Lasalle College of the Arts Puttnam School of Film and Animation Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window The analysis of its narrative and the style of narration Chang Chui Fong Shermaine Student No: 18846 Class: BAFLN1B B-FL106: Critical Film Studies – Narrative in Film Mardhiah Osman 14 April 2017 Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window The analysis of its narrative and the style of narration. This essay will investigate and discuss the narrative in Rear Window (1954), and how Hitchcock builds his narration through style. The film follows a classical Hollywood narrative – the focus on a single protagonist – L. B. Jeffries, the double causal structure, and the continuous, linear timeline, all which would be expanded and explained further …show more content…
Jefferies, played by Jimmy Stewart is left at home, wheelchair bound and unable to leave the flat. To pass time while he nurses his injuries, Jeff sits by the window all day, people-watching at his living room window. He looks out across the courtyard to open windows of the neighbour’s apartment, observing their activity and routine. He gives nicknames to the ones that catches his attention the most, since he’s only seen them in their apartment he didn’t really knew them by their names; Miss Torso, Miss Lonely Hearts, as well as the Musician. He has his own problems as well – being trapped in his apartment for the past few weeks, and he still has another week before the cast could be removed. To add on, his relationship with Lisa were in a rocky …show more content…
Eyes are not only objects that can be peered into; they can also peer out. They play a very big role in voyeurism – a theme that Hitchcock uses constantly in his film. They have an incredible capacity for relaying emotional messages, and the viewers are constantly aware of where the eyes are looking, what they are looking at and what emotion they are feeling while they are doing it. Hitchcock mastered storytelling narratively and spatially, with the use of eyes and their eyelines, creating suspense, tension and anticipation in the
Through an in depth analysis of Alfred Hitchcock's ‘North by Northwest’ (NBNW), it becomes evident that in order for films to be able to entertain their audiences they must ‘weave’ or manipulate images, characters and issues. This is evident through two particular scene within the film, including: chapters 5 and 26 (clickview). Hitchcock's manipulation of issues and characters in NBNW to entertain the audience is exemplified through the severity of the issues faced by the protagonist, Roger O Thornhill (R.O.T) and his comical response and attitude towards the adversity he faces.
Gender roles and marriage- a thematic approach Alfred Hitchcock was a successful English film director and producer. He was often known as “the master of suspense.” He filmed psychological thrillers, one of these thrillers include “Rear window” which in mostly all of his films, he portrays women to look and act a certain way. Two significant themes portrayed throughout this film include marriage and the gender roles within the film.
As he sits there looking out the window for countless hours he is no longer interested in just his personal life but those around him. When observing even closer I realized that there is an explanation to the obsession Jeff has with looking out of the window. It is not directly stated in the film but when looking at the sorrroundings Jeff is surrounded by only the courtyard and a small alley way hince the reason why Jeff choices to take particular interests in looking at his neighbors. The lack of scenery and things to do makes me believe that Jeff is feeling trapped. The binoculars no longer act as just a viewing defice but a symbol for
Alfred Hitchcock 's Rear Window explores the lives of those who feel isolated within society. The 1954 film, set in the tenements of Grenwich village, depicts those who are incapable of fitting into society 's expectations, as well as those who feel isolated from common interaction with others. Moreover, Hitchcock displays how its human nature to seek comfort and deeper connection even with those who are surrounded by others. Despite depicting characters as lonely, the progression of the film illustrates how individuals can be freed from isolation. The director asserts the loneliness and struggle that comes from fitting into social mores.
Rear Window Argues that people should mind their own business. Do you agree? Rear Window, a 1954 romance/murder-mystery by the renowned golden age director Alfred Hitchcock, is a film that explores a multitude of themes and genres through the voyeuristic gaze of protagonist L.B. Jefferies. Jefferies, or ‘Jeff’ as he commonly known throughout the film, is a middle-aged bachelor recently hospitalised due to his high-risk career as a photojournalist. This hindered condition serves as an important foundation on which the movie is built upon as Jeff’s forced lifestyle being in a wheelchair causes an abrupt stop in his usual high intensity way of life and causes him to quench his boredom in other ways, predominantly watching the other residents in his apartment complex through the ‘rear window’ of his apartment.
Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window has several themes. One major theme is relationships. The lead character, Jeff Jeffries, a photographer and committed bachelor, is involved in a relationship with Lisa Fremont, a model, although the relationship has some tension due to Jeff’s lack of commitment. When Jeff is confined to his apartment recovering from a broken leg, he begins spying through his rear window on his neighbors in a nearby apartment. Through her frequent visits, Lisa is drawn into this spying as well.
Mise-en-scéne is crucial to classical Hollywood as it defined an era ‘that in its primary sense and effect, shows us something; it is a means of display. ' (Martin 2014, p.XV). Billy Wilder 's Sunset Boulevard (Wilder 1950) will be analysed and explored with its techniques and styles of mise-en-scéne and how this aspect of filmmaking establishes together as a cohesive whole with the narrative themes as classical Hollywood storytelling. Features of the film 's sense of space and time, setting, motifs, characters, and character goals will be explored and how they affect the characterisation, structure, and three-act organisation.
With Rear Window (1954), Alfred Hitchcock proved himself to be one of the best directors of suspense thrillers filled with mystery and humour. He himself called the film his most cinematic one because it was told only in visual terms (Morrow), but it was also a challenging “editing experiment” as the entire film was shot from one place, Jeff’s apartment that overlooked his backyard. The Film follows L.B. Jeffries “Jeff” (James Stewart), a photographer confined to a wheelchair in his apartment after breaking his leg at work. He spends his days watching his neighbours and eventually suspects that one of them killed his wife. His caretaker, his girlfriend Lisa and his detective friend, at first unconvinced of his suspicion, eventually join him in his voyeurism and help him to solve the crime.
These were explored by the use of the motifs of birds, eyes, hands and mirrors (Filmsite.org, n.d.). Hitchcock skilfully guides the audiences through a tale
We are then first introduced to Jeff when the camera turns to him, while he sleeps in his wheelchair, fashioning a full length leg cast. It is here in this room we see Jeff sit for the majority of the film, with only one scene we see him leave his apartment and that is when he is pushed out his own window. We are introduced to the minor but vital characters including Miss Torso the dancer who entertains serval men at the one time, Miss Lonely-Hearts whose name speaks for itself, a couple who struggle with the death of their dog and a composer whose career is going nowhere. The most interesting of Jeff’s own personal entertaining cast is Mr. Thorwald, played by Raymond Burr, whose wife spends her days in bed, miserable of the life they have. It is while watching the married couple that Jeff believes he is a witness to a murder as we later find out, Mr. Thorwald has killed his
To the unknown eye, Hitchcock has carefully and skillfully used Mise-en-scene to his advantage, causing the audience to feel fear and a sense of caution towards the character of Norman Bates. It isn’t until we reflect back on the scene and notice how intelligently Hitchcock uses the positioning of props and the characters, lighting, camera angle and staging, that we notice how he has added meaning to his characters but has also to the film, creating suspense and fear from one scene to the end of the film. Ultimately proving the point that Hitchcock “the master of suspense” uses Mise-en-scene to not only help make a brilliant film but also uses it as his disposal to add meaning in his
The killer is in the room and he only has a limited period of time to save himself from danger. The final scene of “Rear Window” is a fight against time. L.B Jeffries is stuck in a cast and he can not defend himself but Mr. Thorwald is in his room and ready to attack him. The police are also on their way to Jeffries room to arrest Thorwald. Jeffries does what he can to get more time so he uses his camera flash to blind Thorwald.
“Essential for the movie is the time and the years; here I’m more interested in realistic and allegorical. The most important thing is the feeling of hallucinations, travel in dreams, born because of opium, which begins and which ends the film.” – Leone. This essay is an attempt to investigate how Leone, in his film Once upon a Time in America, created a narrative that involves the spectator, gives more impact, tells a number of stories, and moves between time frames.
She argues that the act of moviegoing satisfies these voyeuristic desires in people. She writes, “The mass of mainstream film portray a hermetically sealed world which unwinds magically, indifferent to the presence of the audience, producing for them a sense of separation and playing on their voyeuristic fantasy,” (pg. 186). In this essay, I will further discuss her viewpoints on cinema and voyeurism, and how it connects to the film Rear Window by Alfred Hitchcock. Rear Window is a film that follows the
In fact, there are many mysterious doors belonging to the opposite apartments which the destinations to are never discovered. This is a device used to create fear of the ‘unknown,’ but also heighten suspense. Therefore, our gaze may not be as omnipotent as had been discussed in the previous chapter. Given that the movie is diegetic, it is impossible for us to see everything as Jeff is human and needs his sleep just like the rest of us. He becomes a prisoner of his own gaze, fearful of what incriminating evidence he may miss during his unconscious hours.