude towards his leading ladies must also be examined. In my analysis I will focus on three films by Hitchcock: Vertigo (1958) North By Northwest (1959) and The Birds (1963). I chose these films in particular because they not only show a certain progression in Hitchcock's work in the way he treats and presents his female characters but also because these films were highly successful. Granted Hitchcock's rich body of work has been analyzed under various points of view by many scholars I have not been able to locate a work solel