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
In The Glass Castle, Rex and Rosemary Walls can be categorized as permissive parents. Rex and Rosemary’s parenting style is permissive because they approach their children as more of a friend than a parental figure, they do not discipline their kids, and they have few demands expected from their kids. The Walls parents act more of a friend than a parent to their kids due to their easygoing nature. Rex brushes off Jeanette's complaint regarding Robbie’s inappropriate touching and does not take action as a normal parent should. Rex had the opportunity to punish Robbie for his behavior but decided not to: “I’m sure he just pawed you some, I knew you could handle yourself” (Walls 213). Rex believes that Jeanette was able to handle herself and
Paul Ryan once said, “Every successful individual knows that his or her achievement depends on a community of persons working together.” Individuals must strive upon excellence based on the society they are placed in. Watching how others react can help one become the best they can be. Throughout The Glass Castle, Jeannette is exposed to society by her parents. Her parents, Rex and Rose Mary, see society in different means than how others perceive it. They think they can bend the rules and do what they think is necessary. Jeannette is exposed to these understandings, making her the person she grew up to be. Jeanette demonstrates how she struggles with her family throughout numerous portions of the novel: “The Desert,” “Welch,” New York.” These struggles developed and defined who she came to be.
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. In each of the apartments, lives are lived and relationships are being played out, and the dynamics of those relationships reflect back to aspects of Jeff’s and Lisa’s relationship and their anxieties and desires.
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.
In Their Eyes Were Watching God, each and every male character feels the need to assert their dominance over Janie. In her first relationship, Logan Killicks asserted his dominance by always talking don on Janie. Rather than being thankful for what she would do for him, he would respond with answers such as, "Come help me move dis manure pile befo’ de sun gits hot. You don’t take a bit of interest in dis place. ‘Tain’t no use in foolin’ round in dat kitchen all day long…” As a young child, Janie always imagined that with marriage, love would come, However during her first marriage she realized that in some cases men simply wanted women as a way to assert their dominance over them. This was also true in her second marriage with Joe Starks. When she first met him, Janie believed that Joe truly loved her since he would always buy her stuff. However after some time, she began to realize that he simply liked her because not only did her appearance allow him to assert his dominance over the other townspeople, but also because of the way that Janie would allow herself to be treated. All the times that Joe would talk down on Janie, or simply even beat her, Janie would allow herself. Joe loved this because not not did it make him feel good about himself , since it made him feel powerful, as men believe they should, but it also forced the townspeople to view him as a strong and masculine leader, an image of himself that he loved. Therefor, when Janie stood up against him and insulted a man’s most prized possession, he was infuriated beyond repair. As for Jamie's third husband, Tea Cake, at first he was characterized to be a nonconforming male that did not need to assert his masculinity in order to feel like a man. However when he became overpowered by jealousy, he returned to the way that society
When two people from vastly different walks of life cross paths, they are bound to learn a lot from each other. My Ántonia by Willa Cather is set in Nebraska in the late 1800s and tells the story of the relationship between a Bohemian immigrant, Ántonia Shimerda, and an American boy, Jim Burden. In the beginning of their relationship, Jim teaches Ántonia English as requested by Mr. Shimerda. However, Jim learns more through their relationship because Ántonia inadvertently teaches him things he would not have learned otherwise.
In the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, we follow our protagonist, Janie, through a journey of self-discovery. We watch Janie from when she was a child to her adulthood, slowly watching her ideals change while other dreams of hers unfortunately die. This is shown when Jane first formulates her idea of love, marriage, and intimacy by comparing it to a pear tree; erotic, beautiful, and full of life. After Janie gets married to her first spouse, Logan Killicks, she doesn’t see her love fantasy happening, but she waits because her Nanny tells her that love comes after marriage. Janie, thinking that Nanny is wise beyond her years, decides to wait. But, as Logan continues to snap at Janie day to day, she becomes even more uninterested. While avoiding Logan, sitting under a tree, Janie comes to a realization; “She knew that marriage did
Analyzing the film, “The Rear Window” by Alfred Hitchcock, as it progresses through both the Archetypal and Marxist Criticisms, the use of archetypes adds deeper meaning and the lack of Marxism in the portrayed society prove that money and social connections are not needed to achieve something. The archetypal characters and images are portrayed in order to hint at further meanings and cause certain tones include the character archetypes used and the archetypal imagery of darkness. Moreover, the lack of Marxist values is also expressed in the film as each time a Marxist value is expressed, the notion is turned down by another character, including attempts to impress, use networking for self-benefit, and using money to stop someone from digging
Society is fooled into believing in the applied connection among people. Benedict Anderson’s idea of imagined communities emphasizes that, “… the members of even the smallest nation will never know most of their fellow-members, meet them, or even hear of them, yet in the minds of each lives the image of their communion” (5). Members of neighborhoods, cities, states, or countries feel a sense of unity with other members for living in the same place or maybe having the same basic values, but true unity comes from understanding the similarities among each other, considering the impact a person can have on another, and caring about lives. Recognizing the importance of lives being socially intertwined is necessary to sustain a considerate society.
In “The Birthmark” Nathaniel Hawthorne gives us a story that is telling us on some level to accept your own, as well as other people's imperfections or it could destroy not only your relationship with them, but also your relationship with yourself. In this story Hawthorne uses symbolism to show us exactly how this kind of behavior can lead to not just ruining relationships, but in this case even death. In “The Birthmark” Hawthorne uses a wide variety of objects and people such as a withering flower, a birthmark, poison, Aylmer's dream and Georgiana's death, and even a character named Aminidab to symbolize that nobody is in fact perfect and we all must accept each others flaws in order to have good and healthy relationships.
Rear 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.
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
Margaret Wolfe Hungerford once said, “Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder”. The meaning of this quote is that beauty exists only in the mind of the person that contemplates it. This correlates with the beginning of the love shared by the main characters in Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare. Born from opposing families, Romeo and Juliet fall in love, but cannot be together because of their family feud. Their love begins from the moment they meet, and just upon looking at each other, they instantly fall in love. ¨Sonnet 148¨, also written by William Shakespeare, shows love and sight in a different light. Love is shown from a negative aspect, while the love of Romeo and Juliet are shown as a beautiful thing. Sight gives love many different
Hitchcock creates the “big” suspense in the film. Let the audience guess when the other will discover the murders and watch the murders how to hide their crime during the time of the party. While Mrs. Wilson is tidying up the “table”, a scene keeps showing a chest on the left-hand side. After that, Mrs. Wilson wants to put the books back to the chest after she has tidied up. Hitchcock designs, these settings in the sequence to increase the tension between the chest and Mrs. Wilson. (Hitchcock "Rope") The viewer is being nervous of Mrs. Wilson will be the first person of discovering the crime or not. The period of Mrs. Wilson puts the books back before she opens the chest, the audience is agitated because want to know what will happen if she discovers the crime. (Hitchcock "Rope") To sum up this part, Hitchcock is successful to create the suspense and let the feeling or emotion of the audience fall into in Spellbound and