Audience as Voyeur

**Audience is Voyeur** is a technique that morally questions the audience and putting them in the position of a voyeur. This technique was commonly used by Alfred Hitchcock, however elements of this theme are present in such films as *The Last House on the Left (1972)* and *Funny Games (1997)*

## History

### Hitchcock

Hitchcock pioneered a camera that represented the eye of the audience. Rather than watching all the action from a distance, like a play, the audience are granted their own position within the action itself. They are a character, in many ways. In particular, Hitchcock’s cameras often work as an individual’s point of view. In *Vertigo* (1958), for example, we experience Scottie’s acrophobia firsthand when the camera meanders and distorts via the dolly-zoom when at a great height.

In that respect, if the camera is made to be the eye of the audience in Hitchcock's films, the audience must then be incriminated when POV shots are included that involves perverse and private actions.

In *Rear Window* (1954), after the protagonist, L. B. Jeffries has been staring across the courtyard at him for most of the film, Lars Thorwald (the antagonist) confronts Jeffries by saying, "What do you want of me?" Burr might as well have been addressing the audience. In fact, shortly before asking this, Thorwald turns to face the camera directly for the first time.

Similarly, *Psycho (1960)* begins with the camera moving toward a hotel-room window, through which the audience is introduced to Marion Crane and her divorced boyfriend Sam Loomis.. They are partially undressed, having apparently had sex though they are not married and Marion is on her lunch "hour".

Later, along with Norman Bates the audience watches Marion undress through a peephole.What Hitchcock’s voyeurism established was a camera that never leaves its subjects alone – a camera that never hides behind bushes or pans to euphemistic shots of the ocean during lovemaking .As well as granting the audience a new role in the watching of cinema, he also opened the floodgates for *what* could be shown on screen, being somewhat bold and liberal with his prevailing themes of sex and violence. Of course, Hitchcock worked in a world far more heavily dominated by censorship than the cinema of today, but his influence has been invaluable.

### Other Films

Alejandro González Iñárritu’s *Birdman (2014)* undoubtedly owes its innovative “eternal” camera techniques to Hitchcock as well. The camera (and thus the audience) become a inquisitive and curious backstage presence, following the action wherever it leads. *Birdman* is an example of pure cinematic voyeurism – the camera literally cannot stop watching people for a single moment. It is even scared to blink. The point of view shots of Michael Myers in *Halloween (1978)*, and even the eponymous shark’s beady perspective in *Jaws (1975).*

David Lynch's *Blue Velvet (1986)* has many Hitchcockian elements and is a prime example of cinema's longstanding fascination with voyeurism and the audience's role as the voyeur. Through the character of Jeffrey Beaumont, played by Kyle MacLachlan, we are drawn into a world of dark, seductive forces that threaten to destroy the façade of innocence and domesticity. As Jeffrey delves deeper into the seedy underbelly of his small town, we too become complicit in his voyeuristic behavior, unable to resist the temptation to see what lies behind closed doors. Lynch's film forces us to confront the uncomfortable truth that we are all voyeurs in some capacity, drawn to the darkness that lies just beneath the surface of everyday life. This is achieved through many POV Shots as well as homages to similar scenes in *Psycho (1960).*

## See also

* Hitchcockian
* POV Shot
* Sex Scene
* Fourth Wall

## References

1. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Themes\_and\_plot\_devices\_in\_Hitchcock\_films
2. ↑ https://cherwell.org/2015/03/22/hitchcock-and-voyeurism/
3. ↑ https://lwlies.com/articles/blue-velvet-rear-window-voyeurism/