Narrative Analysis Of Rear Window By Alfred Hitchcock

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

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.

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.

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

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:

Alfred Hitchcock’s 1954 film “Rear Window” demonstrated a suspenseful and terrifying storyline, which captured the attention of a variety of audiences. The film focuses on James Stuart (Jeff) and ultimately his neighbors who live around him. Stuart is crippled from the beginning of the movie and is unable to leave his apartment. Due to his immobility, he remains confined in his home with a broken leg and begins to watch his neighbor’s particular behaviors and routines. The film progresses into drama and suspense that is seen through music, lighting, film editing processing and extensive detail to the neighborhood being watched. Rear Window exhibits these details in the scene where Grace Kelly who plays the role of Lisa, attempts to

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.

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,

In Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window the sequence being analyzed begins at 100:31 and it ends at 102:13, putting in consideration the mise-en-scene, cinematography, editing, and sound. A quick overview of the sequence: L.B Jefferies is confined to a wheelchair due to an accident, is looking out the window to his neighbor’s apartment across the courtyard. He suspects that the neighbor has committed murder. Jefferies’s girlfriend Lisa Fremont manages to get in the accused apartment in search of the wife’s wedding ring, to prove that Lars Thorwald indeed murdered his wife. Lisa is cornered in the apartment by Thorwald and tries to persuade him so that she can go on her merry way. Thorwald begins to manhandle her and she screams out for Jeff.

Rear Window is a 1954 film that explores the theme of voyeurism. In this film, the main character Jeff who is a photographer gets enamored with observing his neighbors while sitting on his chair with his legs cast. He develops a keen interest in observing his neighbors that he watches them day and night preferring to sleep on his chair than on his bed. One of the interesting and thought provoking aspect about the movie is the element of distance and closeness between him and his neighbors. His apartment is relatively far from his neighbors.

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

Alfred Hitchcock has always been known for his suspenseful and action filled films. His 1954 production of the movie Rear Window is no contradiction to that. Throughout Rear Window, many different motifs and themes are splayed out for the audience to dwell upon. One well seen theme is voyeurism. Within the movie, the audience is challenged with this theme, and left with the uncertainty about the power of voyeurism. Some critics believe that Hitchcock even went so far as to use the film as a way to say that us as an audience has an obsession with watching, which invades the privacy of those around us: voyeurism is

In Hitchcock’s “Rear Window” Jefferies apartment is the sole viewpoint to the outside world for the audience. We rarely see anything that isn’t from Jefferies immediate surroundings or directly from his point of view. This gives Jefferies, and in turn the viewers, a detached sense of realism from the world of the apartment complex opposite. This detachment is apparent to throughout the movie as many characters state to Jefferies that what he’s doing is morally wrong. However, the line of moral and immoral conduct is pushed as Jefferies continues to watch his neighbours and ultimately becomes directly involved in the plot which he had

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

Rear Window is odd in how it is filmed. Focusing on the idea of voyeurism and watching others. You see this is the first scene instead of seeing the main character or even side characters, you see the building the many apartments and the courtyard and then you meet Jeff. Jeff you can see is a broken man, he laying down sweating, unsleep on a chair. But you only see Jeff a glance like he is not important instead the film focus the people in the apartments nearby in the rest of film he will watch out his window. Through this film you see this evolution of the characters through the lense of this beautiful shot film made by the sets and background characters. Without the sets this film would not be what it is. This story is told through it’s images, music and background characters as much if more than it’s leads. This is a movie about watching movies and as audience member your watching Jeff watch his neighbors. Hitchcock is bluntly telling us we are watching a film. Most of film is at night like the dark theater this is shown in, Hitchcock shows the audience ourselves through Jeff .