Movie Review : Rear Window

The 1960 Alfred Hitchcock classic thriller, Psycho and the psychological thriller novel, The Talented Mr.Ripley by notable American author Patricia Highsmith both challenge the audience’s perception of the noir protagonist through pronounced exploration controversial themes via the. Through the use of a range of stylistic features, the authors aim to blur the line between innocence and guilt in order to develop a false sense of empathy for the protagonists Tom Ripley and Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins). Characterisation of both of these protagonists, used in a way that forces the audience to connect with them and adopt an controversial point of view, transforms the audiences perception of how the murderer of a psychological thriller should behave. Hitchcock uses

Alfred Hitchcock (1899 – 1980), the “Master of Suspense”, was a English film director, who was well known for his use of suspense and psychological elements to shock and surprise his audience. Hitchcock was known for his use of recurring themes, motifs and plot devices, such as the use of birds, hand motifs, the audience as a voyeur, mothers, blonde women, and sexuality. He was also very technical in his editing, using filming techniques such as deep focus, point of view, close up and wide, tracking shots. Montage was also a technique he used frequently in his films. He believed that by using visuals, he could convey thoughts and emotions just as well as dialogue could.

Most of Jeffries’ spying takes place in the night, in the darkness. We, as spectators, are seating in the dark, watching too. This makes us uncomfortably conscious of whatever is happening in the film. We are voyeurs, the same as Jeff, drawing up pleasure by watching into people’s houses.

Voyeurism in its generic form, has long been considered unethical due to its invasive nature. Most people would agree that spying on others is an invasion of privacy, and would look down on those peering into other’s lives. This viewpoint is expressed in the opening scene of the film by Jefferies’ insurance worker, Stella. She makes her entrance stating that ‘‘The New York state sentence for a peeping tom is six months in the workhouse...’. She goes on to say that his behaviour has her smelling ‘trouble right here in [his] apartment’ and mimics his hypothetical court appearance. Lisa Freemont, Jefferies’ girlfriend, also comments on the issue, first when Jefferies’ tells her of his suspicions of Lars Thorwald; labelling his ‘wild opinions’ as ‘diseased’ while defensively giving alternate reasons for all of Jefferies’ questions about Thorwald. Including these women, no character in the film, initially, encourages Jefferies’ voyeurism. Instead they explicitly downplay and dismiss it. Both Stella and

This technique momentarily suspends the omniscient gaze of the camera, and evokes the spectator’s—as well as Hitchcock’s—desire to “capture” the female protagonist as she escapes off-screen. In this context, the seemingly objective tracking shot may in fact reveal itself as a violent, subjective

Most people are born with good hearts, but as they grow up they learn prejudices. “Crash” is a movie that brings out bigotry and racial stereotypes. The movie is set in Los Angeles, a city with a cultural mix of every nationality. The story begins when several people are involved in a multi-car accident. Several stories interweave during two days in Los Angeles involving a collection of inter-related characters, a police detective with a drugged out mother and a mischief younger brother, two car thieves who are constantly theorizing on society and race, the white district attorney and his wife, a racist cop and his younger partner, a successful Hollywood director and his wife, a Persian immigrant father, a Hispanic locksmith and his young

In Alfred Hitchcock's 1954 classic thriller Rear Window, Jimmy Stewart stars as L.B. Jeffries, a world traveling magazine photographer accustomed to living a fast pace active lifestyle. When Jefferies injures himself taking a risky picture he is immobilized, confined to a wheelchair inside his apartment for two months. Bored with his uneventful life he becomes completely obsessed with the lives of his neighbors spending the majority of his waking hours watching them from his window. To obtain a better view he begins using a telescopic lens from one of his cameras. By watching his neighbors through the camera he assumes the role of both a spectator and a voyeur. This contributes to

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:

Like many of his films, Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window (1954) is an intense study in the sometimes-jarring idiosyncrasies of its main character, L.B. Jeffries (James Stewart). Jeffries is an observer by nature, a professional photographer confined to his apartment by an injury, with only insurance company nurse Stella (Thelma Ritter) and his girlfriend, Lisa Fremont (Grace Kelly) for company. This limitation impels him to begin observing his neighbors, and he witnesses events that lead him to believe Lars Thorwald (Raymond Burr) has murdered his wide. However, Jeffries’ watchful habit raises serious questions about the relationships between neighbors and ethics of observation in densely-populated urban settings. Rear Window uses set design and disparate camera techniques to codify the acceptable and unacceptable ways in which a city dweller might observe their neighbors, based largely on level on intent.

Hitchcock is known for the “meticulousness of his preproduction, shooting, and editing strategies” (Sterritt 9). An example of this is the filming technique Hitchcock used to illustrate Scottie’s Vertigo; to represent the sensation, the camera would physically move away from the subject while simultaneously zooming in on the subjects. Thus this specific shot was used whenever Scottie went through that experience, creating a specific motif for his reaction. Another strategy of Hitchcock is “his celebrated use of point-of-view shots”, which he employed to unite “physical and psychological identification between spectator and character” (Sterritt 11). This is exemplified in Rear Window, which is seen from almost entirely Jeff’s perspective, thus uniting audiences more with Jeff, and therefore the subjective narrative. This increases solidarity with Jeff, and makes it easier for the audience to adopt Jeff’s discoveries as the truth. Additionally point-of-view shots allow viewers to understand characters more, as seen through Judy’s point of view on her walk in the park with Scottie. Another camera angle favoured is the extreme high-angle shot, which in some cases marks a significant point in the plot; this shot is used to show Madeleine’s fall to her death in Vertigo, the point in the movie that serves as a climax that triggers the narrative

Alfred Hitchcock also used cinematography in a uniquely stylizing way. Hitchcock not only uses the camera to create dramatic irony, but he also uses the camera to lie to the audience and create anxious suspense. For example, in his film Psycho, when Marion is in the shower Hitchcock frames the scenes very tightly. Marion is in a confined and very personal space. This makes her incredibly vulnerable. Then Hitchcock heightens the suspense by creating dramatic irony with the reveal of a shadowy figure closing in on Marion, unbeknownst to her. This creates a lot of anxiety for the audience, knowing the protagonist is vulnerable and in danger with no way of altering the inevitable. Hitchcock then manipulates the audience by “revealing” a brief silhouette of an old lady as our shower killer. Hitchcock uses this “reveal” to lie to the audience, he makes the audience think they have more inside knowledge confirming their already growing suspicions, when in reality the audience is misled entirely and the murderer was Norman all along. The way Hitchcock uses the camera to reveal both inside information and misleading information truly keeps the viewer engaged and not knowing what to believe until the truth is finally revealed. By using this unique technique of controlling the audience by only showing what he wants you to see, Hitchcock masterfully defies expectations and creates suspense.

Alfred Hitchcock’s film Shadow of a Doubt is a true masterpiece. Hitchcock brings the perfect mix of horror, suspense, and drama to a small American town. One of the scenes that exemplifies his masterful style takes place in a bar between the two main characters, Charlie Newton and her uncle Charlie. Hitchcock was quoted as saying that Shadow of a Doubt, “brought murder and violence back in the home, where it rightly belongs.” This quote, although humorous, reaffirms the main theme of the film: we find evil in the places we least expect it. Through careful analysis of the bar scene, we see how Hitchcock underlies and reinforces this theme through the setting, camera angles,

As our culture changes so do the films we see. If we look at films and their remakes decades later, it is easy to see the changes in our culture. Between the time of the film Rear Window was released in 1954, under direction of Alfred Hitchcock, and the 2007 film Disturbia, directed by D.J. Caruso, our country has experienced many cultural changes over those 53 years we have seen an increase in violence, huge advancement in technology, and the increased use of sexuality, because of the media coverage of the Vietnam War, the inventing of the microchip and computer, and the end of the Hays Code in 1968. In Rear Window and Disturbia, both Jeff, played by James Stewart in Rear Window and Kale, played by Shia Lebeouf in Disturbia have been forced to remain indoors, and because of extreme boredom they have taken to spying on their neighbors to pass the time.

Alfred Hitchcock’s 1954 film, Rear Window, explores many dimensions in cinematography. The phenomenal film is well known for proclaiming its voyeurism issues that goes on in today’s society. Even though voyeurism is an act that should not be done, this film portrays it in an affirmative way. Rear Window introduces primary structural components in the first act which sets the mood for the audience to interact with J.B. Jefferies in a way as it is the audiences duty to help him solve the mystery on whether Thorwald murdered his wife or not.

The movie I have chosen to do my psychological film disorder assignment on is Girl Interrupted which is a psychological drama directed by James Mangold. The movie takes place in a mental institution for troubled women. All of the characters in this movie suffer from one or more mental illnesses such as depression, borderline personality disorder and schizophrenia. The movie gives us an inside look on how poorly these women are being treated and how they are treated as if they are abnormal because they are in this institution. Similarly the women are faced with their own personal and outer issues within the institution. The director gives us an inside look on how the patients are being treated poorly are