Preview

The Power Shift In Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
317 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Power Shift In Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window
Alfred Hitchcock's film Rear Window released in 1954 portrays the power shift between the fictional couple, L.B Jeffries and Lisa Freemont. In the beginning of the film the viewers see Lisa as a perfect, high maintenance, wealthy woman who did everything to grasp Jeffries attention and prove to him that she is a worthy wife, but Jeffries believes "she's too perfect, she's too talented, she's too beautiful, she's too sophisticated, she's too everything". Despite Jeffries being in a cast, sitting in a wheelchair secluded in his apartment, Jeffries still holds power as Lisa becomes desperate for his attention and asks "how far does a girl have to go before you notice her?" Jeffries having the power in the relationship is contradictory as he is
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Hitchcock's Involvement In The Clutter Case
    • 211 Words
    • 1 Page

    Hitchcock's Involvement In The Clutter Case

    The two primary suspects of the Clutter case, Richard Eugene Hitchcock and Perry Edward Smith, were arrested on December 30, 1959 for driving a stolen vehicle in Las Vegas, Nevada. Alvin Dewey, the KBI detective assigned to the case, was informed by a colleague that the suspects were arrested, fearing that he would lose his chance to interrogate them, he decided to drive to Las Vegas. When first questioned about their involvement in the quadruple homicide, both suspects deny having anything to do with the horrific crime and recount a phony story they had conceived and thoroughly rehearsed. Perry is the first to succumb to the detective's scrupulous questioning, and proceeded to recount what really occurred on the evening in question. Hitchcock…

    • 211 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Mcmurphy's Perspective Shift In The Movie '
    • 576 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Mcmurphy's Perspective Shift In The Movie '

    The perspective shift in the movie does alter the movie’s plot. The movie is set in McMurphy’s perspective, while in the novel, the narrator is Chief. When the reader is reading the book, they get a picture the thoughts that are running through Chief’s head. Since the audience of the movie doesn’t know what Chief is saying, they really believe that Chief is deaf and dumb, just like everyone in the ward’s been saying. One example from the movie that the reader can see that Chief is “dumb” and deaf is the basketball game. McMurphy is trying to teach Chief to play basketball and while McMurphy is speaking to him, the audience can assume that he really is deaf because Chief doesn’t…

    • 576 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest Movie Analysis
    • 311 Words
    • 2 Pages

    One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest Movie Analysis

    Mcmurphy breaking the picture window was a turning point in the story. The picture window was a prized possession of Nurse Ratched. It was the difference between her and the patients. She was on one side of the window while the patients were on the more unfortunate side. In a therapy session, R.P breaks the window, in the movie and in the novel, to get cigarettes. The glass breaking wasn't only a turning point in the story, but also for Mcmurphy. McMurphy became a larger than life character to the patients.…

    • 311 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Comparing Voyeuristic Behavior In Rear Window And Vertigo
    • 1020 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Comparing Voyeuristic Behavior In Rear Window And Vertigo

    Rear Window and Vertigo are two Hitchcock films in which the main character shows voyeuristic behavior, experiences relationship problems and suffers from some sort of a handicap, be it physical or psychological. Rear Window has to do with a group of peeping toms. As his broken leg heals, wheelchair-bound L.B. Jefferies becomes absorbed with the parade of life outside his window and soon fixates on a mysterious man whose behavior has Jefferies convinced a murder has taken place. Many would believe the main part of the movie is Jefferies and his fiancée Lisa Fremont’s attempt to solve the case of the murder, when in reality, the main plot is the complex relationship between the two. Vertigo has to do with a retired San Francisco detective, John 'Scottie ' Ferguson, suffering from acrophobia who investigates the strange activities of Madeleine Elster, the wife of his friend, who he believes is possessed. As he follows her, he slowly realizes that he has fallen in love with her. After he thinks she has died, the movie makes an unexpected twist revealing the real plot that Madeleine had already been murdered and he had been falling in love with a paid imposter, Judy Barton.…

    • 1020 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Movie Analysis: A Streetcar Named Desire
    • 307 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Movie Analysis: A Streetcar Named Desire

    In the movie, A Street Car Named Desire, Blanche uses the quote, “I don't want realism. I want magic! Yes, Yes, magic! I try to give that to people." to explain her desire for her fantasy life to become reality. Blanches fantasy life would restore her youth, forgive her past and she would be more welcomed by people like Stanley and Mitch. I do agree with her statement, and believe that living in a “fantasy world” for a short period of time can be beneficial, but I do not agree with the circumstances Blanches is doing so by. Blanche wants to forget the death of her husband, the termination of her position as a schoolteacher caused by a discovered affair with a high school aged boy and the loss of her childhood home and plantation. Some of…

    • 307 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Cinematic Techniques In Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds
    • 1468 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Cinematic Techniques In Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds

    The only sound playing is the rapid flapping of the soft black feathers. It feels as though it will never cease. All that is shown is a black, shiny wall of furious birds. It traps viewers and develops a feeling of helplessness. They feel as though they are suffocating from torn feathers cluttering their airways even though their rational side tells them none of it’s real. This is what audience members of the movie, “The Birds”, reported feeling during the immersive experience. Some felt so claustrophobic that they had panic attacks. Cinema: the art of tapping in to an audience’s deepest emotions and using it to provoke a specific sensation. Few are able to master this fine art, however, “The Birds” by Hitchcock is a perfect example of a…

    • 1468 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    How Does Hitchcock Create Tension In Rebecca
    • 743 Words
    • 3 Pages

    How Does Hitchcock Create Tension In Rebecca

    In the novel Rebecca, du Maurier uses techniques, such as dialogue and setting description, to create suspense and tension. But in the movie, Hitchcock uses different techniques, like music and scenery, to create the right kind of suspense and tension for his audience. The plots are the same, but the techniques are not.…

    • 743 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    A Critical View of the Movie, Rear Window
    • 662 Words
    • 3 Pages

    A Critical View of the Movie, Rear Window

    In Rear Window’s opening scene, the camera slowly scans the setting that will surround L.B. Jeffries for the rest of the film. It pans over many apartments, all full of people doing different activities, going on his or her daily routine. This seemingly normal day in the New York City apartment complex gives the audience a sense of familiarity with the setting, and the people that live there. As seen through Jeffries’ rear window, this scene foreshadows the rest of the film; little does the audience know that what seems ordinary, a simple window, actually reveals more: crime.…

    • 662 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    A summary of Tania Modleski's "A Master's dollhouse: Rear Window"
    • 388 Words
    • 2 Pages

    A summary of Tania Modleski's "A Master's dollhouse: Rear Window"

    Modleski argues that the more important character in Rear Window is the female lead, Lisa. She suggests that the photographic portrayal of the female in the film is stronger than that of the invalid protagonist, Jeff. Lisa is pictured as active and competent, while Jeff is portrayed as incapable and imprisoned within his apartment. She is aggressively sexual while he displays fear of interaction. Juxtaposed with these two characters are their alter egos in a neighboring window: the invalid female and the oppressive male. The split screen filming portraying these four characters demonstrates the complexity and duality of gender roles in society.…

    • 388 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Analysis Of Alfred Hitchcock's The Rear Window
    • 586 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Analysis Of Alfred Hitchcock's The Rear Window

    Through L.B.J.’s lens, the audience is introduced to a recently moved in, newly-wed couple. One day, L.B.J. sees the husband peering out of his window, wearing a white tank-top, with a cigarette in one hand, smoke already in his mouth. He appears to be stepping outside of his post-honeymoon relationship. However, as soon as the husband settles on the window sill, he is called by his wife, in nagging tone. Irritated, the husband does not respond for a short period, until he finally attends to his…

    • 586 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    How The Distortion Of Reality In Billy Wilder's Sunset Boulevard
    • 623 Words
    • 3 Pages

    How The Distortion Of Reality In Billy Wilder's Sunset Boulevard

    The leaves she inhaled transported her to a place so high that even birds dared not to go. To say she was drunk or high would be an understatement. She had overdosed. The green leaves permeated the smell of a skunk. The alcohol created a wildfire in the back of her throat. You see much like drugs, the need for recognition, acceptance, and love is an addiction and can very often influence the choices we make. This is depicted in the 1950 film, Sunset Boulevard , written and directed by Billy Wilder.…

    • 623 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Rear Window Scene Analysis Essay Example
    • 482 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Rear Window Scene Analysis Essay Example

    The scene begins when Lisa comes to Jeff’s apartment with dinner. After the waiter leaves the dinner, Lisa and Jeff have a drink next to the window discussing Lisa’s day and Jeff’s future plans. Lisa is sitting on the right side of the window and Jeff is on the left side. In the middle of the window, there is a beam that splits the window into two halves. People in the background can clearly be seen in the opposing side of the apartment complex. Alfred Hitchcock uses this scene to get the movie watcher involved in watching Jeff’s neighbors.…

    • 482 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Analysis of Themes in Rear Window
    • 1424 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Analysis of Themes in Rear Window

    In Alfred Hitchcock's 1954 classic thriller Rear Window, Jimmy Stewart stars as L.B. Jeffries, a world traveling magazine photographer accustomed to living a fast pace active lifestyle. When Jefferies injures himself taking a risky picture he is immobilized, confined to a wheelchair inside his apartment for two months. Bored with his uneventful life he becomes completely obsessed with the lives of his neighbors spending the majority of his waking hours watching them from his window. To obtain a better view he begins using a telescopic lens from one of his cameras. By watching his neighbors through the camera he assumes the role of both a spectator and a voyeur. This contributes to the creation of a movie being played right outside Jeffries window. In this movie within the movie his neighbors' lives become the subject for the plot. Each window represents a different film screen, each of which is focused upon only when Jeffries directs his attention to it. One of the central themes in Rear Window is marriage, or more specifically Jefferies' fear of marriage. Through his voyeuristic habits he is able to see the strenuous complications that arise from marriage and relationships in his neighbors' lives. Each of their stories carries a theme that is associated pursuit and commitment of marriage: the newlywed couple beginning their life together, the depressed Miss Lonelyhearts who desperately seeks companionship, the happy couple who sleep under the stars on their fire escape, and most importantly the bitter Thorwalds whose marriage reaches an abrupt termination. He witnesses both the anxieties associated with the beginning of a marriage and the heartache of relationships ending. The plots that are played out before his eyes become more important than his own personal life. In fact, Jeffries renounces the idea of marriage due to the scenes he witnesses from within his apartment. He is currently involved in a…

    • 1424 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Analysis Of Rear Window By Alfred Hitchcock
    • 1482 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Analysis Of Rear Window By Alfred Hitchcock

    Rear Window is a 1954 suspense film, which was directed by Alfred Hitchcock. It was written by John Michael Hayes. The film starts James Stewart, Grace Kelly, Wendell Corey, Thelma Ritter and Raymond Burr. The plot of the film is about a photographer who confined to a wheel chair after being in a racecar accident because he was trying to take a picture. Jeffries is the main character the one confined to a wheel chair is also in love with Lisa Fermont his girlfriend. However, Jeffries does not want to get married because he is afraid that after getting married he would have to give up his photography career and freedom, because he thinks that Lisa Fermont is not physically prepared to travel with him. After being stuck in his apartment for…

    • 1482 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Film Elements Research
    • 1886 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Film Elements Research

    Alfred Hitchcock’s “Rear Window” uses voyeurism as the main idea that the movie focuses on. The main character L.B. Jeffry had an interest in monitoring his neighbourhood through his window; actually he gained the interests due to his broken leg. His occupation as a photographer linked with the voyeurism as it is a voyeuristic job; it was shown in the beginning of the movie whereby the scene focuses on few of the pictures hanging on the walls, a mise-en-scene of Jeffry’s apartment. There was also a professional camera in his apartment which builds up the character’s characteristic. Facing the fact that he cannot go to work because of his injuries, he has to resort to a different kind of voyeurism from voyeur for his work to his home life. “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).…

    • 1886 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More

Related Topics