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The Role Of Masochism In Rear Window

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Stewart displayed his wound which was typical of him throughout his career. His emotional vulnerability forces Naremore to call him “the most intensely emotional leading man to emerge from the studio system” (254). Stewart carries his wounds as a signifier of his emotional distress. He bears prominent leg wounds in films like the Rope where he has a limp from another war wound, and in Rear Window, he spends the film in a full leg cast and by the end he has two. Stewart’s performance that usually revolves round his wound and in certain scenes they are dwelt to such an extent that it escapes the issue of masochism. Silverman discusses the relationship between masochism and a conflicted or subversive masculinity, pointing out that for Theodor

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