Hitchcock And Voyeurism

990 Words4 Pages
Voyeurism is the main theme that Rear Window is based on, as it is a recurring theme through out the film. The main character, L.B. Jeffries, has a complete, no holds barred viewing of everything going on around him. His profession, a photographer, links in with the voyeurism theme, as it is a very voyeuristic job, as he takes snapshots into the lives of others by taking pictures of them. This is shown within the first scene in the film, with a mise-en-scene of Jeffries’ apartment that includes his photographs on the walls, telling us that he is a photographer. As Jeffries’ can’t go back to work for another week due to his broken leg, he has to resort to a different type of voyeurism – from being a voyeur for his work, to using it in his home life. He views the lives of his neighbours, and sometimes even uses binoculars to do so. You can see from his facial expressions in the first few scenes of the film, he enjoys watching what is going on in their lives, and probably enjoys the fact that he can watch all of them without being seen by them, and feels that he isn’t hurting anyone by doing so. This is explained in an essay called “Hitchcock’s Rear Window: Reflexivity and the Critique of Voyeurism” by Roberta Pearson and Robert Stam, who state that ‘His profession of photojournalism assumes and exploits a kind of voyeurism’ (p.197). Rear Window deals with curiosity and the need to pry into the lives of others. Jeff’s curiosity begins harmlessly enough, but gradually, his curiosity turns to spying. For example, he starts to use a photographic lenses and binoculars from his job as photographer. At this point, it also becomes obvious that being curious is Jeff’s job. His nurse Stella and his fiancée Lisa feel very uncomfortable and accuse him of being a voyeur, a ‘Peeping Tom’. They do not believe his story about Thorwald murdering his wife. Stella calls him a ‘window

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