"Hushed to a whisper" : of veiled device and strained connection in Francis Coppola's The conversation : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Media Studies at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand

Abstract

This thesis is an analysis of The Conversation, a film directed by Francis Coppola and released by Paramount Pictures in 1974. The central theme underpinning this study is that a pattern of "unnatural connections" is evident both in and within the text itself and in the sphere of critical judgements contributing to issues of potential audience responses. The notion of "unnatural connection" is discussed in relation to the following terms, each crucial to a complete understanding of the text: authorial intentionality, in particular the relationship to creative collaboration, questions of mode and genre, tragedy and technology, issues of detection, and dilemmas of the existential. The thesis concludes with a speculative commentary on notions of disorientation, disciplinary apparatus, inversion, and spectator positioning.