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Alfred Hitchcock’s film Rear Window
There are many thematic concerns that run throughout Alfred Hitchcock’s film Rear Window. One of the most common topics is the incompatibility of men and women. This film portrays a conflict between men and women by the audience getting a glimpse of a few characters trials with the opposite sex. Although the main story line is a man Jeffery watching others through his rear window, there is an underling story line unfolding between himself and his girlfriend. More specifically, Hitchcock takes us on a journey through men and women being able to work through their differences with one another through common interests. In the beginning the audience is introduced to Jeffery and later his girlfriend Lisa. The conflict between the two of them is a common problem men and women have even today. Jeffery is scared of being happy, he knows Lisa is perfect for him in every way, and for that reason wants to push her away. He thinks he needs someone not quite so perfect, because deep down he must feel she can do better than him. If he had a girl that wasn’t so perfect and more ruff around the edges, he would feel she was a better match for him. He almost forces himself to feel bored with Lisa because he is not ready to move to the next step and marry her. Lisa on the other hand is a typical woman. She is in love with her man and is fully ready to move to the next step, even sacrificing herself to do so. Jeffrey uses excuses that his career is too demanding for a woman like her. That she won’t be able to wear dresses and have all her beauty supplies. She would have to travel light and it would be a terrible atmosphere for her. Being a woman in love, she couldn’t leave him when he says he will not move their relationship further. Even though she tried to say it was over, “at least until tomorrow night.” When she returned the next night, she went as far as to prove to him she could do all he asked of her with his demanding career, by packing “light.” Jeffery still seemed to be pushing her away due to lack of common interests. She wants to talk about expense dresses and he thinks it’s absurd to spend 1,100 on a dress. They battle back and forth with each other to stay together even despite their differences. As the plot thickens and Jeffery gets more and more involved with peering into the lives of his neighbors, we see a shift in the relationship of him and Lisa. Jeffery gets anxious to find out the truth about the sales man. He tries to explain his theories to Lisa, and at first it seems like another failed attempt to share something. Jeffery however, finally seems to really care about his accusations, enough to strongly bring Lisa into the light about what he has seen. Because he is passionate about this situation, Lisa begins to see through his eyes and jumps on the band wagon. She quickly becomes his right hand girl. They finally have something they can share and agree on. Even when defending themselves and what they think to the inspector, they are on the same team. Along with Jeff and Lisa, there are other conflicts between men and women. Through Jeffery’s rear window the audience is thrown into a world of complex relationships. We see a neighborly relationship between the women who wanted to give the salesman advice about his flowers. Although she was just trying to help, he snapped at her. We know by the end that it was for his own reason to hide his secret, however the women knew nothing besides the fact she was trying to help. This represents the theory “you don’t always know someone that you come in contact with often.” There is another conflict between a women Jeff refers to as Miss Lonely Heart. She would appear to be in conflict with herself. She is in such misery missing someone that she won’t let anyone else in her heart. Her one attempt to let someone in her apart went terribly wrong and she kicked him out. This situation shows conflict between men and women when you have lost a person person. The ballet dancer has a problem finding who is right for her. The newly weds may have rushed into marriage, because by the end they realize they might have a problem since the husband quit his job and there was a lack of communication with the wife about it. And finally there is conflict with the salesman and his sick wife, to the point that he killed her. Another concern in Hitchcock’s film is human vulnerability. At the beginning of the movie the audience views Jeffery as a typical middle age photographer dissatisfied with his relationship. He has a broken leg and has to stay in his apartment for one more week until the cast is off and he is a free man. This is a very simple story line. Therefore to pass the time Jeffery picks up a hobby of spying on other people through the window. He takes it upon himself him to view their lives through the invitation of the blinds being open. He does not get verbally involved, just sits and watches. To his surprise he starts to view one of his neighbors doing peculiar things. This man has a wife who suddenly is missing; he makes random trips at 3 o’clock in the morning with a brief case. He has her purse and he jewelry with him even though his wife is supposedly away. Jeffery saw the man cleaning a knife and saw that he keeps in his apartment. There are a lot of strange events that are continuously happening right outside Jeffery’s window. Although Jeff did not see a murder, he begins to link the pieces together and comes up with his own assumption. He is not a detective, a cop or even a person who has mobility to further investigate the situation. However with the help of his girlfriend and his nurse, he begins to prove what he feels he knows happened. This is an example of how Hitchcock applies the theme that an ordinary guy can get himself into extraordinary circumstances that expose him to forces beyond his control. This film is also about voyeurism which is the act of obsessively and secretly watching the activities of others for ones own pleasure. At first the only person who is amused at watching people out the window is Jeffery and that is only because he is bored. Then it turns into the fact that he gets fun and excitement in his dull lonely apartment from watching all the life stories of the people across the windows. As one of the neighbor’s lives gets a bit more intriguing, Jeffery begins to pull his girlfriend and his nurse into his world of voyeurism. Jeffery and Lisa are even disappointed when they come to realize that maybe the salesman didn’t murder his wife. The two of them were getting pleasure out of seeing and knowing what was going on in someone else’s life, without knowing them, being there, or actually seeing the main cause for concern. The consequence in this particular story was the closer Jeffery watched the salesman the more he became involved in the situation. He became so involved that the salesman tried to shut Jeffery up by attempting to kill him, just like he killed the dog for knowing too much. The consequence in this case was a threat to his own life. The consequence in general is the theory “you never know what you’re getting yourself into, because people have more going on in their lives then an outside person realizes. This film makes value judgments on voyeurism. When Jeffery was first becoming curious in the other people outside his window, his nurse tried to talk him out of it, warning him that she could smell trouble. She knew that people who watch other people without their knowledge is a dangerous thing and could lead to nothing good. However there is also a bit of irony entwined in the story. Although the message that is put out there several times by the nurse and even by Lisa, that spying only leads to negative things, it’s a bit ironic. The irony is that as an audience we are looking into Jeffery’s world through our own window. We see his relationship change with his girl friend, nurse, friend the investigator and even with himself. The audience sees danger come into his apartment and witnesses it all from afar without being able to intervene. In conclusion, although the message in the film was voyeurism is not a smart idea, it does make for a great source of entertainment for oneself and for a movie.
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May, 2012
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