The first thing I noticed about this movie is the camera work feels and looks like it is through the eyes of a voyeur. The word gaze is fully defined in this film Rear Window, this movie could have easily been titled “the act of looking” simply because it shows perfect examples of how we can watch someone without there knowledge of knowing we are watching them. In this movie Lisa, Jeffries and Stella at one point all play the same role as a spectator.
Jeffery plays a very stereotypical role for a man in the late 1950s. He talks about how women complain too much and talks to Lisa like she could never understand anything beyond make-up and dresses. This relationship is a very typical male dominant relationship; this was nothing out of the ordinary for a man and a woman of this time era. The only thing that makes this relationship unique is they both are not married yet, which was unusual for both their gender roles in that time era.
Lisa is obviously much younger than Jeffery. She plays her classic 1950s woman role very well. She does the cooking, she always wears make-up and she always stands by her man in what he thinks. Lisa plays the role of the “male” gaze, which is talked about on page 123. This male gaze is portrayed using camera angles in the film, one great example is when there is an extreme close up of Lisa when we first meet her in the movie, emphasizing her beauty and making her face almost have a glow effect. On page 123 and 124 they talk about how the woman’s body is to face the camera and she is to look passive. At the end of the film there is a scene where Lisa is looking very passive and sexual as she is reading a magazine. She looks as if she is posing for the camera with her body very visible, the shape of her curves are obvious and of coarse she is wearing make-up and is all dressed up to just read a book. When a normal women from today’s era would read a book relaxed and slouching in her loose t-shirt and a pair of sweats. A great quote on page 126 is “ In Rear Window, she argues, the character of Lisa has her own interpretation of what has taken place across the way, and the film ultimately validates her view.” This is a perfect description of how the gender roles are displayed in this film.
When speaking of Stella’s comment I fully agree with what she says. While I was watching this film one question kept popping up in my head. Who is watching Jeffery? I am strong believer in the saying “if you can see them then they can see you.” Our culture in America has become prone to the act of looking or commonly known as “people watching”. We love to watch other people but when it comes to our own lives we would rather look the other way, literally. It is obvious how we really are voyeurs since the American culture loves movies so much. The description of the gaze in psychoanalysis on page 120 explains it very well. We love to watch other people argue, love, laugh and any other drama in ones life, but we would rather watch someone else’s misfortunes then deal with our own and we would think it was insane to have someone look into our own lives. When we watch someone else’s life it is a personal escape from our own lives, we may assume things about these people we watch but our excuse is everyone else does it too. If we were to take one look in our own windows we would be shocked of the misjudgments and assumptions other people make on our lives.
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