Book Review : Rear Window By Alfred Hitchcock

it is the start of the story. The window fills the whole frame of the

Voyeurism is originally defined as ‘the practice of gaining sexual pleasure from watching others when they are naked or engaged in sexual activity’. However, the term is also used to describe a general spying on, or having interest in, other people’s lives. This kind of voyeurism is the central theme for Alfred Hitchcock’s mystery thriller, Rear Window (1954). The film follows the boredom-induced curiosity of photographer L.B. ‘Jeff’ Jefferies. Bound to his wheelchair with a broken leg, he has little to do with his time, and finds himself looking into and involving himself in, the lives of his

Hitchcock uses many techniques throughout the film “Rear Window” to convey suspense. The major theme of the film regards Jefferies voyeurism. His intrigue in the everyday lives of his neighbours is viewed as intrusive and morally wrong on principle. However, without this voyeuristic tendency the crime committed by Thornwald would never have been solved. Thus, the audience is lead through emotional turmoil in questioning whether it is wrong to invade someone’s privacy, or just and heroic to solve a crime. We see the climax of the film when Lisa and Stella venture out of Jefferies apartment to investigate the murder of Mrs Thornwald. This leads to a confrontation between Thornwald and Jefferies. These scenes build suspense through the use of detachment, the use of ‘split-screen’, ‘red-herring’ plot devices, lighting, music and diegetic sound.

The mise-en-scene of this shot hints at important information about Jeffries, his neighbors, and the neighborhood in general. But what the camera does tells us something much stronger: Rear Window is a film about voyeurism, and a commentary on audiences watching drama on a screen.

Documentarians often want to get as close to their subject matter as possible. Some documentarians have an insider perspective which ignites a spark to create a piece that illuminates a specific topic or area of study. There are also documentarians that have no affiliation with said subject matter, but want to explore the topic in question. Finally, there are documentarians that have a foot in both worlds. Insider/outsider is a theory in which a documentarian can be close to a subject, but also possess characteristics or traits that make them distant from the topic in question (Coles, 1998). Such is the case with the directors of both Stranger with a Camera and The House I Live In. Due to their own location, both Eugene Jarecki and Elizabeth Barret exhibit characteristics that make them fall into the insider/outsider roles as directors. Robert Coles defines location by stating, “We notice what we notice because of who we are” (Coles, 1998, p. 7). Included in this is, a person’s education, race, class, and gender. Both directors realize they are outsiders and utilize a lens into a world in which they are not otherwise a part of. Jarecki’s lens comes in the form of Nanny Jeter, his family’s nanny from when he was a child. Barret’s lens for her documentary is the community that she shared with Ison. The two directors enter into a world that they are not a part of because of their location, but forge a connection to the subject matter through means of a lens.

Rear Window is compelling, clever, and utterly original. Hitchcock helps us share this obsessive curiosity, and draw our conclusions directly parallel to the characters in the film. The unique montage of imagery helps define our characters, and expose their vulnerability, their identity, and their own self-discovery

The majority of the film deals with the events occurring within the Thorwald apartment. In many ways the Thorwalds’ marriage parallels Lisa and Jeffries’ relationship, except with a reversal in gender. Lisa and Lars Thorwald, both mobile and healthy, strive to make their respective relationships work. Thorwald brings his wife dinner in bed decorated with a rose. She only laughs at this gesture. On the other side, Lisa cannot even gain Jeffries attention by sitting in his lap. Mrs. Thorwald and Jeffries, who are both physically restrained, only complain to their partners. The Thorwald apartment becomes of particular interest when Jeffries begins to suspect murder. He believes that Thorwald finally became so tired of his nagging wife that he butchered her with a knife and saw. After some time he even convinces Lisa of his accusation, which in turn adds another gazer to the rear window. This makes her more important to Jeffries in that he can now discuss what is going on with someone who will listen. She still does not obtain his full attention until she crosses over into the plot within the Thorwald apartment. When Lisa becomes the subject of the gaze, then, and only then, is Jeffries attracted to her.

The film Rear Window, released in 1954, and directed by Alfred Hitchcock, portrays the shift of power in the relationship between the central characters of Lisa Freemont and L.B. "Jeff" Jeffries throughout the film. As the characters are introduced in the beginning of the film, Jeffries is shown to have control of the relationship between himself and Miss Freemont, the power later shifts to Lisa as the film progresses and she takes an interest in the suspected murder. However, the film ends with relative equality within the relationship, after Lisa's intelligence is discovered by her partner.

In the movie, Rear Window, Alfred Hitchcock uses the story of a cripple free lance photographer, Jeff Jeffries, to explain the twisted sense of society in the 1950’s. Hitchcock uses clever things from the way the apartments are being filmed to the dialogue between Jeffries, Lisa, and Stella to show societies interest in pain, tragedy, and discomfort, and in the end you see how tragedy is what makes everyone happy.

In this essay, I shall try to illustrate whether analysing the movie Rear Window as a classical example of the Freudian concept of voyeurism, is appropriate. Voyeurism is defined in The Penguin dictionary of psychology as:

Not only were the viewers placed there as onlookers but also in the form of the character. Jeffries, is always looking through binoculars searching for clues and information about his neighbor, his wife, and both of their whereabouts during the film. When watching his neighbor come home one day we are placed in the scene as Jeffries, looking through the binoculars with his eyes. Another time we are placed in the scene as a detective. The camera places us there and guides us through scenes. Each time, we are unintentionally and unconsciously looking for information and answers that we were unaware of existing or at the scene in general. The camera even guides us around Jeffries’ neighbor’s room through the binoculars. As his neighbor comes home we view him talking on the phone. While looking at him through the binoculars or Jeffries’ eyes we read his lips trying to read what he is saying to the other person about the mystery on the other line. We are forced to look at him fondling his wife’s jewelry and wedding ring while asking the person on the other line what to do about it. Here, we as the viewer are presents information about the mystery, or the disappearance of the neighbor’s wife and we concluded that there was something inevitably wrong about the situation, proving Jefferies’ assumptions about his neighbor and the murder of his wife to be shockingly convincible. We are led to believe Jefferies’

Alfred Hitchcock’s thriller ‘Rear Window’ (Hitchcock, 1954) begins with the immediate use of mise-en-scène in order to establish a sense of atmosphere, equilibrium and the mundane, soon to be disrupted as the events of the film unfold and are observed through the eyes of the voyeuristic protagonist, Jeff. Setting, cinematography and various other expressive mise-en-scène techniques work together to influence the overall appearance of the film. Though, by taking a closer look, these techniques reveal the significance of the narrative and characters. In the opening sequence, Hitchcock’s original visual style provides signposts for the audience to recognize what will be significant in the future: instead of establishing what is only happening in the moment in time; mise-en-scène is used to suggest what is to come. This arrangement of the “Classical Hollywood” narrative - starting with the setting and characters in a state equilibrium - acts as a seemingly all-purpose, archetypal opening by establishing location and introducing character. Simultaneously we can see that this sequence is vastly different from the rest of the film: it is leading the viewer into a false sense of security – the calm before the storm – as Jeff soon happens to piece together information leading to the possibility that one of his neighbors murdered their wife. This sequence is one of the only moments in the film we see things the protagonist does not, thus this carefully constructed opening is preparing

Ichigo Kurosaki aka “The Soul Reaper” is in an anime called “Bleach”, if you look at a photo of Ichigo in one of his various forms many assume that he is evil, unless you see him in human or “Stage 1/Form 1”. Without knowledge of Ichigo’s story, the result was that people made assumptions just based off of what was knowledge was present at that time. In Elizabeth Daley’s essay “Expanding The Concept Of Literacy”, she talks about how multimedia is the vernacular of today’s society and she expands the idea of literacy. Daley says, “The multimedia language has become the current vernacular… [and it] is capable of constructing complex meanings independent of text” (34). What Daley is trying to say is, that multimedia in its many forms has the capability

In Raymond Carver’s short story “Viewfinder”, Carver creates a juxtaposition between his two main characters; a handicapped photographer and a homeowner. At first, the juxtaposition of these two characters seems irrational, but as the story progresses the two character’s similarities are revealed as the theme of loss becomes evident.

The opening images of Rear Window introduces the audience to J.B. Jefferies apartment with the window curtains rising. The camera is facing outside the window which reveals the small courtyard. After the camera gives the audience a tour of the courtyard, it then shows us Jeff sleeping on his wheel chair. From this, the audience should be able to perceive there is no privacy at all for the neighbors. What one does, everyone is able to see (only if they are observing). The music in the beginning sets the mood, the audience should feel safe and mellow as if nothing bad is going to happen. There is not one suspicion which tells the audience there will be a murder case throughout this film. With that in mind, the theme is portrayed through Jeff’s perspective from his observation of the neighbors. He observes the love life of his neighbors while he is questioning his own