Is Peeping Justified

Rating: 8/10 (6 February 2018)

Jeff got bored. A man who's traveled the world, photographed the world, and earned his place has been resigned to the confines of a wheel chair. From scene one we see his boredom. The world outside his apartment is alive with the diversity of the city.
The first panning scene gives the viewer an omniscient view of this place. Never stopping on one person too long, but intriguing us with interesting actions, each brought into the center of the frame one at a time. We have not been in this setting for more than 2 minutes, and we have already been introduced to the world which Jeff observes.
The world in which Jeff lives is different. Seated in a wheel chair, and having only direct contact with people who enter his apartment, Jeff is cutoff from the outside. this creates a interesting dynamic challenge for the film, forcing it to create an engaging story to make both Jeff's live and our lives more interesting.
This is started through the only gateway of interest: the window. The story could have easily brought a series of interesting people to the door of the apartment, and through dialogue, made a murder mystery. But instead, it follows the story through the window.
Spying like this is not an appropriate pastime. It is noted for nearly the entire film that it is rude to peep in people's windows, especially with binoculars. However, it is so enticing the way the camera waits to show the scene until Jeff picks up his camera or binoculars, that the audience is always on edge waiting for the next glimpse inside. It slowly becomes more and more acceptable for people to peak. First Jeff, then Lisa are consumed with the desire to look, and finally Stella. However, it never becomes socially acceptable. Doyle, the detective and voice of society in this film, is always against the spying.
The framing in this film is always using Windows. It creates isolation in this film between characters, and separates their stories. When the couple is fighting, they are pictured often through different windows, separating them visually and showing the conflict in their marriage. The newly wed couple is shown only thought one window, and they are happy at the beginning. We never see Lisa and Jeff through their own windows, but if anything, the many windows with thin borders would show them together in the frame.
The audience can be invested in the characters in their own little worlds, but not very much. When it comes time to add drama and suspense, we need to be more emotionally involved with the subjects. That is why it is so exciting when Lisa and Stella go out to dig up the flowers. All of a sudden, two people, whom we care about are put in a place of danger. It is very engaging watching them sneak around. When Lisa is abandon by Stella when she climbs into the apartment, the audience knows the danger, and because we are trapped in the view point of Jeff's window, we feel powerless to help.
The Climax of the story is when Mr. Thorwald enters the apartment with Jeff. Where as we felt an emotional connection to Lisa and didn't want her to get hurt, because Jeff has been our view point for this whole movie, and because he his immobile, this is a much more suspenseful scene. All of a sudden, the sanctuary of the apartment turns into a trap. The message against spying has been loosened throughout this movie but now it has meaningful consequence.
The way Mr Thorwald is shown in the shadows and how Jeff's only defense is to flash a light in his eyes, mirrors the way in which Mr. Thorwald has been operating in private. He is revealed to be a killer in the same violent and sudden way that he is stunned by the light.
Jeff's, now with two broken legs, is bored again, but has resolved his conflict with Lisa, giving a happy ending to this story.