Viewing Journal 2: Rebecca

On Monday, January 10, you will view Rebecca.  On Thursday, January 13, you will submit—via email—a two- to three-page typed response to the film.

To submit your response, type the journal into a word processing program.  Once you’ve saved your document, copy the text, open your email program, and paste the text into a new email message.  Send your journal to kgb@u.washington.edu by 5:00 p.m. on Thursday, January 13.

For this journal, you will be considering the form of Rebecca, particularly the relationships among the various formal elements within the total system of the film.  In your journal, address one of the following questions, developing your response with specific details from the film.

1)  Identify three or four scenes that depict Maxim’s relationship with his new wife and suggest his relationship with Rebecca (for example, the scene in which the couple watches the film from their honeymoon, the opening of the costume ball, the scenes in or near the cottage on the beach).  How do narrative and stylistic elements in these scenes cue the viewer to understand the relationships in particular ways?  How does the meaning of both relationships change over the course of the film? 

2)  Joan Fontaine’s character is initially referred to as a child; later, Maxim and Favelle note that she has grown up.  How do the film’s narrative (plot) and stylistic (costume, expression, voice) elements work to depict the character’s growth?  Why is the theme of growth—with innocence lost—key to the film?

3)  What is Rebecca about?  In other words, what meanings can one glean from the film?  What are Rebecca’s explicit (stated), implied, and symptomatic (indicative of particular cultural and historical values and beliefs) meanings?  How do these various meanings interact in the film (do they reinforce one another, challenge one another)?

4) Rebecca contains parallel scenes in which the heroine and Mrs. Danvers converse in Rebecca’s room.  The film’s conclusion depicts Mrs. Danvers alone in the room.  How do these scenes function within the film?  What elements (narrative and stylistic) are repeated or juxtaposed in these scenes?

5)  Choose one of the following motifs, trace its appearance throughout the film, and discuss the way(s) in which the motif functions: 

• the sea crashing against the rocks
• references to Maxim’s temper
• Rebecca’s monogram
• shots of the heroine being lost within or dwarfed by the house

6)  What connections do you see between Rebecca and The Lady Vanishes?  Potential connections could be the issue of appearances, the mystery and romance plots, the heroine’s search for a particular woman, or the presenting of causes before effects.  In your response, you may address one or more of the connections identified in this question or describe other connections.