Seminar: Shadow of a Doubt

Pre-film seminar! 

Professor Vernon Shetley will place the film in the context of Alfred Hitchcock’s body of work and preoccupations, discussing its vision of small-town life, its exploration of the pathologies of family, and the reasons that Hitchcock (sometimes) referred to it as his favorite among his films. 

About Vernon Shetley: 

Vernon Shetley teaches literature and film at Wellesley College, with a particular focus on contemporary poetry and recent American cinema. His book on film noir from the 1970s to the present, Dark Film, Blood Money: The Economic Unconscious of American Neo-Noir Cinema, was published in February 2026.  The book explores neo-noir cinema as a response to and representation of anxieties around work, money, trust, and exchange as postwar prosperity declined into economic stagnation and social alienation.  He has published essays on a range of film-related topics, including Blade Runner, Scarlett Johansson’s science-fiction films, and the Olsen Twins.