The part that I want to focus on from this dense article is the comparisons Cohan makes between masculinity and femininity in the film and during the time period. Cohan begins the article giving a historical background of the 50s, which is when the movie was made, and the period it was set in. According to Cohan, post World War II and during the Cold War it seemed as though the previous conventions of masculinity were no more. In fact, Cohan went as far to say many men in films and society were emasculated. This is one part I had to re-read as I did not see the emasculation in North By Northwest. It wasn't until Cohan brought in the new views about females specifically that of blonde white women I understood the point.
For me, even as a child, I understood that connotations of the blonde female in films. She was there to represent the evil woman who is present to destroy the happiness in the main characters lives like the dad's girlfriend in Parent Trap. The other being the Marilyn Monroe type that is drop dead gorgeous, and often is a damsel in distress. Eve in North By Northwest is supposed to embody both but does not seem like either of these two to me but rather a character who was not allowed to reach her full potential. She was a powerful, capable and intelligent woman--a secret agent. But the movie chooses to focus on a lowly advertising male who gets roped into this mess of government espionage. As Cohan points out, Eve’s story is mostly done off screen. He also believes that Eve’s white complexion and blondeness make her complicit in the patriarchy. This point is confusing to me as, I understand how Hitchcock made his blonde actress a part of the patriarchy, but blaming a whole group of women of subjecting themselves to such an oppressive institution is a stretch. Also, this statement came after the points Cohan made about Eve’s story not being given enough screen time. With the shifting stance on feminity, it was hard to analyze Cohan's arguments deeper. The points Cohan makes about masculinity and Grant were much simpler to digest and dissect.
The ideals of masculinity throughout the 50s and in North By Northwest is what makes up the bulk of the argument of this article. Watching this film, Grant seemed to embody a similar character he has played before-- a handsome, suave, breadwinning type male. Cohan agrees, but he also believes that there were notes of the new principles of masculinity from the 50s. As stated before, there was a sense of emasculation for males during this time, but Cohan thinks Grant contributed this to the war/post-war sensibility. Again this point(s) were confusing as in the film North By Northwest there were little to no notable moments of emasculation in Grant’s character. The only time this could be argued is at the beginning with Roberts mother, where he is trying to convince her that he is innocent. I believe that Cohan got emasculation from Grant because of the persona of Grant himself.
Grant had a long and popular presence in film. From the beginning, Grant was seen as a romantic figure much like Rudolph Valentino. As Grant’s career went on his personal life influenced his screen image. Cohan discusses this, but in my opinion too late in the article. There were rumors about Grant being or acting “feminine,” which could have contributed to the softness of some of his characters, which made him more attractive to many female viewers. These views of Grant and masculinity in Cohan’s piece as well as in the film ultimately stated that Grant and North By Northwest had to work extra hard to project an old school ideology of masculinity. One where the male was dominant, the breadwinner, and was able to protect the woman he loves, like Grant does for Eve at the top of Mount Rushmore. With the construct, if masculinity on edge, this characterization was purposeful by Hitchcock.
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