Rear Window

Watching Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window (1954) for the second time I felt like somewhat of a double-voyeur. Jeff spends most of his time poking into other people’s business without ever leaving the security of his apartment and his wheelchair. This is made possible by his relentless and risky voyeurism. However, the voyeurism I personally experience was a lot less risky. I was presented with a material, and as a spectator was allowed to judge for myself. I saw the ballerina rehearsing in her underwear, even though I wasn’t looking for her. What I was really seeing was unfiltered, yet restricted. I cannot be positive what Jeff’s reaction to the ballerina was, nor the newlyweds below. I believe part of the genius of Rear Window is not only the innate human interest in others, but that in order to watch a voyeur, we must become voyeurs ourselves. Then we must question whether we are learning more about Jeff, or his surroundings.

An example regarding Mulvey, I believe her conclusions to the increased eroticism of Jeff’s girlfriend Lisa once she crosses to the other side of the window and Lisa’s exhibitionism as “established by her obsessive interest in dress and style” belittles her development as a character in relation to Jeff’s life. Jeff’s inability to look at her for her efforts and accomplishments, instead resolving that she is “too perfect,” is a driving force behind the audience’s motivation to want their relationship to end in marriage, not a preoccupation with fetishistic scopophilia.