Rope

Rope

     

Rope was directed by Alfred Hitchcock and released in 1948, it is based on the play of the same name. The play itself is based loosely on the murder case of Leopold and Loeb, two wealthy university students who kidnapped and murdered a 14 year old boy. They were fascinated with the "superman" concept. This was a concept created by Friedrich Nietzsche, it suggests that those who are intellectually superior are above the laws and morals of the average man. The two main characters in Alfred Hitchcock's "Rope", Brandon Shaw and Phillip Morgan, believe in this concept, so they murder their friend in their apartment. To celebrate, they hold a party with the victims parents, girlfriend, their aunt, their other friend and rupert, their old housemaster who introduced them to the superman concept. Eventually after some investigation rupert founds out that they have killed someone, and is disgusted that they used his research to justify a murder. In the end Rupert grabs a gun of Brandon and alerts the police.

Compared to some of Alfred Hitchcock's there are no thriller conventions in rope. There are no fast paced editing scenes  in rope, the viewer may frequently see the camera zoom in on someones back, this is so that they can cut it without the audience seeing the cut, which makes it appear as if it is one long recording.



there are various moments of suspense in rope, the two men hide their friends body in a box, and then serve dinner on top of it. There are moments in the film where it seems that someone might open the box, this puts the viewer on edge, wondering if the men will be caught or someone will find the body. However there is no resourceful hero trying to outwit a better equipped villain, the two men seem like they want to get caught, and Philip seems to have guilt about what he has done by the end of the film.

The main focus of rope is also not based on the 'hero' (if there is one) but on the villains instead. This is similar to psycho, where the film is not based on the hero/heroine but is based on the villains and why they do what they do. The main focus on psycho is Normans relationship with his mother, whereas Rope is based on brandon and Philip's morals, and why they have killed their friend.

Some of the thriller theorist ideas also do not appear to be in Rope. Todorov's 4 stages are not in rope, because as soon as the film starts the audience is thrown into the second stage, disruption. There is also not a 'new equilibrium' because the boys got what they wanted in the end, getting caught. A thriller theorist who is evident is rope however is Levi Strauss, and his idea of binary opposition. In rope Brandon and Philip see themselves as binary opposites to everyone else. They see themselves as intellectually superior, and believe that they can do what we want.