Rear Window Alfred Hitchcock's -

Rear Window Alfred Hitchcock's - Rear Window Rear Window, starring James Stewart and Grace Kelly - two of the more infamous and legendary actors of their age, provides an interesting cinematic view into the development of characters and the deployment of voyeurism in film itself (Rotten Tomatoes, 2002). Stewart's character, Jeff, is bound to the confines of his apartment after an injury leaves him unable to venture out. His interests grow increasingly obsessive with the ongoing lives of the tenants in the building across the street from his own.

He develops concerns of the patterns of his own life in comparison to those he is spying on. With the impending marriage to his fashion model girlfriend Lisa, Grace Kelly, Jeff's view of marriage is irrationally thwarted by the outward opinion he develops in observation of the newly married couple across the street (Mogg, 2003). This relationship, and Jeff's interest in it is abruptly halted and redirected after Jeff suspects a murder - the husband killing the wife.

Stewart's character, Jeff, develops an intriguing pattern of voyeurism through the course of the film, which ultimately dictates into a direct obsession. Birthed as a mere distraction and effort to kill time, Jeff's voyeuristic curiosity begins to mold into a forthright obsession developing further as a result of several key happenings. Jeff is undoubtedly taken by a certain power he feels in being able to pry and spy into the lives of individuals, which, importantly noted, are unsuspecting individuals.

This aspect feeds the voyeuristic nature, and nurtures the concepts of thrill for both the audience and Jeff as a character (I.M.D.B., 2007). This voyeurism proves to become more than a simple distraction or time utilizing endeavor, it becomes somewhat of an unhealthy display of inquisitive compulsion. Grace Kelly's character, Lisa, reveals several interesting displays of feminine disposition through the expected nature of a girlfriend/fiance in such a role.

Playing off Jeff's seemingly pathetic interests through the eyes of binoculars and on into the ridiculous concerns he derives from his beliefs of what has happened, Lisa at times becomes a nagging agitator in the progress of Jeff's directives - much ado with the happenings of nagging that Jeff observes in the newly wed couple across the street (Movie Gazette; Summary Reviews, 2005). Kelly's character is somewhat forced to intervene in this assumed insanity, placing her into a presumable role of masculinity.

Feeling obligated to distract Jeff from the apparent road he is traveling, Lisa confronts the questions of actual truth to his claims, and eventually into boldly embracing the investigative approach that must be taken to confirm the array of minutia supporting Jeff's horrific findings. Between Jeff and Lisa, an interesting and diverse approach into the ideals of spectatorship come into question with direct consideration of ownership. We, as the audience/spectators, are given several avenues by which we can develop sympathetic understanding for the viewpoint of either character.

Perhaps best put in this description: In the traditional movie, the woman has been displayed as an (erotic) object for both the other (male) characters within the movie and the (male) spectators in the audience. At the same time, a male/active vs. female/passive dichotomy is at work controlling the narrative sequence.

The man both holds control of the action, and of the gaze (character and spectator): "As the spectator identifies with the main male protagonist, he projects his look onto that of his like, his screen surrogate, so that the power of the male protagonist as he controls events coincides with the active power of the erotic look, both giving a satisfying sense of omnipotence." The importance of the look "of the spectator in direct scopophilic contact with the female form displayed for his enjoyment (connoting male fantasy) and [...] of the spectator fascinated with the image of his like set in an illusion of natural space, and through him gaining control and possession of the woman within the diegesis" becomes obvious.

The woman, in this type of movie, becomes "isolated, glamorous, on display, sexualised" - which is how not only Miss Torso is presented in Rear Window, but also Lisa An example of this is Jeff's relationship with Lisa. In the beginning he does not really show any interest in Lisa. He is afraid to commit to her through marriage.

Lisa's display of sexuality (a form of exhibitionism accented by her insistence on clothes and jewelry) triggers this sense of fear, the symbol of his castration anxiety, in Jeff, and which he consequently has to try to channel. The female threat has to be eliminated (hence Thorwald's murdering of his wife as Jeff's dream scenario) or neutralized (e.g. By a marriage).

Subsequently, Jeff's anxiety for Lisa's sexuality (and exhibitionism) can only diminish when she becomes a part of the world he looks at from his window, when she can be gazed at and controlled like the other objects in his gaze. We can therefore argue that Jeff's submissive gaze at Lisa canalises and neutralises his fear.

Lisa only becomes desirable to him (sexually) when she enters the perspective of his window Taking this analysis one step further, we see that spectators are, moreover, almost forced to identify with Jeff's male gaze objectifying the woman. However, we should also remark that the female spectatorial look works somewhat different from the male look in this situation. On the one hand, she (the female spectator) is described as a passive exhibitionist.

Miss Torso is the extreme representation of this exhibitionism as a character in the movie, but Lisa's accent on clothing is also an element contributing to this exhibitionism.

On the other hand, the female spectator is also able to identify with the gaze of the male hero, which turns her look into a masochistic look (as opposed to the male spectatorial look which is sadistic), at which point she turns into an active voyeur rather than a passive exhibitionist." (Els De Clercq, 2001) Attempting to reiterate and reword the connection of this role in female spectatorship cannot be more thoroughly and accurately depicted than in this previous description.

To the extent by which it is involved and considered, we can see the utter apparent nature.