The Subconscious Mind In Alfred Hitchcock's Film Vertigo

Freud’s theory of the unconscious mind is displayed in Alfred Hitchcock’s film Vertigo through the main character, John Ferguson, who is working as a detective, chasing criminals. At the very beginning of the movie, we see John leaping across rooftops in pursuit of a criminal, struggling to keep up with the policeman ahead of him, when he realizes that he has Acrophobia (fear of heights). The ability to chase down criminals is an important element of being able to successfully complete duties tied to his profession. While in pursuit, John finds himself in a compromising position which ends with the policeman, who attempts to assist him, losing his life. As a result, he is stripped of his manhood and later resigns from his job as a detective.

The subconscious and unconscious has direct links to each other and deal with similar things, The unconscious mind is really the cellar, the underground in a way, of all your memories, habits, and behaviors. “The unconscious mind comprises the mental process of that are inaccessible to consciousness, but that influence judgement, feelings or behaviors” (Wilson, 2002). John has the memory of the police officer falling off the roof in his mind and it doesn’t disappear because it is the event that triggered John’s fear of heights, as a result, whenever John is elevated from the ground, the unconscious mind triggers the memory of the man falling to his death which triggers the fear of heights and very soon after the dizziness and spinning that is associated with vertigo. “The psychoanalytic theory of phobias is based largely on the theories of repression and displacement. It is believed that phobias are the product of unresolved conflicts between the id and the superego” (206 Fritscher). Since the accident, John struggles with the trauma he experienced and makes efforts to rescue himself from chaotic, fearful regression, that is constantly lurking behind the brittle shell of his reality. The trauma is not only the repetition of the missed encounter with death, but the missed encounter with one’s own survival. It is the incomprehensible act of surviving—of walking into life—that repeats and

The use of Freudian themes is easily noticeable in the movie Vertigo directed by Alfred Hitchcock. The plot is like the process of psychoanalysis. At first the viewer is first presented with what is on the surface what the reader or viewer can see the conscious in a way. Soon after thought, does one find out about what is hidden behind the character’s inhibitions and appearances, this is the unconscious mind as Freud has discussed. “Hitchcock grants us with information which is not available to the characters on screen” (McLaughlin 2003:12) which allows us the audience to act as analysts. Hitchcock employed the dolly zoom technique, in which the cameraman zooms in while moving away from the actor, or zooms out while moving in, to accomplish a disorienting ‘falling’ effect. Freud placed great importance on dreams involving falling; the repeated use of the theme has been interpreted by some to be a manifestation of Hitchcock’s obsession with death. Freuds concepts were employed almost regularly by Hitchcock in his films, which still retain their influence, despite the displacement of Freud’s theories by biological explanations of mind and behavior. Madeleine’s death can be described as melancholic. It thus produces a sadistic attitude toward Judy. The melancholic substitutes the ‘lost other’ for Scottie’s