Rebecca's Dog-Jasper

Rebecca is Hitchcock's first Hollywood movie. It is still full of horror and suspense. Throughout the film, Rebecca never showed up (if except for one of her portraits on the roof), but her shadow always enveloped the entire Manderley Manor. Everything about Rebecca in the hut by the sea; and embroidered "R" pillows, quilts, sheets, and all kinds of notepads in the Manderley Manor; even the handkerchief used by Mr. de Winter, all the time It reminds us that Rebecca used to live here, and she still has her shadow. An important role in the movie, Mrs. Danvers, the butler of Manderley Manor. She always appears suddenly, unpreparedly, but we never see where she is coming from; when she speaks, we clearly see her expressionless and oily face through her medium close up, and the tracking shoot keeps the whole picture. The composition of the picture is basically unchanged, so that her face is always in the middle of the frame, which brings a kind of approaching pressure. These all add to the horror and tense atmosphere of the whole movie. In addition, Hitchcock is very good at using details to express the identity of characters and the relationship between people. For example, the young heroine always keeps her breasts slightly chin when she walks, and she often doesn't seem to know where to put her awkward hands. It was very different from the female employer around her who always held her head up and held her jeweled treasure. For another example, when the heroine is driving with Mr. de Winter, the small details of biting her nails make us feel that she is a naive young woman who does not understand the world. For another example, when we were watching the relationship between Mrs. Danvers and the heroine, they walked together. Mrs. Danvers walked behind as a servant, but walked in the middle of the aisle, while the heroine walked in front against the wall. Also look back from time to time. Mrs. Danvers walked steadily with her head held high, while the heroine held her skirt with her breasts upright, and her pace was disorderly. As an audience, we can clearly feel the pressure that Mrs. Danvers brings to the heroine.
But these are not the main points I want to elaborate. What I want to focus on is the seemingly innocent but somewhat mysterious black cocker spaniel-Jasper. In this movie, Jasper is an important element to promote the development of the story. It first appeared when the heroine had just arrived at Manderley Manor, and the butler Mrs. Danvers introduced her expressionlessly. This is the room where Rebecca once lived. We saw a closed door, as if telling us that this place is an inaccessible forbidden area. If this door is wide open, we can see the entire room, then its mystery will not exist, our audience and heroine will not have strong curiosity in the next film Came to this room again. Jasper lay calmly in front of the door, which not only made the audience feel a little bit of chill, but also hinted that everything was still in a peaceful baby. The camera moves forward, but instead of using zoom lens, it uses tracking shot. Tracking shot gives the audience a POV feel, but Mrs. Danvers and Mrs. deWinter have already left, then whose POV is this? In addition, Jasper suddenly raised his head as if he had also seen this non-existent "person". The tense atmosphere increased again.
Jasper's second appearance was in the Morning Room. This time did not focus on portraying the dog. In this Morning Room is full of Rebecca's breath. The big "R" on the notepad; a stack of letters in the drawer; the appearance of Mrs. Danves; and the phone asking for instructions to "Mrs. De Winter"; everything is hinting to us that this room belongs to Rebecca. Although Jasper is only an ornamental appearance in this scene, we may feel a little bit in our hearts. This dog always seems to appear in places where there is a strong Rebecca breath. It seems to have an inextricable relationship with Rebecca. Its existence is to bring us step by step into Rebecca's world and solve the mystery left by Rebecca step by step. In this scene, Jasper left after seeing the heroine enter the room, clearly showing Jasper's resistance to the second Mrs. de Winter.
The plot continues to develop. Jasper disrupted Mr. & Mrs. de Winter's usual walks. As if someone was calling, Jasper ran straight to the beach without looking back. We followed Jasper with Mrs. De Winter. The weird "Ben" I met in that small broken house, his enigmatic words "I know the dog, he comes from that house". In that small broken house we saw all the objects left by Rebecca. At the end of the movie, it was also revealed to us that this is the place where Rebecca had long waited and died. This scene once again strengthened the looming connection between Jasper and Rebecca. The audience will have an association: Jasper was once Rebecca's pet dog. I also vaguely feel that Jasper has the shadow of Rebecca on his body.
Then, Mr. Favell, Rebecca's cousin, appeared. Jasper saw Mr. Favell's excited and affectionate performance. Through the connection between Jasper and Rebecca established by the previous foreshadowing, our analysis of this scene has actually shown that this cousin has an unusual relationship with Rebecca.
Finally, towards the end of the movie, we saw Jasper again. Mr. de Winter finally rushed back to Manderley from the Rebecca incident and proved to be innocent. Meanwhile Mrs. de Winter was sitting on the sofa waiting for her husband, while Jasper was lying on her lap. The cause of Rebecca's death was revealed, and Jasper completely accepted the second Mrs. de Winter at the same time. When Mrs. Danvers approached Mrs. de Winter holding the fire, Mrs. de Winter was sleeping, but Jasper noticed the movement and raised his head. Finally, Mrs. de Winter took Jasper and appeared safely on the lawn. The film does not explain how Mrs. de Winter detected the fire and successfully left. I think the more reasonable explanation is that Jasper awakened her so that she could escape in time. If we regard Jasper as the shadow of Rebecca, perhaps the director wants to rescue Mrs. de Winter through Jasper to emphasize that Rebecca also has a kind nature. Just like Rebecca we learned from the perspective of Dr. Baker.

Finally, why does Hitchcock choose a dog, and the black Cocker Spaniel is such an important role? I think, first, dogs are loyal, especially Cocker Spaniels. Therefore, we can completely "trust" that the shadow of Rebecca seen in Jasper is the real Rebecca. Second, the Cocker Spaniel is a hunting dog, and the hunting dog naturally likes to search around, so the audience follows Jasper slowly into the Rebecca puzzle with all kinds of curiosity about Rebecca, constantly exploring, and finally the truth is revealed. Third, black. It happens that Mrs. Danvers in the film is also completely dark from beginning to end. Both are infinitely loyal to Rebecca, and both continue to guide us closer to Rebecca's world after Rebecca's death. We can see how similar they are. The difference is that until the last scene, Mrs. Danvers refused to accept the second Mrs. de Winter, but Jasper accepted her. We can confirm it by the scene where Jasper sleeps peacefully on her lap.

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