Coe encuentra una notable similitud entre el trabajo de los realizadores antes mencionados, el sadismo, que en el caso de Hitchcock llevaba a escenas en donde los personajes batallan continuamente contra la adversidad. Algunas clásicas escenas como la de Janet Leigh en Psycho o The Birds han quedado como fotografías en nuestro subconciente.
En el caso de Disney, transcribo de la nota de Jonathan Coe
In Disney's case, because his targets were children, there is also something sinister and uncomfortable at work. I still shudder whenever I read Disney's reported expression of delight as he imagined the effect the death of Bambi's mother would have on all those youngsters: "You know she's dead, but the little guy just comes back to that thing and the snow begins to pick up and he's crying, MOTHER!,and it would just tear their hearts out if you could get that little guy crying MOTHER."
Even Hitchcock was never as obviously cruel as that (and his audience, in any case, did at least consist of consenting adults), but people flocked to his films in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s -and still buy now,on DVD- because they knew they were going to be put through the emotional wringer, and they couldn't wait.
