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Paper Abstract: Analysis of Alfred Hitchcock's 1956 film. Ethics of voyeurism explored by the director. Describes main character as a professional photographer and professional voyeur. Confined to a wheelchair after an accident, he "watches" his neighbors thorugh a rear window and discovers their secrets, including a murder. Relation of danger to excitement. Paper Introduction: “Perhaps only one other filmmaker -- Walt Disney -- lived to see his name become synonymous with a certain type of screen entertainment: In Hitchcock's case, it was stylish, sophisticated suspense, laced with humor and romance” (Maltin, 1994, n. p.). Ebert has said of Rear Window that "here's a film about a man who does on the screen what we do in the audience -- look through a lens at the private lives of strangers" (2000, n.p.). Alfred Hitchcock started in the movie making business in 1920, before there was color, before there were “talkies”, and this greatly influenced the way he directed and filmed a movie -- the way he “saw” the movie. His experience helped him to understand that a picture is worth more than a thousand words of dialogue. According to Maltin, Hitchcock “proved that the presence of sound was no reason not to continue to tell stories Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. Heractions appear to mirror Lisa's and in the background the music changes toa tune where the chorus is "to see you is to love you." The audience isshown "Miss Lonelyhearts" as she goes to the door to let her phantom loverin. .The empathetic terror the audience feels at the moment Jeffries realizes his presence is seen is no doubt heightened by the close parallel of Jeffries's physical circumstances with the structure of cinematic experience: in a fixed position in the dark where one presumes to see all yet not be seen (Rothermel, 1994, n.p.).As the tables are turned on Jeff we see that he is so used to beingpassive, that he is unable to act when Lisa and Stella are in danger.Then, when he is confronted by Thorwald in his apartment he is trapped andhelpless in his wheel chair. Stella thinks that Jeff should stop watching "Miss Torso." "Youknow, in the old days, they used to put your eyes out with a red-hot poker. His friend says it's no longer called nagging, it's calleddiscussing. The movie continues in that vein, with Jeff using the lives of theother apartment dwellers as his own barometer of sorts. What people ought to do is get outside their ownhouse and look in for a change". In other words, the windows aresimilar in size and shape to movie reel squares or film negative strips.In fact, Jeff isn't satisfied with watching with just his eyes, he startsgetting out his binoculars, and when those do not offer a close enough viewhe goes to his telephoto lens. She is reading about living in the wild, training for travelingwith him, until she notices that he is sleeping, then she switches toHarper's Bazaar. The woman makes an impassionedspeech accusing the other inhabitants of not caring about their neighbors.The neighbors, who don't really care it seems, stand at their windowspassively listening until she was done. Online version (1998). Film andPhilosophy, Vol. According to Maltin, Hitchcock "proved thatthe presence of sound was no reason not to continue to tell stories withvisual panache" (1994, n. p.). What he sees, we see. Hisexperience helped him to understand that a picture is worth more than athousand words of dialogue. Not only is Jeff in love with photography, but he is in love withdanger as well. Forays in Philosophy and Film. Finally, the married couple that sleep out on thebalcony find their dog with his neck broken. "Perhaps only one other filmmaker -- Walt Disney -- lived to see hisname become synonymous with a certain type of screen entertainment: InHitchcock's case, it was stylish, sophisticated suspense, laced with humorand romance" (Maltin, 1994, n. As the audience pans the courtyard, seeing it through Jeff's eyes, itis noticeable that "those windows overlooking the back courtyard ofJeffries's apartment building all do happen to have dimensionsapproximating the various standard aspect ratios of the medium [of film],including the CinemaScope windows of Thorwald's apartment directlyopposite" (Rothermel, 1994, n. Ebert has said of Rear Window that"here's a film about a man who does on the screen what we do in theaudience -- look through a lens at the private lives of strangers" (2 ,n.p.). Rarely has any film so boldly presented its methods in plain view. Jeff sits in his wheelchair, holding a camera with a telephoto lens, and looks first here and then there, like a movie camera would. As the drama unfolds for Jeff in his love life, and as his suspicionof Thorwald grows, the little dramas in the apartments unfold as well.Jeff, Lisa, and Stella all become so engrossed in the watching of thevarious tales across the way that they forget that they can act. Vol 2. Jeff obviously likes watching her and assumes that she is afun loving girl. Alfred Hitchcock started in the movie making business in 192 , beforethere was color, before there were "talkies", and this greatly influencedthe way he directed and filmed a movie -- the way he "saw" the movie. "Jeff" Jeffries (James Stewart) is a professional photographer,otherwise known as a professional voyeur, who travels around the worldusing his camera to document adventures that happen in exotic places. He evenhas pet names for the people he's watching, much like people do when theyhave a favorite show. p.). The nextmorning there is no Mrs. Thorwald and Mr. Thorwald is very carefullywrapping up a knife and a saw in newspaper to dispose of them. For example, atthe beginning when Jeff is talking to his editor about coming back to work,they get on the topic of marriage. Taylor discusses the voyeuristicatmosphere that Hitchcock has set up. (ed.) (1994). According to Taylor, "in Rear Window Hitchcock presentsa hero who is in the same position the director put his audiences in: awatcher who sees (or thinks he sees) what he is powerless to stop" (2 ,n. "Put in the position of watchingalong with Jeff, we see moments so private that our first impulse is tolook away in embarrassment" (Taylor, 2 , n. The seemingly carefree life of "Miss Torso" is also a source ofcontention. The young husband carries the wife over the threshold andthey end in a long romantic kiss at the finale of the song. Any of those bikini bombshells you're always watching worth a red-hotpoker?" Where Jeff sees a pretty girl who's lucky enough to have a lot ofsuitors, Lisa sees a girl who's juggling a lot of wolves to keep them fromattacking herself or each other. Universal Pictures, an MCACompany. Society for the Philosophic Study of the ContemporaryVisual Arts. (1994). Published online at:http://www.film-philosophy.com/vol2-1998/n27rothermel. Then there is the infamous night where Jeff stays up late and watchesas Thorwald leaves his apartment to go out into the city in the middle ofthe rain, and returns several times, with his sample case. In themiddle of this debate the camera pans out to windows in the courtyard. Jeff doesn't want to be "nagged todeath". Rear Window was not only a suspensefulmovie that told a story with "visual panache", it was a commentary on thespectator in a society of spectators -- who are actors in their turn. He amuses himself bywatching the neighbors through the rear window of his apartment. As Ebert pointsout, "Jeff is not a moralist, a policemen or a do-gooder, but a man wholikes to look" (Ebert, 2 , n.p.). In using this line at the very beginning,Hitchcock is using the dialogue to comment on voyeurism, the need to look.He is not judging that need, nor approving it. VHS: (1984) MCA Home Video. Lisa askshim if he can see her apartment, all the way up on 63rd street, to make herpoint about being lonely. "Miss Lonelyhearts" is now befriending the passionatemusician, "Miss Torso" is welcoming home her beau from the army, themarried couple has a new dog, and there are new people moving into wherethe Thorwalds used to live. Rear Window. He is a week away from getting his cast removed andreturning to work by the opening scene of the movie. The final scenes are nerve wracking as Hitchcock builds the suspenseby allowing both the audience and Jeff to watch as Lisa moves closer tobeing discovered in Thorwald's apartment. Available onlineat: http://www.salon.com/ent/movies/review/2 / 1/21/rear_window/ "Rear window ethics" is that ability or habit orcompulsion to sit back and watch T.V or a movie or neighbors and passjudgment on the display without ever really knowing what is going on.These ethics, this voyeurism is just what Alfred Hitchcock was trying toexplore in his movie about a photographer, L. He wants what he can spy at a distance, not what he canhold in his arms" (Ebert, 2 , n. Stella seems to understand what she is doing, but no one goesdown to talk to her. The Chicago Sun-Times. Taylor, C. Inthe background, the song "That's amore!" is being played in someone'sapartment, while the audience is shown a newly married couple moving inacross the way. p.). Cameras are prevalent everywhere, from disposable Kodaks and homevideo cameras to professional photography equipment and movie cameras towireless cameras used for security purposes. At this point, Jeff points out to Lisathat at least that's one thing she'll never have to worry about. 1. "Jeff" Jeffries, who isstuck at home with little else to do other than watch his neighbors fromhis rear window. Lisa, understanding his love for photography, can help himset up in a studio where he can make much more money than he is now as wellas stay home -- both being arguments he has used to deter their discussionof marriage. What conclusions he draws, we draw -- all without words, because the pictures add up to a montage of suspicion (Ebert, 2 , n. p.).For example, when "Miss Torso" comes home one night they see that she hasto fight to keep her date outside of her apartment, but Jeff, Lisa andStella just watch. (2 ). The terror accompanying the penultimate scene surely has something to do with the object of the voyeur's scrutiny quite suddenly reversing that relationship. It is appropriate that "when he is in dangerin his own apartment, his weapon is his camera's flashgun" (Ebert, 2 ,n.p.). When she sits down she seems to toast him, Jeff takes her salutepersonally and toasts back, but "Miss Lonelyhearts" can't keep up charadefor herself and collapses in tears. As Ebert points out, The way he determines this illustrates the method of the movie. In another instance, after Lisa arrives in a new dress and with acatered dinner, she and Jeff start a discussion about marriage as well.Jeff is against it, he is "in love with the occupation of photography, andbecomes completely absorbed in reconstructing the images he has seenthrough his lens. p.). B. Two things happen during thisscene as 1) Lisa Fremont becomes part of the distant frame where Jeffcannot help her and 2) Jeff is discovered by Thorwald and now it is Jeffwho is being watched. (ed.), Sader, L. This causes herto get out some alcohol and pills, it looks as if she is contemplatingsuicide. Inhis last adventure, however, he broke his leg while getting his action shotat an auto race. There are crucial moments in the film where he is clearly required to act, and he delays, not because he doesn't care what happens, but because he forgets he can be an active player; he is absorbed in a passive role (Ebert, 2 , n. . Hitchcock, A. Jeff is so bored,confined to a wheelchair his New York apartment and only two visitors thathe warns that he going to do something "drastic". Reviews: Rear Window. p.). (1956). Stella and Lisa, however, see something entirelydifferent. (2 ). During this conversation the audience sees Lars Thorwald(Raymond Burr), the salesman and his invalid wife, Anna (Irene Winston),arguing after he gets home from work. Rear Window. B. References Ebert, R. p.). He issleeping. Leonard Maltin'sMovie Encyclopedia : Career Profiles of More Than 2, Actors andFilmmakers, Past and Present. The final scene opens on a contented Jeff (who has now broken hisother leg after falling out the window) and his girlfriend, Lisa. New York: Signet, Penguin Putnam, Inc. The newlywedspull down the shades at this point so Jeff moves on to watching "MissLonelyhearts." The conversation kind of falters at this point and, as Lisa begins toset the table for dinner, the camera pans out again to windows of "MissLonelyhearts," who is also setting a candlelight dinner for two. Conversely, movies and television and security cameras areso extensive through out society and so deep-seated now that it's easy tosuccumb to what Lisa Fremont (Grace Kelly) refers to in Rear Window (1954)as "rear window ethics". Each square offers its own bit of action and many times Hitchcockuses the little stories being played out in the courtyard to emphasize thestory that is contained in the apartment where Jeff lives. "Miss Lonelyhearts" brings home a date but is accostedby that same date and is barely able to get him to leave. L. p.). Available online at:http://www.suntimes.com.ebert/greatmovies/rearwindow.html. Maltin, L., Green S. As one reviewer put it,after the remastered film had been rereleased, "Hitchcock made a movie thatboth encourages voyeurism and shames it, that refuses to condemn it orapplaud it (Taylor, 2 , n. However he wants the danger and excitement as well. February 2 ,2 . Rothermel, D. p.). As has been indicated out earlier, heis someone who likes danger and excitement, this drama or crime that hebelieves he has stumbled upon helps to feed him some of that danger andexcitement that he's been missing. The Salon. Mr. Thorwald happens to be theonly one not listening to this speech and the little group in Jeff'sapartment remember that the dog had been digging around in a corner of theThorwald's garden. In a society like this it'seasy to feel, sometimes, as if one is always living in front of one ofthose cameras. His nurse, Stella (Thelma Ritter), is worried abouthis compulsion to spy on his neighbors, letting him know that the New Yorkpenalty for Peeping Toms is six months, commenting that, "we've become arace of Peeping Toms. If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.