The Rear Window




    During the fourth week of this class, we moved forward with continuing to explore new films and their specific formats. The focus was on a well-known classic directed by Alfred Hitchcock, "Rear Window". This film was a groundbreaking film at the time of its release, as it explored new shots and angles that had yet to be used or popularized while largely relying on the visuals telling the story, as the audience's knowledge and view are limited to that of the wheel-chair bound main character. Hitchcock found an inventive way to take advantage of a small, confined space and make it feel unrestrained.

    While I still largely prefer more modern movies, I continue to enjoy all of the films we have watched so far, regardless of how old the film is. Rear Window in particular maintained a balance of curiosity and suspense even with the slow-moving storyline, culminating with L.B. being thrown out the very window he observed his neighbors from, ending the film with a sense of poeticness as Jeff broke his other leg during the fall. Jeff ended the film in the same exact situation that it began in, staring out his window into the open windows of his neighbors in an attempt to fight the boredom of being confined to a wheelchair. 



 
   Overall, I really enjoyed seeing this movie for the first time and I am now interested in more films directed by Hitchcock to see what elements of this film he continued to develop and use in later films. Hitchcock truly perfected the sense of the audience being a bystander to the personal events occurring by only sharing whatever information that L.B. Jefferies knew, embracing the daily voyeuristic tendencies that everybody participates in, especially eavesdropping and people-watching strangers out of general curiosity. 

Comments

  1. dr. kyburzSeptember 26, 2022 at 9:30 AM

    Audience as bystander = YES. Hitch loves this POV as a technique and concept/metahpor. Glad you enjoyed it! Great post, as always, Maureen :)

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  2. e10prodsSeptember 26, 2022 at 1:56 PM

    I like the conclusions you draw from "Rear Window." I agree that Hitchcock does a good job of making the audience feel like they are a bystander in the film, just like how Jefferies is an observer to everything his neighbors are doing. It translates well even in the modern world with how we view others through social media.

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  3. Yelena MakoyedOctober 18, 2022 at 4:56 PM

    Hitchcock found a way to make a small face feel unconstrained– very interesting way of putting it. I was also quite surprised at how enjoyable the film was even though the setting was the same throughout.

    ReplyDelete

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