A Few Small Thoughts on Vertigo
21 04 2007I’ve been thinking about Vertigo quite a bit lately, mostly because I’ve been trying to find something decent to say about it. It’s been especially difficult as this is my first experience with Hitchcock, and it was everything I thought it would be and so much more. So needless to say, I really enjoyed it. Obviously there’s lots of doubling in the film, but there’s some tripling too, thanks to Midge and her portrait. Midge’s role is the one that intrigues me most, and I’ve been trying to figure out her role in the film. She starts out as a potential love interest for Scottie, but it quickly becomes clear she won’t fulfill that role. One thing I did notice was that as she’s leaving the hospital after Scottie’s mental breakdown she’s framed in front of a window with a large white building behind it. As the camera pulls out and looses focus, it looks like Midge is standing in front of a white tower, not unlike the “steeple” Madeline throws herself out of. The bars of the window also create a cross-like image, calling Christ and self-sacrifice to mind. This is particularly intriguing to me as we never see Midge again – this is her one big moment. So what’s the deal? Does she sacrifice herself for Scottie? Does her relationship with him push her over the edge like it finally does with Judy (though her final jump might not be his fault)? It’s hard to say as Hitchcock doesn’t give us much to go on, but I think this scene gives us something to go on. I’m not really sure what it’s implying though – I hope not that Midge throws herself off a tower, because I really like her.
Yeah I was a little upset that Midge was forgotten after the mental hospital scene. That last thing we see her do is walk down the hallway after speaking to the doctor. Of course that hallway is filmed in a symmetric pattern with the end of it being directly in the middle of the frame. If you read my earlier blog post I talk about how that path is the path people travel to try to understand someone’s soul. It’s much like looking directly into the woman’s eye in the early title sequence. Midge just realized that Scottie loved Madeleine and will always love her. Maybe that’s why we don’t see her anymore. She knows she can never capture the heart of Scottie like Madeleine did.
Midge is a fascinating character. So, so much to say about her….
Oh my gosh, I totally have been crazy over where Midge went. I loved Midge! I feel like there is something to Midge that I can’t grasp. Let me know if you come to anything.
I didn’t even think about that with Midge. I talked on my blog a bit about how I think Midge is supposed to be the audience’s focal reference point with Scottie’s past. I think that Midge is extremely similar to a pre-Vertigo Scottie, both living in a fairly mundane existence.
Yet, you’re right. I think there’s something else to her that I haven’t quite figured out. I should watch it again.
Scottie tells Midge not to be so motherly. Midge teases Scottie about how he’s a “big boy” who knows about brassieres. Midge teases Scottie about his obsession but is furious with herself when she drives him away. Midge calls herself “mother” when she’s with Scottie in the hospital.
Fascinating and complex stuff here. In some ways, Midge is an anti-Madeline. Yet her shallowness is all an act–she’s the queen of chitchat, but wishes to be more, with Scottie. Or so it seems.
I’m just interested in the fact that of all of the characters (well, very few characters) to talk about in Vertigo, it seems like Midge would be the last that everyone jumps on to talk about, and yet the largest conversations that I’ve been having on the blogs has been about her, and her role.
Its like having a shot of the commonplace in your weird story set on a distant planet. Yet… still there’s something not quite right about her. Maybe she could never commit to an adventure like Scottie’s. Maybe, Midge is afraid to go look, because she’s afraid she’ll be hurt, and so she sticks by the boring Ferguson. Which is even more why she’s so hurt when he get wrapped up with Madeline.
[...] Mary-Carolyn’s blog raises a thought-provoking analysis of Midge. Earlier, I stated that Midge was easy to categorize because she is a simple character. After reading Mary-Carolyn’s post I’m not so sure. There can be a lot made up about Midge, because we are not given much about her. I feel like maybe during the original screenplay there may have been more of Midge, but her story was cut out due to various constraints (time, Hollywood, etc.) It just seems to me that is it very unnatural for her character to just somewhat disappear with no explanation. However, Mary-Carolyn offers a theory that she sacrifices herself for Scottie. She has an excellent explanation in her blog, which I will let you read instead of paraphrase it myself. [...]