Commentary
In the first scene of “Hitchcock Loves Bikinis,” a young mum is happily playing with her baby. Next comes a close-up shot of Alfred Hitchcock, the late movie director, smiling. Clearly, he is a man whose heart is warmed by this sweet glimpse of maternal love.
In the next scene, we see a bikini-clad woman sunbathing, followed by the same shot of Hitchcock smiling. Instead of a benign grandfatherly figure, this time we see a lecherous old man. The moral of the story is simple: when it comes to understanding human behaviour, context is everything.
Consider, for example, a certain Mr M. Several times each month, he has visions that he claims are sent to him directly from God. These holy messages contain recommendations about how people should live their lives. Mr M feels compelled to convey this advice to anyone who will listen. His speech is normally intelligible, but he occasionally produces a strange babble that he claims to be the voice of a holy spirit that periodically occupies his body. He can tell when the spirit departs because, exhausted by its heavenly labours, Mr M faints dead away.
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