Introduction; 1: Science, Technology and Hitchcock; 2: Dark Matter, Dark Energy, and Physics; 3: Neurocinematics and Hitchcock's theory of suspense; 4: Three "Princes of Dark Energy": Uncle Charlie, Bruno, and Norman Bates; 5: Space and Place; 6: Vertigo and Psycho - The shower and the bell tower; Conclusion; Filmography; Bibliography; Index
Applying theories from science and technology, this innovative study of Hitchcock's art seeks to explain the extraordinary power of his films.
Applying theories from science and technology, this innovative study of Hitchcock's art seeks to explain the extraordinary power of his films.
Philip J. Skerry is Professor Emeritus at Lakeland Community College, Ohio, USA, and is the author of Psycho in the Shower: The History of Cinema’s Most Famous Scene (2009), as well as numerous articles for scholarly journals. He lives with his wife Amy, a therapist, in Beachwood, Ohio, USA.
In the end, Dark Energy has the considerable virtue of raising
questions not only about the value of the particular scientific
analogies he develops but of the value of argument by analogy in
general.
*Hitchcock Annual*
Throughout the book, Skerry's enthusiasm is obvious, both for
Hitchcock and for popular cosmology. Aficionados of Hitchcock will
find new language with which to marvel, and those humanists with an
interest in physics will find inviting ways to engage landmark
theories of the last century.
*Cinema Journal*
To link Einstein with cinema and Hitchcock with modern physics is a
daring experiment, and works on many levels. It is delightful for a
physicist (and Hitchcock fan) to see terms like spacetime,
antimatter, dark energy, black hole, entropy, etc. turn up as
metaphors in a Hitchcock study. A thoroughly enjoyable read.
*Nandor Bokor, Lecturer in the Department of Physics, Budapest
University of Technology and Economics, Hungary*
The 20th Century scientific theories of relativity, quantum
mechanics and cosmology substantially changed the way we view the
world. In interweaving these revolutions and their implications
with the concurrent emergence of moving images as the predominant
means of cultural expression, exemplified by their arguably
greatest artist and innovator, Phil Skerry does much more than find
a fresh angle on the depth in light and dark, the order and chaos
in Hitchcock’s visual storytelling. Always careful to emphasize
that his approach implies the application of universal scientific
truths only as metaphors to the most comprehensive (and, as Skerry
argues, indeed spatiotemporal art form), he yet paints a bigger and
most intriguing picture on how the 20th century zeitgeist was
shaped through seeing the world differently, both in science and
cinema. A most engrossing read, admirably aiming to bridge the
regrettable modern gap between sciences and arts, via the genius of
the likes of Einstein and Hitchcock, and finding nothing less than
philosophy therein.
*Ulrich Ruedel, Conservation Technology Manager at British Film
Institute National Archive, UK*
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