Seeing Red: Color and Commentary in Michael Powell's Peeping Tom
Format
Oral Presentation
Abstract/Artist Statement
Michael Powell’s 1960 British horror film Peeping Tom, tells the story of Mark Lewis, a severely troubled young cameraman who grew up under the magnifying camera lens of his scientist father. As I will show, Mark’s childhood trauma contributes to his scopophilia and voyeuristic tendencies, as well as his desire to film the reactions of sexualized females at the point of death. My paper works to emphasize the importance of psychoanalysis and formal analysis in an effective film ‘reading’. By referencing psychoanalytic film theory, I will argue that in Peeping Tom, the color red highlights women as sex symbols, fetish objects, and murder victims
Location
University of the Pacific, Classroom Building
Start Date
5-5-2007 9:00 AM
End Date
5-5-2007 12:30 PM
Seeing Red: Color and Commentary in Michael Powell's Peeping Tom
University of the Pacific, Classroom Building
Michael Powell’s 1960 British horror film Peeping Tom, tells the story of Mark Lewis, a severely troubled young cameraman who grew up under the magnifying camera lens of his scientist father. As I will show, Mark’s childhood trauma contributes to his scopophilia and voyeuristic tendencies, as well as his desire to film the reactions of sexualized females at the point of death. My paper works to emphasize the importance of psychoanalysis and formal analysis in an effective film ‘reading’. By referencing psychoanalytic film theory, I will argue that in Peeping Tom, the color red highlights women as sex symbols, fetish objects, and murder victims