vertigo themes symbols motifs summary overview

THEMES MOTIFS SYMBOLS

Death1)Presented as attractive and frightening through ideas about fear of vertigo (Scottie) and potential suicide (Madeline)2)Scottie seems obsessed with paradox of being attracted by death but terrified of it.

Spiralseyes / hairstyles / stairs / treesreinforces ideas surrounding vertigo and closely linked to themes around life and death

Towers Phallic symbols and connected to themes around Scottie’s impotence and power struggles in the film

The Supernatural ideas about dying and coming back from the dead

Flowers idealised notions of beauty and femininity as fragilerepresents Scottie’s idealisation of Madeline as his ideal woman

Sequoia Trees considered to by symbolic of life and death – the years we live and generations of time

The power of Psychological obsession1)the rational v irrational romantic delusion Scottie has with Madeline2)The idea that we’re all prisoners of our own psyche

Tunnels & Corridors represented as passages to (and from) death

Physical appearances & beauty:1)physical manifestations in people2) ideals of beauty but with a price to pay

Redconsidered to signify danger

Crisis of MasculinityRole of men and women in 1950s society

Green – considered to represent 1)nature & life2)life after death / supernatural / ghosts

Religious Icons relates to themes to do with life, death and the supernatural