Appendix 3.1: Analytic methods - 6 films from 1954
of this hospital world in her helpfulness, neither Simon - nor
the audience, firmly locked into his point of view - notice
her much at this early stage. Later she becomes Simon's
girlfriend and during the second half of the film the audience
often shares her view of Simon's exasperating naivete and
Singlemindedness. An example of this is a scene near the end
of the film where she and Simon are sitting on a balcony on a
moonlit summer's night. The film cuts straight in to a medium
close-up of the two of them as Simon says earnestly 'Tell me
the answer, please' and Joy responds 'Can't you guess?' The
location and the story so far encourage the audience to assume
that he has just proposed, but this is yet another comic
moment: she is in fact testing him in preparation for his
final exams. The audience is, however, alerted to her point
of view and sympathetic with her in the dialogue which
immediately follows:
Simon: Joy, I've been thinking, If I do qualify, I
shan't be seeing so much of you, will I?
Joy: No, I suppose you won't.
Simon: Are you always going to be a nurse? Be funny
if we met sometime and you were a Matron and I
was a Harley Street specialist.
Joy: Yes.
Her response is accompanied by an eloquent look of resigned
exasperation, seen in a medium close-up which can be read by
the audience but not by Simon. Thus we have a moment of
complicity between Joy and the audience, and there are several
such moments during the course of the film. These moments
are, it must be noted, exclusively concerned with Joy's
response to, understanding and expectations of the hero of the
film , Simon. There are no invitations to explore the life
she might enjoy when he is not there. She has the final words
of the film, and these again are ambiguous, allowing the
audience to savour for the last time the pleasures of a double
entendre. Simon has passed his exams and they are all
celebrating in the pub when he is called to casualty - his
first assignment as a qualified doctor.
Simon: Will you wait for me?
Joy: Yes, I'll wait.
Whether she is waiting for him to return to the merrymaking or
whether she is waiting to marry him is unclear but the
audience's satisfaction at the narrative's close requires the
latter interpretation. It is alright for Joy to wait, for
ever.
Group 3 : Mrs Hepworth in Hobson's Choice.
She is a minor character, appearing in two scenes. She is an
old, authoritative and upper class woman who commands respect
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