The early Hitchcock feature film; Murder (1930) was a stroke of genius by the director the way he utilised suspense for a higher issue involving the ethics of capital punishment. The audience must sit holding their breaths while the jury decide the fate at the trial of a woman charged with murder.
The suspense is buttressed and amplified purely by the incapacity of the lay members of the jury to decide a person's guilt. As ill equipped lay people, they must not divulge their fear that such perplexity is beyond their scope. Such inadequacy is camouflaged by the utility of the British 'stiff upper lip' .
Further camouflage of such inadequacy is that of the clique which permits weaker persons to be lead by the stronger, as discussed by eminent German psychologist; Erich Fromm (March 23, 1900 – March 18, 1980)whose studies on 'the psychology of the crowd' concluded that the conservative nature of less liberal cultures in Western society caused submission to stronger individuals. Accordingly, the jury in Murder relieve themselves as individuals of any personal responsibility and are mitigated for their decision in favour of a collectivism in the name of a democratic justice system.
Meanwhile it is notable that despite the obvious lack of substantial evidence, paradoxically the woman is charged with murder. The fact that a woman is assumed to have committed murder irrespective of hard evidence is clearly what causes her to be assumed to be guilty. She was acting out of context of her traditional role of nurturer: wife, mother, and home maker.
She is presented as a stereotypical weak damsel in distress waiting for her knight in shining armour to rescue her. This image affords her a man willing to help prove her innocence. If she had acted like a cold murderer she would surely have not afforded such chivalrous action on her behalf. As such she could have been wrongly hanged via a miscarriage of justice.
Such a case as Hitchcock clearly states illustrates the inadequacies and biases of the British justice system in the 1930s. Such inadequacies of justice was to culminate in the eventual abolition of capital punishment in Great Britiain a couple of decades on.
In sum, Hitchcock managed some contribution in illustrating the inadequacies of the British justice system via his clever use of suspense. As such this is a brilliant film, and highly recommended, particularly to both students and professionals of the social sciences, humanities and law.
The suspense is buttressed and amplified purely by the incapacity of the lay members of the jury to decide a person's guilt. As ill equipped lay people, they must not divulge their fear that such perplexity is beyond their scope. Such inadequacy is camouflaged by the utility of the British 'stiff upper lip' .
Further camouflage of such inadequacy is that of the clique which permits weaker persons to be lead by the stronger, as discussed by eminent German psychologist; Erich Fromm (March 23, 1900 – March 18, 1980)whose studies on 'the psychology of the crowd' concluded that the conservative nature of less liberal cultures in Western society caused submission to stronger individuals. Accordingly, the jury in Murder relieve themselves as individuals of any personal responsibility and are mitigated for their decision in favour of a collectivism in the name of a democratic justice system.
Meanwhile it is notable that despite the obvious lack of substantial evidence, paradoxically the woman is charged with murder. The fact that a woman is assumed to have committed murder irrespective of hard evidence is clearly what causes her to be assumed to be guilty. She was acting out of context of her traditional role of nurturer: wife, mother, and home maker.
She is presented as a stereotypical weak damsel in distress waiting for her knight in shining armour to rescue her. This image affords her a man willing to help prove her innocence. If she had acted like a cold murderer she would surely have not afforded such chivalrous action on her behalf. As such she could have been wrongly hanged via a miscarriage of justice.
Such a case as Hitchcock clearly states illustrates the inadequacies and biases of the British justice system in the 1930s. Such inadequacies of justice was to culminate in the eventual abolition of capital punishment in Great Britiain a couple of decades on.
In sum, Hitchcock managed some contribution in illustrating the inadequacies of the British justice system via his clever use of suspense. As such this is a brilliant film, and highly recommended, particularly to both students and professionals of the social sciences, humanities and law.