The documentary subscribed to many different forms in presenting its information with a visual and audio spectrum. On the visual scale, it bombards the viewer with images and videos of hyper-sexualized women present in everyday type television, film, and advertising. Dramatic music to match the tone of the information being said was included. Melancholic musical accompaniment was common during parts of the film that explained the consequences of the misrepresentation of female roles on young girls. For example, when it began to give information on how poorly written women in film with unachievable bodies has a direct detrimental effect on self esteem and body image, the documentary captured the upsetting, emotional aspect of the research through background music. The effects of these combine to make the viewer feel disgusted at the mass amounts of exploitation the media tries to incorporate and sell. Furthermore, the types of evidence can be broken
In this film, the concepts that I will be using as analytical categories are gender conventions, the model of cinematic analysis, the feminine concept, the Social
The protagonist of Alfred Hitchcock’s ‘Rear Window’ is trapped, stuck in a wheelchair with a broken leg and we share his pain, we are also trapped. In a different way of course. We are trapped in his point of view. As the successful photographer that is L.B Jeffries (Jeff to his fiancée), played by James Stewart, passes his long and limited days and nights sitting by his window and shamelessly keeping an eye on his neighbours around him, we too share this obsession. The fact that Jeff has no chose but to sit and stare out the window, he cannot stop looking into this inviting and every changing view. We are like Jeff in the way that once we sit down in a cinema we too can only look at what is put in front of us. Patrick Stewart’s character symbolises all cinema goers, a human being brazenly watching the life of an alien. One of the first shots we see in the film is the opening of Jeff’s curtains by his nurse Stella (Thelma Ritter). This
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. Observing the events that happen in the privacy of each of his neighbours’ apartments is certainly not minding one’s business but Jeff continues to do so anyway and ends up in all
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. In this essay, I will discuss how the film is about film itself. The notions of gaze will also be analysed, through a discussion of voyeurism and Jeff and Lisa’s relationship.
Alfred Hitchcock, director and producer of Rear Window, drew his idea for the film from Cornell Woolrich’s short story, “It Had to Be Murder.” He also drew inspiration from 1950s American culture, such as Americans’ suspicion of others during the Cold War era, the overall impending fear of communism, and women’s gender roles. Rear Window predominantly focuses on female objectification and the male gaze through the POV of the subjectively perverted L.B. Jeffries.
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.
There is not a minute in the day where a news broadcast is not being televised. For twenty-four hours, the same repetitive and monotonous information is delivered by different news anchors. Even though they report nothing new, Americans will still watch for hours upon hours. The large majority of these television broadcasts deliver stressful and generally upsetting news, but in no way, is this a deterrent to the viewer. The American obsession with spectatorship is a phenomenon created by the inaccessibility of timely and relevant knowledge. This oddly leads to an increase in the demand and likeability of terror. In her piece “Great to Watch”, Maggie Nelson explores the origins of this fascination with horror and gives an
Both of Alfred Hitchcock’s films, North by Northwest and Rear Window, were great movies with lots of suspense. The suspense, however, would not have been created without the entire mise-en-scene of the movies. Hitchcock was a master at using the elements of lighting, sound, and cinematography to heighten the suspense in his movies.
Choose one or two examples of media texts and explore how they might challenge or disrupt Mulvey’s concept of ‘the male gaze’.
The film intends viewers to assume along with Fergus that the person he is falling in love with is biologically female that Dil’s enacted gender identity is congruent with her biological sex. Dil obviously is the focus when thinking of gender performativity as she has a penis but all of her other characteristics are femaleFergus accepted Dil as a suitable object of male sexual desire but after seeing her penis viewers have been confronted with a male enacting a sexually attractive woman. Male viewers were appalled that they were sexually attracted to a male they are confronted with having desire for a male transvestite (Wartenberg
Feminist theatre came into being as a by product of the experimental theatre movement of the 1970s’ and 1980’. It was an alternate theatre which enabled women to explore their creative talents on stage independently. Feminist theatre served as a means of constructing an exclusive feminist discourse on stage that questioned the patriarchal norms of female subjugation. Its movement was towards the construction of a theatre space where women are no longer mere stage props. They started functioning as the creators of drama rather than being confined to the roles of wife, lover, mother or lunatic. It was a paradigm shift from women being the objects of male gaze to the creation of a self sufficient female gaze, from being objects to being the subject
For this week’s assignment, we were assigned to watch Hugo, which to me was very enjoyable. The film tells viewers about the life of an orphaned young boy named Hugo Cabret. In the movie, Hugo is on a quest for survival. Through this he learns valuable life lessons. Volger’s archetypes, the historical aspects of the narratives in the film, and actor portrayls all serve as a reflection of Hugo’s heroism.
Alfred Hitchcock’s 1960 film Psycho redirected the entire horror genre, and in doing so dismantled the prudent 1950’s societal barriers of cinema. Although unseen for its potential by the large studios of the time, Psycho became one of the crowning achievements of film history. While based partially on a true story of murder and psychosis from Wisconsin, the widespread viewing of this tale made way for a new era of film and ushered in a new audience of movie goers. The use of violence, sexual explicitness, dramatic twists, sound, and cinematography throughout this film gave Hitchcock his reputable name and title as master of suspense. In 2018, reviews of films often are headlined with “the book was better.” But, in 1960 there was no such thing