Like Freud, Hitchcock diagnosed the discontents that chafe and rankle beneath the decorum of civilization. Like Picasso or Dali, he registered the phenomenological threat of an abruptly modernised world. - Peter Conrad
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Conrad compares Hitchcock to Freud and Picasso, noting his work exposed hidden societal tensions and modern anxieties.
- In plain terms
- Hitchcock revealed deep cultural anxieties through his films.
- What can you take from it?
- Art can diagnose and reflect societal discontent.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- How does cinema act as a mirror to society?
- What modern anxieties does Hitchcock highlight?
Another view
The comparison may overstate Hitchcock’s influence relative to Freud or Picasso.
More from Alfred Hitchcock
The man with the navy-blue voice. ~ Barbara Harris (London Observer 6 Aug 76)
Permalink to quote #52 Here is someone, who has an enormous, inordinate, neurotic fear of disorder. And that's from which he makes his art. He always has his people in a moment of di…
Permalink to quote #54 Hitch is a gentleman farmer who raises goose flesh. ~ Ingrid Bergman
Permalink to quote #51
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