Professional Voyeurism

Rating: 9/10 (13 July 2009)

Alfred Hitchcock's "Rear Window" is a cinematic masterpiece. It starts out by showing that the main character, Jeff (James Stewart), has broken his leg and is confined to a wheelchair for seven weeks. Since Jeff can't go back to work, he decides to take out some old binoculars and see what his neighbors are up to. Jeff is surprisingly good at spying on his neighbors because he's a professional photographer. Within the first few days of his spying, he becomes suspicious of one of his neighbors, Mr. Thorwald (Raymond Burr), after his wife disappears. Jeff keeps a close eye on Thorwald with the help of his girlfriend and his therapist, and attempts to dig up some evidence to prove him guilty. This movie is a classic Hitchcock thriller and is full of suspense until the very end.
In many of Alfred Hitchcock's movies, such as "Psycho", "Rear Window", and "Vertigo", voyeurism is a key element. Voyeurism would be best described as spying on others without being noticed (usually for sexual gratification). In "Rear Window", it is one of the main themes of the movie. Hitchcock isn't satisfied by just having the audience witness the voyeurism, so he realizes that most people have voyeuristic urges or tendencies and he intensifies the voyeurism in his movies using certain audio and visual effects to make the audience feel like they themselves are the voyeurs! Although this may seem a bit odd, it helps portray his message that voyeurism is wrong, and it may have had positive results in "Rear Window", but it leads to paranoia.
In "Rear Window", Hitchcock uses bizarre audio and visual effects to scare his audiences. During the many scenes in which Jeff is using binoculars or his camera to watch his neighbors, the view is limited to an oval to make the audience feel linked with Jeff. At the same time, the only audio we hear (besides dialogue) is sirens off in the distance and sounds normally associated with a dark, dangerous city street. These effects make the audience feel the same emotions that Jeff feels and they give these parts a very ominous feeling.