Rear Window: Exploring Voyeurism, Male Gaze, and Cinematic Techniques

This essay examines Alfred Hitchcock's film 'Rear Window' through the lens of Laura Mulvey's theory of the male gaze, focusing on the themes of voyeurism and scopophilia. The essay analyzes how the film presents the act of spying and the pleasure derived from watching others, particularly in the context of a patriarchal culture. It explores the cinematic techniques employed by Hitchcock, such as camera movement and set design, to emphasize the voyeuristic tendencies of the protagonist, Jefferies. The analysis also discusses the film's engagement with and potential defiance of Mulvey's theory by presenting both strong female characters and the unlikable male gaze. Ultimately, the essay argues that 'Rear Window' both reinforces and challenges the concept of the male gaze, highlighting the complexities of voyeurism within the cinematic narrative and its relationship to power dynamics and visual pleasure.

Running head: ENGLISH
Cinema Arts
Name of the Student:
Name of University:
Author Note

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Laura Mulvey is a feminist theorist who is very popular for her seminal essay “Visual
Pleasure in the Narrative of Cinema”. The essay presents the very idea of male gaze which is
deployed while looking at female bodies passively (Penley 2013). Woman has been a signifier in
the patriarchal culture, which has been bound by a series of symbolic order. The thesis of this
paper is to discuss Rear Window with respect to Voyeurism and Scopophilia as has been
discussed by Laura Mulvey in her essay.
Men have lived on obsession and fantasies through linguistic commands. These meanings
are not created but imposed on the silent image of a woman. Rear Window is a mystery thriller
written by John Michael and directed by Alfred Hitchcock, which was based on a short story
written by Cornell Woolrich, named ‘It had to be Murder’.
The opening of the movie is from a view which is set from at a window, of which the
shades are pulled to reveal the apartment. The audience can easily observe the private lives of the
people living within. The use of the camera, is subconsciously powerful enough to offer control
over the perspectives. The movie presents that a photojournalist named Jefferies is bound to his
wheelchair because of a leg injury, while the only thing he can do is to spy on other people’s
lives through the window.
The very act of spying on the private lives of his neighbors he gets led to a murder
mystery (Theus 2013). However, the movie is more about the voyeuristic actions rather than just
solving a murder mystery. Jefferies begin drawing pleasure from watching others in their most
personal moments and drawing pleasure without their consent or even knowledge. There is a
constant act of dismantling of Mulvey’s claims by presenting the act of spying, without
involving sexual pleasure.

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Alfred Hitchcock has made use of various cinematic techniques which include set design,
camera movement, zooming in to present how scopophilia has become a part of the urban and
modern society, as people enjoy engaging in voyeuristic action while they draw pleasure. The
camera movement plays a very crucial role to create the effectiveness of presenting voyeurism. It
is unique how Jefferies, along with the audience engage in shared action of voyeurism, by
violating privacy of other people’s lives (Fischer 2014).
The movie Rear Window is a response to the theory of Male Gaze, by Mulvey as it
intends to defy the theory of Male Gaze as employed in the movies. However, the movie has
beautiful women which support the narrative such as the character of Lisa Foremont (Theus,
2013). She wears designer dress and is gorgeous, whose beauty is constantly highlighted in the
movie. It is apparent from the scene in which Jefferies tell his nurse Stella about Lisa that ‘She is
too perfect. She is too talented. She is too beautiful’, even though Lisa is not aware of the very
fact that she is watched.
Jefferies is intimidated by Lisa’s independence and power even though he showed
interest in her, as by watching her without her consent, which is defined as scopohilia by Mulvey
in her essay (Penley 2013). The movie tries to dismantle Mulvey’s theory yet not being able to in
many ways. There has been attempt to present voyeurism strictly not in terms of drawing sexual
pleasure through the act but observing to find meaning, which Jefferies does while being
confined to his room and wheelchair, as to investigate a murder in the opposite appartment.
The movie Rear Window projects as well as rejects male gaze by presenting strong
female characters yet also the unlikable male gaze, which is stereotyped. The voyeuristic
tendencies strengthen the theme of male gaze, metaphorically as well as literally.

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References
Fischer, E., 2014. Society’s obsession with voyeurism is most aptly portrayed by Alfred
Hitchcock in Rear Window. Hitchcock particularly exposes Jeffries’ fascination with looking
and having control.
Penley, C. ed., 2013. Feminism and film theory. Routledge.
Theus, T.A., 2013. Hitchcock and the Material Politics of Looking: Laura Mulvey, Rear
Window, and Psycho.