Rear Window; Alfred Hitchcock Essay Example

After watching Rear Window for a second time I’ve come to realize that not only is Alfred Hitchcock a great director, but also a great movie watcher. What I’m trying to say is that he knows exactly what people want to see in certain movies. Voyeurism captures the attention of anyone, viewers want to “spy” on the characters without being seen, and they want to be in positions that reality doesn’t allow them to be in. Hitchcock knows this feeling all too well, making one of the greatest movies of all time around that one obsession viewers have. This is why Rear Window is a great movie for ENC 1102, along with the romantic tension and multiple subplots.
The first time a saw the movie I really didn’t see the voyeurism of the film, mostly because it was in my high school humanities class and was told to figure out the story behind the thriller. The teacher told us to find out the mystery of Mr. Thorwald. But after refreshing myself of the movie a noticed that Hitchcock was a very smart, nosy man, just like the rest of society. I pictured Hitchcock in the wheelchair watching all those people out of his window, and then myself and came to realize that anyone would watch if it were open to you. This led me to recognize that the movie, behind the crime investigation, was all about voyeurism and how people love to see without being seen. I watched it with my brother, who is a film major at UCF, and he too thought the same thing. We discussed the movie afterwards and he came to appreciate the movie for being shot in one area.
The one person that does get to live the voyeurism in the movie is James Stewart. He’s the perfect main character, L.B “Jeff” Jeffries, who is a photojournalist. While on the job he broke his leg at an auto race after a big crash. Because of this he is confined to his own apartment and begins to watch all his neighbors and how they go about their day. Behind his building is a courtyard joined by three other buildings. Throughout these three building