"Rope"

"Rope" (1948)

In Alfred Hitchcock's 1948 thriller "Rope" Hitchcock navigates deeper into any ordinary thriller and creates a film that constantly keeps the audience on the edge of their seats and keeps them unease throughout the film until the mystery is solved. 

The trailer of the film is very effective because it captures its audience by having a mystery that is not yet solved and the only way of finding out is by watching the film. The trailer carries a lot of suspense within its 2 minutes and this really draws the audience in.  

It contains the key elements of thriller such as fast pace and frequent action. However, unlike many thrillers we do not know who the resourceful hero is until the end quarter of the film because he does not seem to be weaker than his villains. The film appeals to its audience by starting off with a story. It is just an ordinary scene with two characters talking to each other going about their day, then there is a voice over all of a sudden and the scene switches from the two characters to a man, named Rupert, speaking about the death of the young man that was just going on about his day. The trailer then develops into a mystery with the two main characters, Brandon and Philip, being put on the spot and under intense pressure by Rupert about the murder of David. The trailer ends with Rupert dragging the truth out of Philip and gun shots. 

Rupert getting into Philip's head

Suspense is clearly used throughout Hitchcock's thriller because without it there wouldn't be much of a mystery and it wouldn't keep the audience at the edge of their seats. Hitchcock builds suspense by making the characters Brandon and Philip set their dinner party around the dead body of the missing David Kentley. The dinners guests are all worried and confused about David Kentley except from one. Hitchcock has one character that is smart, intelligent and very devious. He uses this character to ask Brandon and Philip burning questions that puts them on the spot until one of them breaks. Then from there the pace of the film starts to pick off and one character, Philip, cannot handle it anymore and goes crazy.

There are different types of social groups in the film "Rope" and they are each represented differently. Brandon and Philip are gay with each other but in this thriller they are treated as any other ordinary person. They are not looked down upon or discriminated against they are just treated fairly and equally.

Men and women are represented differently. In the film the men are portrayed as business men, very smart and intelligent, whereas the women are just partners or housekeepers. The women do not really have much say in the film they just keep the conversations flowing, but the men are the ones that make the huge points and discuss hot topics that create tension. There is another representation of women and this refers to 'the male gaze'. This is where women are viewed as objects of male erotic desire. This means that they are just there to make up the numbers, they don't need to be there but they are there just in the men's image. Women also do not have agency - they do not move the plot forward. They are not the ones that like to push themselves forward in the heated conversations because they may fear that the men may push them back.

Philip and Brandon Strangling David

The last social group that I have identified is the social status within the characters. All of the characters except from the housekeeper, Mrs Wilson, are all middle or upper class. We know this because of the formal type of language that they use when communicating to each other, the way they dress and by having a housekeeper. Brandon and Philip consider themselves as intellectually superior and upper class because of the garments that they wear and where they live, which is is a very tall story building that looks across the whole city. David Kentley is seen as an inferior classmate in the eyes of Brandon and Philip. He is seen as not worthy and because of this they decide to strangle him to death to see if anyone would care.