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Book Synopsis
Parting ways with the Freudian and Lacanian readings that have dominated recent scholarly understanding of Hitchcock, David Humbert examines the roots of violence in the director’s narratives and finds them not in human sexuality but in mimesis.

Through an analysis of seven key films, he argues that Girard’s model of mimetic desire - desire oriented by imitation of and competition with others - best explains a variety of well-recognized themes, including the MacGuffin, the double, the innocent victim, the wrong man, the transfer of guilt, and the scapegoat.

This study will appeal not only to Hitchcock fans and film scholars but also to those interested in Freud and Girard and their competing theories of desire.

Violence in the Films of Alfred Hitchcock: A

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    A Paperback / softback by David Humbert

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      Publisher: Michigan State University Press
      Publication Date: 30/05/2017
      ISBN13: 9781611862393, 978-1611862393
      ISBN10: 1611862396
      Also in:
      Digital, video and new media arts Social, group or collective psychology Sociology: family, kinship and relationships

      Description

      Book Synopsis
      Parting ways with the Freudian and Lacanian readings that have dominated recent scholarly understanding of Hitchcock, David Humbert examines the roots of violence in the director’s narratives and finds them not in human sexuality but in mimesis.

      Through an analysis of seven key films, he argues that Girard’s model of mimetic desire - desire oriented by imitation of and competition with others - best explains a variety of well-recognized themes, including the MacGuffin, the double, the innocent victim, the wrong man, the transfer of guilt, and the scapegoat.

      This study will appeal not only to Hitchcock fans and film scholars but also to those interested in Freud and Girard and their competing theories of desire.

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