Rear Window by Alfred Hitchcock exhibits many aspects of chapter 3. In the movie the main character Jeffries is wheel chair bound in his home. "To gaze is to enter into a relational activity of looking" (94, practices of looking)He uses his time to gaze through his window into the neighboring buildins windows, "Like characters in a movie, his neighbors are apparently unaware that this audience of one exists." (125, Practices of looking).His neighbors cannot see Jeffries although he can clearly see them. Much like Chapter 3 states, Jeffries window acts as a metaphor for our day to day viewing. Everyday we see other people and in a way peer into their lives momentarily. Some would call this privacy invasion, I call this however curiosity. It is natural to be curious about other people and what they are doing, most importantly what they are doing wrong. In the movie Jeffries could care less about the people doing nothing wrong but only the ones ho acted peculiar recieved constant attention. As humans we have a natural need to pick out each others inadequacies and compare them to our own actions to determine if they are in fact strange.
Gender plays a huge role in this movie also. Jeffries sits back and watches his girlfriend Lisa as she sets out and does the things he isn't capable of. Jeffries is in fact the viewer. Much like it states in the book women have always been seen used in art and media as only a pleasing image to the viewers eye. Although Lisa was not naked in the movie she was at many times a pretty image for those watching her through the window. Not only was Lisa used in this way but the other women portrayed were for the pleasure of the viewer. One woman Jeffries often viewed was constantly in a leotard dancing sentually. This woman epitamizes the use of male gaze upon a woman. She is beautiful and young and only for the viewers (Jeffries) pleasure. "Yet as the example of Lisas investigation suggests, the male gaze is not as powerful and controlling asthe interpretation suggests." (126, Practices of looking). Being confined to the chair gave Jeffries a very passive role. He was somewhat emasculated because he had to rely on the women around him to accomplish what he wanted and needed. The women in Rear Window were in the direct line of harm while Jeffries was able to sit by and watch out of harms way.
"We've become a race of peeping toms. What people ought to do is get out of their house and look in for a change."
I completely agree witht this statement. We always have our own judgement s and opinions of the people around us but we never take a moment to look back at ourselves and make judgement. We are so afraid of being judged we would rather ignore our flaws than to just face them head on. However we are becoming worse because as technology becomes more advanced we have more opportunities to view other people in privacy. We enjoy it so much that we even make shows to simulate people living real lives for our own ammusement. We know these as "reality television shows. Although these shows are mostly staged and make no sense in context with real life, we cling to them and become fans of the people as if this is what real life truly is and we are the ones living the fairy tale.
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