CORE RESPONSE: Implicit Gender Conflicts in North by Northwest

In his book Masked Men: Masculinity and the Movies in the Fifties, Steven Cohan discusses the implicit gender roles of the various characters in Alfred Hitchcock’s North By Northwest (1959). Cohan in particular focuses on the relationship between Cary Grant’s character Roger Thornhill and Eva Marie Saint’s Eve Kendall. He argues that Thornhill is a reflection of a diminishing American masculinity of the 1950s, one which was already in crisis partly due to the Cold War’s threat of communism - this threat comes full circle in the film, as Cohan describes Thornhill being “duped by a femme fatale…working for communists” (Cohan 7). In regards to Eve’s character, Cohan discusses the ways in which she is the quintessential 1950s Hitchcock actress, particularly because of her blondness. Cohan eventually argues that “blondeness turns out to be a highly volatile symbol of white patriarchy” because it promoted “WASP identity for a nation beginning to see white supremacy challenged at home” (Cohan 13). To be more specific regarding Eve’s “blondeness” in North by Northwest, Cohan argues that it helps maintain her mysteriousness - one which is critical to Hitchcock’s famous manipulation of the audience as the master of suspense (Cohan 14). 

In Garry Wills’s The Politics of Celebrity, the author offers various explanations for John Wayne’s prevailing popularity as a beloved movie star even years after his death. Wills focuses on parts of Wayne’s iconic style of performance - such as his walk, his pose (which he describes as akin to “Michelangelo’s David”) and his authoritative way of moving (which Wills cites as Wayne’s “easy control of his large body”) (Wills 19,18). Wills additionally argues that Wayne “embodied our deepest myth—that of the frontier,” and really, one that was disappearing in an increasingly globalized world (Wills 26). 

In Andrew Britton’s chapter “Stars and Genre” in Stardom: Industry of Desire, Britton critiques Richard Dyer’s argument that a powerful celebrity persona can carve its own genre in cinema (Britton 198). One of Britton’s most salient arguments is that “Many stars repeatedly cross genres” and thus those shifts in tone for the actor or actress cannot “[constitute] a new generic entity” (Britton 203). 

I particularly latched onto Cohan’s discussion of manhood in relation to North by Northwest, ultimately culminating in his argument that “The fate of the nation consequently appears to depend upon the strength of American manhood, and vice versa” (Cohan 8). To me, the film subverts the typical “leading man” archetype in its constant victimization of Thornhill. In other words, Cary Grant’s character is put in extreme situations in which he is forced to run or escape, but rarely does he actually fight. Whether he’s forced to drive away intoxicated in his car, run away from the infamous plane in the fields, or straddle his way off Mt. Rushmore, the fact that he’s always on the run and never really relies on physical confrontation further reinforces Cohan’s argument that Thornhill has a more effeminate nature. In a sense, because he never has to prove his physical capabilities, his traditional masculinity is never proven. Imagine, for instance, a Bond movie without Bond relying on physical confrontation - his character wouldn’t be as conventionally heroic.