In this chapter, I analyze the cinema of Alfred Hitchcock from a sociological perspective that thematically focuses on the themes of guilt and innocence. The accompanying visions of guilt and innocence in Hitchcock’s movies involve a demarcation between private guilt and public guilt, the transference of guilt across subjects, and a generalized universality of guilt. Through this ritualistic experience of transformation, which pertains both to the characters in the movies as well as their viewers, the ritual subjects are not only transformed but also subjected to, and actively experiencing, a transitional existential process that escapes from, and often even contradicts, the usual structures and demands of the social order. Situated at the intersection of the sociology of law and cultural sociology, this analysis conceives of Hitchcock’s films as manifestations of liminality that are essentially marked by a process of transition from one state to another.
I explore dimensions and modalities of guilt and innocence in the movies of Alfred Hitchcock.
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