"Rear Window"

Paper Summary:

This paper introduces and discusses Hitchcock's movie "Rear Window." Specifically it discusses how the film draws upon the aesthetic traditions of previous film movements, genres or national styles. It looks at the practice of voyeurism - observation of other people - and how this ties into the theme of the movie.

From the Paper:

"Hitchcock's thriller "Rear Window (1954) starred James Stewart and Grace Kelly, and tells the story of a photographer stuck in a wheelchair with a broken leg for several weeks. He cannot stand the boredom and lack of activity, so he begins watching his neighbors with some of his zoom lenses. He finds a neighbor who he believes is going to kill his wife, and tries to stop him, and save the woman. "Using the story of a wheelchair-bound photographer (James Stewart) who passes the time recuperating from a broken leg by spying out his window into the apartments of his Greenwich Village neighbors, Hitchcock made a movie that both encourages voyeurism and shames it, that refuses to condemn it or applaud it" (Taylor). Voyeurism is of course a main theme of the movie, but another theme is the inhumanity of Stewart (or anyone) to sit and spy on people's personal moments, such as "Miss Lonleyhearts" dinner with an imaginary boyfriend who is not there. He also sees her attempt suicide, and although he does call the police, he does nothing else to help her. That is a commentary on our distance from our neighbors, and our distance from each other as human beings."

More papers on "Rear Window":

• Essay # 51140 : "Hitchcock's "Rear Window"
• Film Review # 9838 : "Rear Window" by Alfred Hitchcock"
• Film Review # 9457 : "The Rear Window"

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