Rear Window

I could go on a several paragraph rant about how Rear Window is one of Hitchcock's best, how awesome of a year 1954 was with this coming out along with On the Waterfront, how Jimmy Stewart was unbelievably attractive, and how cute the dog was. But a won't. Actually, this will probably be somewhat lengthy seeing as it is one of the giants of 50s cinema (and cinema in general for that matter). In that case, the first few sentences of this post were irrelevant.

There's no denying there was something misogynistic about the way Hitchcock handled his female characters. Dated as it may feel, I think the direction he took with Grace Kelly's "female intuition" was a smart--and necessary-- move. This woman is not meant to be the equal of the man she loves: she is supposed to show the audience just what Jeff is missing by not marrying her. And it works. What audience doesn't want Jeff to come to his senses and take advantage of the fact that he has goddamn Grace Kelly throwing herself at him? On a more serious note, Hitchcock's misogyny really takes a backseat once Lisa becomes instrumental to catching Thorwald. She's the one with the hardest of evidence (the wedding ring) and the guts to run up a fire escape ladder in thousand dollar dress. 

It's interesting to think about the titular window being watched by the neighbors. This is touched on in that lovely (and chilling) shot where Thorwald and Jeff finally make eye contact, but for the rest of the film it seems that Jeff is the only one in the neighborhood who cares...or is a Peeping Tom. I'm not going to get into all the modern-day implications of Jeff's actions ("does the government have the right to snoop?!?!?!") but they certainly explain some of the film's continual appeal.

Background noise is prevalent throughout the film. We hear a neighboring songwriter playing the piano, a woman singing scales, and "Miss Torso" chattering to her elderly company ("wolves", as Lisa puts it). These sounds remind us that Jeff's apartment is not separate from the others, really: everyone is in earshot. "Love thy neighbor".