Humour in Alfred Hitchcock’s Films
Abstract
The presence of comic tones in the plot structure of spy thrillers has become the trademark of Alfred Hitchcock’s films as early as in his British period. The master of suspense did not avoid making films in which the spirit of comedy determined the tone a film work although critics paid no particular attention to such productions as The Farmer’s Wife and Number Seventeen. Humour in Hitchcock’s movies performed a double function: firstly, it established a platform from which the viewer could have a look at the plot events from a different angle and achieve detachment from the depicted world; secondly, it could be a component of film tension and provide verbal and visual clues relating to the main plot. Loska refrains from analyzing comic elements in Hitchcock’s criminal or spy thrillers but focuses on films in which the comedy tone becomes dominant: Rich and Strange, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, The Trouble with Harry, To Catch a Thief and North by Northwest.
Keywords:
Alfred Hitchcock, humour, comedyReferences
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Authors
Krzysztof Loskakwartalnik.filmowy@ispan.pl
Jagiellonian University Poland
Profesor Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego; zajmuje się kulturą popularną, postmodernizmem, literaturą współczesną i kinem gatunkowym. Opublikował m.in.: Dziedzictwo McLuhana. Miedzy nowoczesnością a ponowoczesnością (2001), monografię Alfreda Hitchcocka (2002) oraz Encyklopedię filmu sciencefiction (2004). W 2006 roku opublikował książkę Tożsamość i media, poświęconą twórczości Atoma Egoyana.
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