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Rear Window Theme Essay

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Alfred Hitchcock's iconic film Rear Window perfectly demonstrates the real meaning of loneliness and lack of a companion, it can have on a person.Over the course of the film Hitchcock displays his characters,at a certain stage by ending up grief and miserability. We see characters like Miss LonelyHearts who's desperate to find a love to cure her depression,Jefferies who is unknown to the social society, and Miss Hearing Aid having impact on these themes.The setting is placed up on New York city feeling apartments stacked on apartments being tight enclosed spaces. During the night it gives suspense and emphasizes the theme of voyeurism and isolation. Loneliness and isolation is very common in the real world.We will spectate how loneliness and …show more content…

Jefferies is trapped and confined inside his apartment; he has no human contact and no interaction with the outside world other than he's paid caretaker Stella and Lisa. He takes no input in society leaving him to his thoughts only. “6 weeks sitting in a two room apartment with nothing better to do but to look out the window at the neighbors”. The physical isolation makes Jefferies loneliness intensify as he lacks contact from the outside world and people. Jefferies' binoculars symbolizes voyeurism, he becomes frequently engaged in his neighbors lives trying to entertain himself from the abandonment in his apartment. This leads to him being obsessed with Mr and Mrs Thorwald life investigating their mystery.Jeff voyeuristic actions believes how he has a sense of belonging and a connection to the outside world. Additionally Jeff and Stella’s his nurse,these conversations are talking about every neighbor this shows how distant he is from everyone shows he's sly observant side. “It's about time you got married before you turn into a lonesome and bitter old”. In this quote Stella here is suggesting to Jeffereis that he should settle down things,she is worried about him, she doesn't want him ending up lonely as it's already affecting his mental health as he's been temporarily in his apartment because of his injured leg. Stella, already seeing him in his state, can't bare to think that it will be healthy that Jeff can be alone for any longer.Furthermore Jeff's relationships with others are strained; this shows how lonely he is being stuck in his apartment. Jeffs and Lisa, his girlfriend, their relationship is very unstable, Jeff is unwillingly wanting to commit, fearing how he will be lonesome and still wants to explore the

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In Hitchcock’s Rear Window in the exposition scene itself we are introduced to invalid and wheelchair bound Jeffries a former photojournalist. His active involvement in the field of journalism is depicted through the photographs on the wall and from that the viewers comprehension that he was injured while covering a car race crash. Jeffries room itself is a reminder of a car crash and his profession. Without saying Jeffries profession Hitchcock uses this technique to introduce the character to his viewers who interprets it. The other film that was influenced by photojournalism is Psycho and according to Cynthia Erb the images displayed in the Biography programme based on the serial Killer Ed Gein whose story inspired Robert Bloch’s novel

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Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window has several themes. One major theme is relationships. The lead character, Jeff Jeffries, a photographer and committed bachelor, is involved in a relationship with Lisa Fremont, a model, although the relationship has some tension due to Jeff’s lack of commitment. When Jeff is confined to his apartment recovering from a broken leg, he begins spying through his rear window on his neighbors in a nearby apartment. Through her frequent visits, Lisa is drawn into this spying as well.

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The practice of voyeurism is a debatable subject often criticized negatively for its perverted motives. Yet, through both Woolrich’s “It had to be murder” and its film adaptation Rear Window, the reader can be led to see a celebration of voyeurism rather than a critique. Jeffries is indeed given the most reasonable excuses to stalk his neighbours as his cast takes away his freedom of movement and the murder he tries to solve also gives him more reasons to spy on his neighbours. However, Jeff is greatly saved from being entitled as a Peeping Tom by the coincidence of Thorwald’s wife’s murder. As a matter of a fact, the timing in which Jeff is stuck in a cast and the woman is murder is nothing but a coincidence, neither Hitchcock nor Woolrich

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In the feature film, Rear Window, released in 1984 and directed by Alfred Hitchcock, parallels and counterpoints are employed to create narrative contrast. This ultimately enhances the character development of the protagonist, Jeff, and his romantic, Lisa. Set in a New York apartment block during the 1950s, the film explores the notions of voyeurism, dissatisfaction and the perceptions of monogamy. The discovery of a murder in an opposite apartment draws Jeff and Lisa together in their determination to solve the case. Central to the subplot, Hitchcock masterfully uses the relationships in other apartments, as well as cinematic techniques, to illuminate the progression of Jeff’s and Lisa’s relationship.

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In the 1954 Alfred Hitchcock film, Rear Window, the protagonist, Jeffries, becomes increasingly intrigued in watching his neighbors from his apartment building during his time in a wheelchair. The film effectively portrays voyeurism through the use of the camera angles which is intended to display scenes from the same limited perspective as Jeffries. His neighbors’ lives become the subject for the plot as he watches them perform various activities as a way to escape his own confinement. Each window embodies a different relationship, but is only focused upon when Jeffries directs his attention to it. His neighbors’ conflicted interactions help him escape his own personal issues.

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By realizing the similarities between himself and the Piano man, Jefferies is able to empathize with the piano man’s frustration instead of laughing at his pain. Requiring everyone to understand the day-to-day lives of everyone else on earth is of course absurd, but recognizing the similar qualities shared among all people reminds

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In Sidney Gottlieb’s article on “Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window: The Pleasure and Dangers of Looking”, they thoroughly explain how Hitchcocks direction of the movie such as filming angles lures the audience in being about the same position as the characters, by looking at the movie of people looking at people looking. They go into detail how looking can be both good and bad, with a bit of focus on the bad towards the end which correlates to the unwrapping of the crime in the movie and the onlocker as well as the audience being caught looking. They relate this danger to the abyss such as when you look into the abyss, the abyss is looking into you as well. Which I believe is as well as when you look into the abyss anything can happen because you cant see who or what can be looking back at you, therefore their can always be something looking at you. Like the curiosity or fear of the unknown, which

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“Six weeks sitting in a two bedroom apartment with nothing to do but look at the neighbors. ” You would think this would be a dull concept for a movie, sitting in a window watching people’s daily lives. But when your view is as limited as if you’re in another building, something much more entertaining is made. When photographer L. B. Jeffries is confined to his apartment for weeks with a broken leg in the film Rear Window, he spends his time looking out the window at his neighbors. With the summer heat meaning every window is open for Jeffries to peer into, he learns about everyone in his block.

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Hitchcock's mystery film “Rear Window”, took place in 1954. explores the theme of voyeurism as uncontrollable action that everyone can be guilty of. Due to Senator Joseph Mcarthy encouraging citizens to spy on their neighbours in the 1950s, voyeurism wasn't seen as crime. Nevertheless, Throughout the film there are many evidence and signs verifying that everybody is guilty of voyeurism The first sign of voyeurism occurs during a helicopter scene.

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The film 's protagonist L.B Jefferies is characterised as a man who diverts himself from what is expected of him. His dislike for marriage and his desire to remain independent isolates him from the rest of society. When Stella is conversing with Jeff about his relationship with Lisa Freemont, Hitchcock exhibits the constraints of society 's expectations. The fact that Jefferies does 'not want to ' get married to Lisa is considered 'abnormal ' in Stella 's eyes, indicates the normalisation of marriage during 1954. Jefferies ' isolation from society 's view of marriage is utilised by Hitchcock in order to critique the way in which society pushes others to conform.

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