Anxiety And Suspense In Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window

In the 1954 film, Rear Window, Alfred Hitchcock uses the depicted sequence of frames to evoke feelings of anxiety and suspense in the audience by portraying an invasion of privacy and the fear of being caught breaking that boundary that society tends to cherish and protect.

When assessed individually, the chosen frames provide a partial, but incomplete evocation of suspense. In the first of the two frames, the audience is outside looking into an apartment building with three people in view, none of whom are composed in a way that would suggest they know where the others in the building are. Additionally, the woman on the upper floor is smiling and waving in the direction of the audience. Coon explains that Hitchcock draws on “societal anxieties

However, Thorwald is not the only one left exposed, as the key lighting in Lisa’s frame emanating from a lamp that sits near her leaves her greatly unprotected by darkness and more vulnerable to being caught invading Thorwald’s privacy. This is in contrast to Jeffries’ apartment which is mostly darkened except for the light coming in from the window; however, the horizon made by the key lighting in the second frame only hides the bottom half of the apartment, indicating that Jeffries and Stella are made vicariously vulnerable by Lisa’s exposure. The only room left without focus for the plot is Miss Lonelyhearts’, whose blinds leave her seemingly indifferent to privacy being pulled down but not closed. At this point, Hitchcock has successfully created feelings of anxiety for every person involved in the plot in these two frames; anxiety on behalf of Thorwald for what secrets and incriminating evidence Lisa might uncover, and anxiety on behalf of Lisa for fear of being caught, with Jeffries and Stella as an

Likewise, the characters in Rear Window seem to imagine a distinction between the shared courtyard and the street as public, and their apartments as private. Despite this desire for privacy, especially on Thorwald’s part, the blinds remain mostly drawn and the majority of these “private” spaces are left exposed. Thorwald’s apartment is not only exposed visibly but multiple entrance points are highlighted in the frame, from the bottom floor door to the hallway leading to the apartment, to the fire escape and window that appears to be easily accessible. There is even a light positioned at every entrance