An analysis of the auction scene to North by Northwest

A detailed Summary of An analysis of the auction scene to North by Northwest

An analysis of the auction scene to North by Northwest

North by Northwest was directed by Alfred Hitchcock. The auction scene is a 'set piece' which is a technique frequently used by Hitchcock in many of his films. The set piece does certain things. It is in a specific and closed location, it also creates and/or answers certain enigmas, and it leads to a climax-especially in visual terms, and frequently a turning point in the narrative and lastly puts the hero in danger.

The auction sequence begins with a musical segue as he enters the building, this is used to create a flowing motion rather than one that stops and starts. It is important to note that Thornhill (Cappalin) is purposely putting himself into danger-why is he doing this-an enigma is created in the audiences mind. We then cut to a CU of a mans hand dominating round a woman's shoulder-Ms Kendall. This signifies his masculinity and power that he has over her-it is quite ambiguous. The camera zooms out to reveal three people surrounding her-she is encoded and represented to be very weak. The collection of three people in this way is known as a triumvirate. After a tracking shot there is then a revealing one, which exposes our hero-Thornhill. He is in the p

Thornhill has a change of character throughout this scene as at one point he is making a joke-why is he?-enigmas and then his true vitriol comes out. "You have no feelings to hurt"-a statue has no feelings to hurt-again she is compared with the statue. The statue personifies Ms Kendall. One of the great techniques of Hitchcock is that he believes in "show don't tell" as he does not use much exposition (except for at the end of the film when Rodger Thornhill escapes from Van Damme's building). We work out that they tell us about themselves-constant use of "show don't tell". Hitchcock also uses syntagmatic redundancy-this is where we are reminded of the storyline so that we do not get side tracked or lose the plot of what is happening.

We again have the re iteration of Thornhill's beliefs of Ms Kendall-he uses NVC as he looks down at her to show that he thinks low of her-he thought that she was special but she betrayed him. Thornhill begins talking about the statue "I bet you paid plenty for..." but the sub text actually reads him talking about Ms Kendall and signifies her to be a prostitute. Thornhill then purchases a rose-this is a signifier of danger and love-Ms Kendall maybe dangerous-similar to a femme fatale character in film noir films.

Hitchcock then gives us a Classic Hollywood shot-Thornhill looks immaculate-his hair is perfect and his clothes fit him absolutely and are flawlessly clean-similar to a hero shot, it is a star shot. More enigmas are created as an unusual shot is used by a craftsman-there is a line that goes directly through his head. To complete his masculinity his facial expression is very stern and serious-he has an objective. All of this is very much similar to the James Bond character. North by Northwest is where the idea originated.

As Thornhill is taken away by the police the music starts up again and the scene neatly finishes with a man on the phone, which then leads onto the next scene.

I conclude that by the use of the set piece we have seen a lot of enigmas been created and answered, Hitchcock's masterful directing tells us a lot of information with using exposition-"show don't tell" has been used throughout. Also the use of metonymy is also frequent as a lot of little things actually reflect the whole thing

To lighter the tone of the set piece Hitchcock uses comedy-Th

Some common words found in the essay are:
Ms Kendall, Cold War, Thornhill Cappalin, North Northwest, Alfred Hitchcock, Van Damme-he, Classic Hollywood, Ms Kendall-this, Mac Guffins, Bond Thornhill, set piece, ms kendall, north northwest, sub text, body language, don't tell, body language changes, kendall signifies, james bond, femme fatale, enigmas created, femme fatale character,

Approximate Word count = 1579
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English