This pack contains a 62-slide PowerPoint and accompanying 20 page student booklet. The lesson offers a comprehensive analysis of Vertigo’s post-WWII cultural context with a focus on Post War Gender Relations. The lesson covers: Starter - breakdown of exam / types questions students will face Students to discuss their response to the film and list adjectives for key characters (to be used later in assessments) Analysis of the opening scenes (credits and roof-top chase) Introduction of key themes: voyeurism, women under scutiny, castration anxiety/loss of masculine status Historical Context: the cold war, 1950s as ‘Age of Anxiety’ Gender roles and gender anxiety in post war America Image analysis: compare images of Rosey the Riveter / WWII propaganda that promotes women with 1950s advertisements that position women as domestic, passive, in the home - reflects change in attitudes toward gender roles post WWII How were traditional gender roles reinforced? Psycho-analysis - introduction of key concepts re-analysis of opening sequence - explore castration anxiety in post WWII USA Analysis of Midge’s apartment scene: castrated males, powerful women Repetition compulsion Ernie’s - the feminine ideal / Madeleine = the ‘ideal’ The Bell Tower - phallic image / Scottie’s trauma prevents masculine duty Second Bell Tower scene - the return of the traditional, untraumatised male Assessment included with a plan