Luara Mulvey: Rereading the Uncanny: Automata, the Cinema and Hitchcock's Female

LAURA MULVEY (University of London)
REREADING THE UNCANNY: AUTOMATA, THE CINEMA AND HITCHCOCK’S FEMALE STARS

Donnerstag, 24. Jänner 2008, 19 Uhr
Österreichisches Filmmuseum
Augustinerstraße 1, 1010 Wien

Begrüßung

Alexander Horwath (Direktor Österreichisches Filmmuseum)
Dr. Lydia Marinelli (Leitung Wissenschaft, Sigmund Freud Privatstiftung)

Freier Eintritt

Abstract
In this paper I would like to return to Freud’s essay ‘The Uncanny’ from a rather different perspective to my previous use of the concept. I would like to consider the debate between Freud and Jentsch about the significance of the beautiful automaton Olympia in E.T.A. Hoffman’s story ‘The Sandman’ and use both their approaches for an analysis of some of Hitchcock’s later films. Concentrating on his beautiful but deceptive heroines, particularly Notorious (1946) Vertigo (1959) Marnie (1964) but also with reference to other relevant films, I want to reflect on the female star performances in these key films: the way that masquerade (in the story) heightens their characteristically highly stylised appearance of Hitchcock’s female stars which, in turn, draws attention to the pre-existing stylization typical of Hollywood star performance. While the appearance and performance of the stars evokes Jentsch’s interest in automata and the blurred boundary between the animate and the inanimate, the Hitchcock’s recurring hints at castration anxiety, accompanied by the actual presence of the maternal body evokes Freud’s assertion that the uncanny effect is only aroused by something ancient, that is, the return of the repressed. I would like to see if a reconciliation between their views might be achieved through this consideration of Hitchcock’s heroines while also reflecting on the significance of the beautiful automaton for an understanding of the cinema itself.
Laura Mulvey

Laura Mulvey is Professor of Film and Media Studies at Birkbeck College, University of London. She is the author of: Visual and Other Pleasures (Macmillan 1989), Fetishism and Curiosity (British Film Institute 1996), Citizen Kane (in the BFI Classics series 1996) and Death Twenty-four Times a Second: Stillness and the Moving Image (Reaktion Books 2006). She has made six films in collaboration with Peter Wollen including Riddles of the Sphinx (BFI 1978) and Frida Kahlo and Tina Modotti (Arts Council 1980) and with Mark Lewis Disgraced Monuments (Channel 4, 1994).

Eine Veranstaltung der Sigmund Freud Privatstiftung in Kooperation mit dem Österreichischen Filmmuseum