MUST EMERSONIAN WE PERFECTIONISM KILL THE AND THE F ILM S O F THING ALFRED HITCHCOCK LOVE? WE William Rothman Must We Kill the Thing We Love? FILM AND CULTURE John Belton, Editor FILM AND CULTURE A series of Columbia University Press Edited by John Belton For the list of titles in this series, see page 303. MUST WE KILL THE THING LOVE? WE Emersonian Perfectionism and the Films of Alfred Hitchcock William Rothman Columbia University Press N ew York Columbia University Press Publishers Since 1893 New York Chichester, West Sussex cup.columbia.edu Copyright © 2014 Columbia University Press All rights reserved Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Rothman, William. Must we kill the thing we love? : Emersonian perfectionism and the fi lms of Alfred Hitchcock / William Rothman. pages cm — (Film and culture) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-231-16602-7 (cloth : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-231-16603-4 (pbk. : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-231-53730-8 (ebook) 1. Hitchcock, Alfred, 1899–1980—Criticism and interpretation. 2. Redemption in motion pictures. 3. Emerson, Ralph Waldo, 1803–1882—Infl uence. I. Title. PN1998.3.H58R683 2014 791.4302'33092—dc23 2013038575 Columbia University Press books are printed on permanent and durable acid-free paper. Th is book is printed on paper with recycled content. Printed in the United States of America c 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 p 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 cover photo : AF archive / Alamy cover design : Milenda Nanok Lee References to websites (URLs) were accurate at the time of writing. Neither the author nor Columbia University Press is responsible for URLs that may have expired or changed since the manuscript was prepared. For Stanley Cavell Contents Introduction: Drawing a New Circle 1 1 Th e Wilde-er Side of Life 31 2 Accomplices in Murder 40 3 “I Don’t Like Murderers” 49 4 Little Deaths 58 5 “Th e Time to Make Up Your Mind About People Is Never” 73 6 “But May I Trust You?” 78 7 Silence and Stasis 87 8 Talking vs. Living 99 9 Two Th ings to Ponder 105 10 Th e Dark Side of the Moon 110 viii Contents 11 Scottie’s Dream, Judy’s Plan, Madeleine’s Revenge 141 12 Never Again? 173 13 A Loveless World 185 14 Birds of a Feather 199 15 A Mother’s Love 208 16 Every Story Has an Ending 255 Conclusion: Emerson, Film, Hitchcock 270 Notes 287 Acknowledgments 295 Index 297 Must We Kill the Thing We Love?