An Analysis Of Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window
Is Alfred Hitchcock’s ‘Rear Window’ an appropriate text for VCE English in 2018? A speech delivered by a young feminist teacher to the Victorian Department of Education Conference on VCE text selection. October 17, 2017—Speech—Jemina Smith Good morning, my name is Jemina Jade Smith, and I am thrilled to have been given the opportunity to speak at this conference, to share my thoughts on the department’s selection of Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window as one of our Year 12 English prescribed texts. I have not taught this text previously, and last month, I decided to watch a re-release of the film. I went into the theatre expecting a crime suspense film and left feeling uncomfortable and unsettled. Rear Window revealed a society of women singularly …show more content…
Hitchcock has been described by many film reviewers as ‘a master of mystery, a connoisseur of compelling cryptic suspense”, however, the manner in which he depicted gender roles was concrete in its rigidity. Having directed and cast over 70 films, Hitchcock has himself admitted that women are often seen as objects and that the only reason they exist in his films is as a supporting role to the male actor. Rear Window’s main three female roles consist of the scantily clad Ms Torso, named only by a body part, and the glamourous Lisa and nurse Stella whose roles are limited to enabling Jeff to follow his pursuits. How can this be …show more content…
Lisa goes to extreme lengths to nurture and care for Jeff, whilst he ignores her attentions and continues to direct his eyes at other women. Lisa turns to Jeff and demands to know how far a girl has to go before he notices her. Jeff’s reply ‘Well if she’s pretty enough, she doesn’t have to go anywhere. She just has to be’’ is demeaning and hurtful. It creates the stereotype of a pretty acquiescent woman as the perfect woman. Lisa is willing to give up her highly regarded job as a fashion editor so that she can be with Jeff. Meanwhile, Jeff is appalled at the idea of curtailing his photojournalism opportunities to make a life with her in New York. She must make the sacrifices so that Jeff can be appeased.
What Is The Controversy Of Rear Window
386 Words | 2 Pages“Rear Window” has caused a lot of controversy ever since the Hitchcock movie hit theaters back in 1954. Rear Window is actually based on the short story, “It Had to Be Murder,” that was written by Cornell Woolrich. Years later Woolrich decided to sell the rights of this particular story to a newly production company. That production company later would sell the rights to the story to Hitchock and Stewart. They would later produce the movie known as “Rear Window.”
Symbolism And Motifs In Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window
672 Words | 3 PagesRear Window by Alfred Hitchcock is a fillm full of symbolism and motifs that provides viewers with a bigger meaning. It shows these rhetorical appeals through Hitchcok’s eyes that would not be recognized if not analyzed. Through these appeals I have recognized the window as being a symbol and marriage and binoculars as motifs. After understanding much more than what the eye anitially sees when viewing this film there is a fine line between understanding what is going on in the film and observing what the protagonist Jeff is viewing.
Shame And Self-Acceptance In Dorothy Allison's Trash
1259 Words | 6 PagesIn the chapter titled “Monkeybites” it is evident how Allison is reluctant to accept herself for who she is and to allow herself to be vulnerable to love. In this chapter Allison speaks on various lovers she has had, one of them being Toni. In the text Allison explains that for her lovemaking was nothing more than just sex to her. While for Toni it was much more than that, it was love. Here it is as if Allison is putting up a barrier between her and Toni in order to keep herself from being vulnerable and letting someone in.
Social Isolation In Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window
1225 Words | 5 PagesAlfred 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.
Ethical Issues In Rear Window
873 Words | 4 PagesRear 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.
Women In American Cinema
1658 Words | 7 PagesConsidering other movies from the last few years such as Non-Stop or The Wolf of Wall Street it is easy to spot that men and women are still often presented in a typical gender manner. Nevertheless, recently the representation of female characters has also been improving and women are gradually becoming more prominent in the movie industry. In Hollywood, there was a certain rise of casting women as the main characters who take matters into their own hands and are no longer waiting for men to save the day. By making female protagonists as strong and independent, the stereotypes as women being weaker and submissive to men are subverted. What is more, movies whose protagonist is a woman often present the reversal of archetypal gender roles.
Relationships In Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window
827 Words | 4 PagesAlfred 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.
Character Analysis: Their Eyes Were Watching God By Zora Neale Hurston
985 Words | 4 PagesFirstly, Jody promises the best for Janie, proclaiming to provide a pampered and proper life for her. For example, when he first meets Janie and she reveals the amount of farm work Logan assigns her to do and Jody says, "You ain’t got no mo’ business wid uh plow than uh hog is got wid uh holiday... A pretty doll-baby lak you is made to sit on de front porch and rock and fan yo’self and eat p’taters dat other folks plant just special for you" (29). Jody outwardly expresses his belief that such a beautiful and delicate woman like Janie shouldn’t be doing hard labor. He instead believes that Janie should be pampered, resting in the cool shade with food that others made for her.
The Symbolism Of Rachel Price's Journey In The Congo
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Laura Mulvey's Visual Pleasure And Narrative Cinema
735 Words | 3 PagesThe diversity of the theoretical framework, on which feminist film theory lies, propels many different ideas and questions, which feminist film theorists and critics seek to explore and answer. Among those ideas are the notion of the “male gaze” that dominates the classical Hollywood and cinema spectatorship, on which Laura Mulvey’s pivotal essay expands; B. Ruby Rich’s idea that the relationship between women and film is dialectical, meaning that women consciously filter the messages and images on screen to create their own meaning; and from the works of Haskell and Rosen – the realistic depiction of women both in documentary and narrative cinema and Claire Johnston’s women’s cinema as “counter cinema”, which offers an alternative to the classical Hollywood cinema and its sexist ideologies. At the same time as feminist film theory developed there was a rise of feminist film criticism, as a natural outgrowth of the women’s movement in the 1960s and 70s (cite – issues with). In addition, the rumbling political activism at that time and the innovation that was occurring in women’s studies inside academia had, without a doubt, an impact on feminist film criticism, which signified the changing image of
Gender Stereotypes In Cowboys And Aliens
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Feminist Perspective In Hitchcock's Vertigo
892 Words | 4 PagesI had watched Alfred Hitchcock’s, Vertigo a few times many years ago as I was a huge fan of his work. However, this time, I watched with a different perspective after the readings and videos this week. Laura Mulvey’s theory that we are in a sense forced to watch movies through a male perspective as objects for their pleasure, was written at the height of the feminist movement, noted as the “Male Gaze,” ran prevalent throughout this movie. It is unfortunate that Mulvey, while taken seriously, as her writing still resonates today, was unable to change the ways in which the film industry still views women. The entertainment industry and advertising have only become worse.
Gender Roles In The Man Who Knew Too Much By Alfred Hitchcock
653 Words | 3 PagesHollywood has always done a terrible job of depicting real women in film, and although his work has a somewhat misogynistic reputation, Alfred Hitchcock has done so much involving the progression of female roles in Hollywood cinema. Although many of his female victims wind up dead, the survivors have lots of power – and without reliance on their male counterparts. Women remain the central focus in many of Hitchcock’s films, not just because of their beauty, but because the narrative is dependent on them. When you look at his work in the context of this specific Hollywood era, Hitchcock’s female characters are very much out of the ordinary. Looking past the obvious presence of gender roles (male and female) that just so happened to be a part of the social norm during that time, Hitchcock sought to represent women with having more depth, realism, and independence than ever before in women in Hollywood.
Virginia Woolf Professions For Women Analysis
1155 Words | 5 PagesProfessions for Women At the beginning of the 19th century, ideas of the roles of men and women has taken a turn as women take a stand to encourage other women to overcome obstacles that society’s perspectives of gender roles confine them in. Women’s conflict to find their voice during this time struggle has taken a turn in the evolving male-dominated society. An English writer, Virginia Woolf, delivered her speech “Professions for Women”, published in 1931 for the National Society for Women’s Service, and she argues that it is important for women stand up for themselves and allow their imagination to flow despite society’s oppression. Woolf begins with building her credibility with personal anecdotes, expresses the phantoms that limit women’s
Orlando And Morten Tyldum's The Imitation Game
1601 Words | 7 PagesIn Sally Potter’s Orlando (1992), and Morten Tyldum’s The Imitation Game (2014), society’s expectations of gender and sexuality develop the crucial motivations behind the central character’s decisions throughout both films. From the Elizabethan era to the Second World War, these characters experience diverse cultural and historical periods, each with their own definitions of gender roles and sexuality. By comparing and contrasting these conventions throughout both films, audiences can explore how social conventions inhibit one’s wellbeing. In addition to providing an insight into how Orlando achieves satisfaction in his/her life in a way Alan Turing does not.
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