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Attitudes To Social Standing In Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window

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Rear Window, a 1954 Hitchcock film is deceptively simple on the surface, but contains messages about marriage, class and privacy, to name a few. This essay will explore how attitudes to social standing in the 1950’s are expressed in the film. Lisa displays the attitude that class shouldn't be a factor in determining how she behaves or whom she should get married to. Jeffries is an example of the attitude that because of their material wealth and status, those in the upper echelons of society aren't entirely human and treats them as such. Stella portrays the attitude that class shouldn't be a major consideration in who to marry, but Jeffries would be foolish to not exercise social mobility and marry Lisa to improve his own social standing. Hitchcock's perspective to the attitudes of the characters in Rear Window also …show more content…

As previously stated, Stella is obviously the voice of reason in Rear Window, and urges Jeffries to marry Lisa. She tells him that, "when two people love each other, they come together - WHAM - like two taxis on Broadway". Hitchcock likely thought that as possibly the most sensible character in the film, Stella's attitude to class should be just as sensible. Jeffries' initial reluctance to marry Lisa because he can't see her being adventurous and accompanying him on his work trips abroad is shown to be invalid and shortsighted, which indicates that Hitchcock thought of such attitudes as baseless. Lisa proves on multiple occasions that she can be daring and get things done, all while wearing the expensive dresses she likes. Through the treatment of different characters and their attitudes to class and marriage, it is possible to come to conclusions about Hitchcock's own attitude to how the two are and ought to be

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