GROUP ONE:
For this assignment, we will be working from Roland Barthes’ notion of the “writerly” text. According to Barthes, “…the writerly text is ourselves writing” (S/Z, 5); therefore, you, the reader, will be interpreting the film text in order to produce meaning from it.
Your assignment is to analyze Hitchcock's storytelling strategy in Psycho by connecting your observations to Barthes' Hermeneutic Code. The Hermeneutic Code denotes an enigma (riddle) that moves the narrative foreward, setting up delays and obstacles that maintain suspense. You need to produce TWO PARAGRAPHS:
Paragraph 1: Identify an Enigma established in the film, Psycho. How is the question posed visually to you, the viewer? Then, discuss ONE SCENE in which a delay is introduced. How is the delay represented visually and what is the effect of creating this delay?
DELAYS:
1. Thematisation. What in the narrative is an enigma?
2. Positioning. Additional confirmations of the enigma.
3. Formulation of the enigma.
4. Promise of an answer of the enigma.
5. Fraud. Circumvention of the true answer.
6. Equivocation. Mixture of fraud and truth.
7. Blocking. The enigma cannot be solved.
8. Suspended answer. Stopping the answering after having begun.
9. Partial answer. Some facets of the truth are revealed.
10. Disclosure of the truth.
Since we are dealing with a film, the code can take the form of spoken dialogue, auditory cues or music, visuals, and/or editing choices. Remember, Barthes says that “Each literary description is a view” (55). He describes the writer (read: artist of any kind) as someone who places a frame around reality, creating a perspective from which we see the story being told. Every decision the artist makes creates a frame. Decisions to include or exclude details, to frame characters in a particular way, or to place actions within a specific chronology all affect the way we interpret the scene.
Paragraph 2: In your opinion, could this film be classified as a readerly text or does it allow for plurality of meanings, making it a writerly text?
REQUIREMENTS: 300 words minimum. You must use at least 2 vocabulary words from the first 12 words on the list. BOLD each vocabulary word you use. Post must be live by 3:00 pm on Friday, January 21, 2011.
GROUP TWO:
After group one has posted their entries, browse through your peers' blogs and pick one entry to comment upon. You can agree with the writer, argue with a specific point made, or both. But, you MUST add something to the conversation begun by the writer.
REQUIREMENTS: 300 words minimum. Post must be live by 3:00 pm on Saturday, January 22, 2011.
