Rear Window, a 1954 Hitchcock film is deceptively simple on the surface, but contains messages about marriage, class and privacy, to name a few. This essay will explore how attitudes to social standing in the 1950’s are expressed in the film. Lisa displays the attitude that class shouldn't be a factor in determining how she behaves or whom she should get married to. Jeffries is an example of the attitude that because of their material wealth and status, those in the upper echelons of society aren't entirely human and treats them as such. Stella portrays the attitude that class shouldn't be a major consideration in who to marry, but Jeffries would be foolish to not exercise social mobility and marry Lisa to improve his own social standing. Hitchcock's perspective to the attitudes of the characters in Rear Window also …show more content…
As previously stated, Stella is obviously the voice of reason in Rear Window, and urges Jeffries to marry Lisa. She tells him that, "when two people love each other, they come together - WHAM - like two taxis on Broadway". Hitchcock likely thought that as possibly the most sensible character in the film, Stella's attitude to class should be just as sensible. Jeffries' initial reluctance to marry Lisa because he can't see her being adventurous and accompanying him on his work trips abroad is shown to be invalid and shortsighted, which indicates that Hitchcock thought of such attitudes as baseless. Lisa proves on multiple occasions that she can be daring and get things done, all while wearing the expensive dresses she likes. Through the treatment of different characters and their attitudes to class and marriage, it is possible to come to conclusions about Hitchcock's own attitude to how the two are and ought to be
Dorothy Allison’s book, “Context”, argues that she herself is not worthy to be standing beside her lover in consideration of the difference in economic standing of their two families. Dorothy Allison intensifies her insecurities with continuity of negative thoughts in fear that her lover would leave her after meeting her “working class” family, an ordinary family compared to her lover’s. Her insecurities display that in order for her to continue to be with her lover; she must hold a wealthy lifestyle suitable to her liking. From reading “Context”, you can infer that the audience would be those who do not like their own standing in the current society compared to
In the film Rear Window by Alfred Hitchcock, the relationship between LB Jeffries and Lisa Fremont transitions from a relationship with only Lisa believing that it will work to a relationship where LB reciprocates the beliefs of Lisa. Initially in the story, it is apparent to the viewers that Jeffries is tentative and does not believe that Lisa and he will work as shown by his tentativeness to marry Lisa when conversing with Stella. As Jeffries makes mention that Lisa is “Too Perfect.” (Rear Window White Script, P20) and implies Lisa is too caught up in high society to be with him as he is always traveling for work and has little money. These lines reveal that he views Lisa as someone who enjoys the finer things in life which he believes he
The faults of society are shown through Mildred’s obsession with physical beauty, disconnection with the real world and inability to reflect upon her actions. To start, Mildred demonstrates that members of
She ends her essay by reminding her readers that this past incident still affects her present and feeds her fears of being misjudged by her lover: “I burned with old shame and then stubbornly shook it off” (134). Here, it becomes obvious to the audience that being judged due to the inadequate understanding of the context of her social class (poverty) brought Allison a profound
The short stories, "A Good man is Hard to Find" by Flannery O'Conner and "A Rose for Emily" by William Faulkner are rather horrifying; one tale is about a grandmother and her family brutally murdered by a coldhearted killer, and the other tale is about a lady who murders her lover and then sleeps beside his rotting body. Not only have O'Conner and Faulkner created similar plots in their respective stories, both authors criticize the Southern corruption through the distortion of the characters' world view of reality. The use of irony in the character's social statuses and their miserable lives illustrate the authors' criticism of the Southern social structure. The stories include insights into the families of the old south, and the older class system of
The film 's protagonist L.B Jefferies is characterised as a man who diverts himself from what is expected of him. His dislike for marriage and his desire to remain independent isolates him from the rest of society. When Stella is conversing with Jeff about his relationship with Lisa Freemont, Hitchcock exhibits the constraints of society 's expectations. The fact that Jefferies does 'not want to ' get married to Lisa is considered 'abnormal ' in Stella 's eyes, indicates the normalisation of marriage during 1954. Jefferies ' isolation from society 's view of marriage is utilised by Hitchcock in order to critique the way in which society pushes others to conform.
Sociology Analysis Paper Sample Analysis: The Breakfast Club The Breakfast Club is a film detailing a Saturday intention involving five very different students who are forced into each other’s company and share their stories. All the students are deviant in their own way and eventually are able to look past their differences and become friends. The film also offers detailed observations of social sanctions, peer pressure, control theory, and the three different sociological perspectives. The first principle seen in the film is a stigma, which is an undesirable trait or label that is used to characterize an individual. Each of the characters is associated with a stigma at the start of the film.
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.
Literature can be analyzed with many different critical lenses. While analyzing To Kill a Mockingbird, one may use a critical lens to recognize the different ideas throughout the novel. Harper Lee’s novel demonstrates her perspective on intolerance and discrimination within the early twentieth century. Firstly, intolerance of people who are different is very prevalent within the novel.
The Outsiders Final 5 Paragraph Essay S. E. Hinton’s The Outsiders is a novel that follows a group of boys growing up in the 1960s who have to face prejudice and stereotypes on a daily basis. The author uses multiple examples of prejudice in the novel to demonstrate the destructive nature of prejudice on the characters in the story, such as fights between characters, friendships being torn apart, and people feeling ashamed of who they are and which social class they belong in. The first examples of prejudice shown in the novel are fights and hate between the two social classes. As a result of prejudice, many characters got into fights and there was a lot of hate between the two classes.
Rear Window (1954) has been viewed from a feminist perspective by critics. Laura Mulvey the feminist film theorist and the author of Visual Pleasures and Narrative Cinema (1975) calls Lisa Fremont a “passive image of visual perfection” (qtd in Keith 1). 1950s is a period marked by the rise in consumer culture, Beatniks at its zenith and the beginning of cold war. The period was struggling hard to find a harmony between innovation and progress on one side and conformity and tradition on the other. Sticking to gender roles was the only solution to achieve a happy and secured life thought politicians and creators of popular culture.
In author Jane Austen 's 1813 romance novel Pride and Prejudice, social class stereotypes play a very key part when affecting the rolls of the Bennet sisters. Very clear distinctions between people who are grouped into classes are shown throughout the novel by characters of different classes stereotyping against others. This causes problems for many of the main characters who often fails to meet the social standards of others and stereotypes others themselves When it comes to social stereotypes Elizabeth Bennet, the second oldest Bennet sister, is no stranger. Throughout the novel her mother is often reminding her how to properly dress and correcting her on her manners.
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
“A Streetcar Named Desire” is a very elegant film in which the Southern gothic culture is demonstrated profoundly. Tennessee Williams uses the characters in the play to bring about a sense of how corrupt society truly was in the 1940’s in the South. The 1940’s was marked by an immense amount of violence, alcoholism, and poverty. Women at the time were treated as objects rather than people. Throughout the play Tennessee Williams relates the aspects of Southern society to the characters in the play.
The Glass Menagerie, by Tennessee Williams, tells the story of how the standards of society influence two siblings. Tom and Laura Wingfield are two miserable people who no matter how hard they try, cannot seem to fit in. The play takes place in St. Louis, 1937, in which men and women have specific roles and expectations. Men are expected to have jobs, get married and provide for their family. Women are expected to get married, have babies and stay home to raise their children.