Describes a theme from the movie.

Rating: Null/10 (25 April 2003)

Shakespeare would have been proud! Never before have so many storylines been weaved into a smooth creative web of dark humor and suspense in such little words. Hitchcock has managed to tell the viewers of `Rear Window' the story of six different relationships (or the lack thereof) without actually verbalizing all of them. The primary plot does revolve around the adventurous yet insecure photographer L.B. Jeffries (James Stewart) and his beautiful girlfriend/fiancÃ©e Lisa Carol Freemont (Grace Kelly). According to me, the theme of this film, defined as a topic or subject re-occurring throughout the film, is based around the different layers of voyeuristic nature inherent in all human beings. We see the male lead, Jeff, confined to a wheelchair and whiling away his time by gazing into the lives of his neighbors. Hitchcock, unlike most of his movies, has also confined the audience to point of view shots from Jeff's apartment. The audience is confined to their chairs and is a part of this `crime' of secretly viewing other people's lives. The human nature, inherently curious, becomes part of Jeff's solution of boredom and starts learning more and more about the separate lives of all of Jeff's neighbors through his window voyeuristic practices. Jeff himself is curious about his neighbors for reasons apparent after we learn about his own problems with Lisa Freemont. He feels that Lisa would confine him and hence does not want to marry her. Hitchcock presents us with different versions of the turns Jeff's life might take depending on his decisions as regards to marriage with Lisa. `Miss Torso' is a free bird, always surrounded by dying fans. `Miss Lonely Hearts,' diametrically opposite, imagines herself on a date. The newlyweds hardly ever open their window for a respite. The `composer' is too busy with his work in composing his song for a dedicated relationship. Thorwald and his wife are continuously bickering at each other. Hitchcock masterfully presents us with a situation in which people often compare their own lives with those of others to make sense out of it. Another layer to the theme is human curiosity itself. For the most part, deep down inside, we always want to know the innermost secrets of other people's lives. It gives us a sense of normalcy. Watching the lives of his neighbors, gives Jeff this virtual sense of normalcy. There are various scenes, which represent this theme of voyeurism. One particular scene and dialogue exchange is in the beginning between Stella and Jeff. Stella catches Jeff looking at the stories unfold in his neighborhood and she says, `We've become a race of Peeping Toms. What people ought to do is get outside their own house and look in for a change. Yes sir. How's that for a bit of homespun philosophy?" Stella clearly believes as most of us do that we should analyze our own problems first before trying to get in the middle of other people's problems. Ironically, she too, becomes a part of the voyeuristic web once she finds out what actually is going on. She, herself, cannot resist meddling in other people's affairs. This symbolizes the human nature of hypocrisy. Another scene that symbolizes this theme is when Jeff is comparing the life of `Miss Torso' with that of Lisa's. In the midst of their own relationship crisis, they use the experience of viewing into `Miss Torso's' apartment to make cutting remarks to each other about their own relationship. Hitchcock has also used some great technical elements to enhance the theme. The set itself, was the largest ever built at the time in the Paramount Studios. Jeff's window of the apartment is like a lens itself and the audience gets to participate in the act of voyeurism by watching every action through the lens, or through Jeff's point of view. This technique is used throughout the film by Hitchcock to enhance the effect of voyeurism. Hitchcock also uses lights throughout the film to symbolize the presence and absence of characters that Jeff is observing. In one particular scene, Jeff feels that Thorwald would watch him and he retracts into the darkness in his apartment. Jeff also uses camera flashbulbs as `protection' against Thorwald in one of the scenes. He feels that the absence of light would be protective for him. Hence, Hitchcock uses an excellent combination of various different technical and non-technical film aspects to create a cornucopia of delight for the audience.