Viewing Journal 6: Rear Window

For this journal, you will consider the formal elements and themes of Rear Window.  In two to three typed pages, you should address one of the following questions, developing your response with specific details from the film.  I will collect this journal, along with the journals for Vertigo and North by Northwest, on Wednesday, February 23.
 

1) Critics have compared Jeffries' watching of his neighbors to a spectator's watching of a film.  In what ways do the two acts parallel one another?  What comment might Hitchcock be making on film viewing?  Is the analogy between Jeffries and a film spectator problematic in any way?  If so, how?

2) Rear Window explores both the pleasures and dangers of watching (Jeffries smiles at his neighbors' exploits, Stella admonishes a "society of peeping Toms," Lisa calls herself and Jeffries "morbid ghouls" for being disappointed that Thorwald has not killed his wife).  How does the film portray these pleasures and dangers (narrative, cinematography, editing, mise-en-scene)?  Does the film's form reinforce a particular "vision" of voyeurism?

3) In Jeffries' apartment, we see him and Lisa discussing the future of their relationship.  Across the way, "Miss Lonelyhearts" converses with imaginary dinner guests, "Miss Torso" entertains men, the composer writes a love song, the newly married couple remains secreted behind a drawn shade, and Thorwald kills his wife.  Discuss the connections between Jeffries and Lisa's relationship and the romantic relationships depicted in the building Jeffries watches.  In your discussion, you may want to consider possible parallels between the single women and Lisa or parallels between the Thorwalds and Lisa and Jeffries (one member of each couple is an invalid, Lisa takes and wears Mrs. Thorwald's ring).

4) Throughout the quarter, we have examined the ambiguous resolutions of Hitchcock's films.  How is the conclusion of Rear Window--with Jeffries sleeping, his back to the window, while Lisa reads--ambiguous?  What tensions remain unresolved at the film's closing?

5) Examine the editing, cinematography, and mise-en-scene of the scenes that introduce Jeffries and Lisa.  How do the shots of Jeffries and his apartment reveal his character?  How does Lisa's sudden appearance and her "reading: from top to bottom" illuminate her character?

6) Although Rear Window focuses on watching, sound also plays an important role.  As he moves his lens from apartment to apartment, Jeffries hears a tapestry of sounds.  Throughout the film, the composer struggles to write the song, "Lisa," a song that dissuades Miss Lonelyhearts from suicide.  As Thorwald stalks Jeffries, we hear only the sound of his footsteps.  Isolate and analyze the function of a type of sound significant to the film or analyze the function of sound in a single scene.