rear window Essay

Submitted By thakid18
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With the onslaught of new technologies, primarily television, in full force during the 1950's, the American public were introduced to a whole new form of advertisement. This new method of entertainment, gave life to the ever so unrealistic idealism that took the nation by storm. "Television portrayed a wonderfully antiseptic world of idealized homes in an idealized, unflawed America" (Halberstam, 508). The new American expectation was that the dad had a steady job and the wife cooked, cleaned and took care of their perfect well behaved children. Released in 1954, Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window, serves as an inside look into the male psyche and the truth behind the 'perfect' institution of 1950's marriage. Viewed from the perspective of the injured L.B Jefferies, an action photographer, the characters in Jeff's rear window serve as a representation of what he thinks he will give up, have to deal with, and what he will suffer through if he were to get married.

The majority of Hitchcock's film is portrayed from the vantage point of Jeff. This allows the viewer to relate to the main character and to see what he sees every step of the way. Early on the film, the male obsession with beautiful women is brought to the viewers attention. First with two women walking out onto a balcony to tan and next with 'Miss Torso' who is getting dressed and making breakfast while practicing her ballet. Jefferies has a beautiful women of his own in the form of Lisa Fremont, a socialite designer who is very obviously in love with L.B Jefferies. However Jefferies claims that "She's too perfect, she's too talented, she's too beautiful, she's too sophisticated, she's too everything but what I want" (Hitchcock).

Contrary to the idealism present in America during the release of the film, L.B Jefferies considers marriage to be a sort of death sentence. When reflecting on his possible marriage to Lisa, he pictures it as "rushing home to a hot apartment every night to listen to the automatic laundry, the electric dishwasher, the garbage disposal and a nagging wife" (Hitchcock). Through his rear window, Jeff observes several married couples and does not like what he sees. He also observes a woman that he nicknames 'Miss Lonelyhearts', who is a depiction of the bitter old man he may become if doesn't succumb to the institution of marriage.

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