Rear Window | The Glitch in Hitch

"There are circumstances in which looking itself is a source of pleasure." - Laura Mulvey

Lauren Mulvey explains in her essay the role of women in film. Their roles perform "on two levels: as erotic object for the characters within the screen story, and as erotic object for the spectator within the auditorium." (Mulvey). The following page deconstructs a few scenes from Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window and how these scenes center around "The look". Most notably, I will be going into depth on how a lot of these scenes reflect the ideal 1950's women.

Lauren Mulvey, 2010, Wikipedia

The protagonist of the movie Rear Window is stuck in his apartment for the whole film due to a cast on his leg. While their are short looks into other rooms out and around the apartment, us viewers never interact with them ourselves. Instead, we are stuck just like Jefferies is to sit back and watch the story unfold. While we do so, the film exposes numerous scenes where the female is subject to the gaze of males.

"Miss Torso"is the name that Jefferies uses to identify the girl in this scene. This name in itself objectifies her as a body part. This further fuels the already aggressive gaze this scene takes on. Hitchcock also teases the male viewer with a scene of dressing herself with her back against the wall. "The curiosity and the wish to look intermingle with a fascination with likeness and recognition: the human face, the human body, the relationship between the human form and its surroundings." This scene introduces miss Torso as visual image and nothing more. We only develop insights on her based on her physical attribute and actions she performs. Note the blonde hair along with the obvious thin hourglass form. This ideal body image was a uniform picture for every women in the 1950's.

3 cups

Blueberries

Windows act as curtains

Hourglass torso

Thin

forearms

Formed chin

Ignorance to camera adapts a

"performing"

environment

White

Skin

This is the first scene where the viewers meet Lisa. Lisa walks into the apartment and faces Jeff. She stares at him for a few seconds then leans in and kisses him on the cheek. The camera is from the point of view of Jeff. He is sitting in his wheel chair resting when a shadow appears over him. The shadow is a type of lighting convention, slowly moving over Jeff's face. This type of shadow is seen in a lot of horror films representing a killer or a villain of some type. In this case, it is an attractive women coming closer to the screen. The "point of view" camera creates voyeurism, giving the illusion that this women is calmly descending towards us, the viewers. The camera then changes angles and shows her kissing Jeff. Using editing effects, the camera shows this scene in slow motion, as well as cutting all music and noise from the city. These effects draw the viewers into the intimacy these characters share. This sets up a relationship that will be exposed through the rest of the film. We can now see that Lisa will be at Jeff's side for most of the film while he is bound to his chair. This reflects the notion that wives/partners of men were servants to their every need. While Jeff is unable to move, Lisa will be the one to handle his obstacles and keep him satisfied.

The camera detaches from Jeff and starts to follow Lisa around the room as she turns on each lamp. The first lamp lights up to compliment Lisa's physical features as well as her dress. She then finishes in the center of the shot with a big smile. One can argue that the final camera angle after she turns on the last lamp is from Jefferies point of view. If this is the case, she acts as the center piece for Jefferson to gaze upon with great lighting. This final scene also gives the audience a chance to appraise Lisa and her physical beauty. This abides to a common stereotype that no one is a stranger to. Lisa is seen as a sexual object to Jeff, sitting in his chair watching her perform simple tasks in a seductive way. This scene partakes in the notion that 1950's women would serve their husband/boyfriend in order to satisfy whatever needs they may have.