The Feminine Image in Silent Hitchcock - Essay Example

Social Relevance of Alfred Hitchcock’s Movies Alfred Hitchcock played a significant role in shaping the social landscape through his movies. Many of his movies pioneered the transformation of films into mirrors of diverse issues and aspects of society. In addition, Hitchcock helped shape public opinion about various social issues, behaviors and phenomena such as feminism, voyeurism, and the role of men and women in society. Feminism is a theme that comes out strongly in Hitchcock’s movies, many of which contain a strong lead character who is female. Alicia Huberman in Notorious and Lisa Fremont in Rear Window were characteristically intelligent and assertive women who rarely submitted to the domineering status of men. Feminism In Beyond the Gaze: Visual Fascination and the Feminine Image in Silent Hitchcock, Jessica Brent uses two Hitchcock films, Vertigo (1958) and Rear Window (1954), to exemplify her feminist theory that these films are designed to satisfy male desire. They are tailored to the fantasies and fears of the male viewer, who bears an intrinsic desire to see the female fetishized and controlled. These two films support the feminist thesis that classic film negates the view of the female spectator. This is because they confine the viewer’s interpretation of events in the film to the hero’s perspective and vision of events. They focus on the man’s point of view throughout the story. Consequently, the spectator is left with no option but to identify with the perspective of the male protagonist. Often, this male protagonist has a domineering control over a female object. Rear Window’s Lisa Fremont is obsessed with dress and style and is consequently reduced to an image of visual perfection. Jeff is the male figure who exerts a bossy control over the passive Lisa. His profession of photojournalism places him in pole position to descend into the act of voyeurism. Compounded with his enforced inactivity, this behavior puts him in a fantasy position for a patriarchal audience. The character of Norman Bates in Psycho (1960) serves as an indicator of the images that individuals of both genders are likely to view in Hitchcock’s films, which serve as images of ambiguous sexuality that have the potential of destabilizing the protagonist’s gender identity and that of viewers alike. The mother – daughter relationship is a balanced theme in Psycho. However, in Hitchcock’s films from Rebecca onwards, this vital feminine relationship is not portrayed from a gender neutral perspective. As a result, it evokes a critical threat to the protagonist’s and viewers’ gender identity, and serves as one of the main “problems” in Hitchcock’s films. For example, Madeleine, the heroine in Vertigo, is so thoroughly possessed by her grandmother Carlotta Valdez, that she loses her individuality (Brent, 78 – 81). In other films of Hitchcock, a mother-in-law plays the role of a mother figure. In addition, she has such a striking resemblance to the heroine that the implication which comes out is that of a mother – daughter relationship. For example, in the movie Notorious, both Alicia and her mother-in-law have foreign accents and blonde hair. There is also a striking resemblance between Mitch’s mother and Melanie Daniels in The Birds. Moreover, Hitchcock adapts a point of view that induces the spectator to naturally identify with the mother figure (Tay, 276). Hitchcock’s movies helped to accelerate the spread of feminism in modern society. Feminist movements have undertaken widespread campaigns for women’s rights throughout the world. These campaigns have raised the status of women in society by achieving equal pay for women, women’s suffrage, the right to own property, and reproductive rights for women among many others. Voyeurism Hitchcock incorporates aspects of voyeurism in nearly all his movies. However, one film in particular explores this concept more than any of the others. This is Rear Window, which epitomes the convergence of voyeurism, visual pleasure, and cinema. This film achieves the critical aspect of availing the audience a constant position “inside the scene” during almost the entire movie. It heavily relies on visual aspects to articulate the story. Through the rear window of his apartment, Jeff observes his neighbors through their apartments’ windows as a voyeur, watching their daily life. The special feature in the film is that the viewer occupies the same position as Jeff. The subjective camera supplements this feature in embodying the spectator as a voyeur, just like Jeff. Although the window – the point of view – is the same to Lisa, Stella, Doyle, and Jeff, only the viewer sees the events that Jeff witnesses when the other characters are not in the scene. Therefore, the viewer serves as Jeff’s trustworthy partner, and both parties perform the function of “I”. Unfortunately, Jeff is not aware of the spectator’s presence, and, thus, has an urgent need of assistance from Stella, Lisa and Doyle to prove the interpretation of his observation. Unfortunately, Jeff’s voyeurism has a negative effect on his relationships with others. In particular, his relationship with Lisa suffers significantly. Lisa desires a committed relationship with Jeff but he avoids it because his voyeurism accentuates an intrinsic fear of a mature relationship. He prefers to watch women from a distance rather than interact personally with them or fall in love with them. In addition, Jeff’s voyeurism also prevents him from developing normal healthy relationships with his neighbors. He does not make the effort or take the time to know them personally but can only identify with them through the monikers he makes up to associate them with their behavior or circumstances, such as Miss Lonelyhearts. As a result, Jeff knows awfully little about them and resorts to using his imagination to make up stories about them (Toles, 231 – 233). One negative effect of Alfred Hitchcock’s portrayal of voyeurism in his movies on modern society is the accentuation of this behavior on the social level. Although Hitchcock associates Jeff’s voyeurism with the disintegration of his relationships with others, he also uses it to develop the scene such that it eventually enables Jeff to reveal Thorwald’s murder of his wife. Consequently, viewers of the film will tend to identify with voyeurism rather than reject it because it is a human behavior that has been around for centuries. Compounded with the impact of the tabloid gossip machine and social media, the portrayal of voyeurism in movies, which was pioneered by Hitchcock, has made it a new past time. Although harmless in most cases, voyeurism has played a significant role in the escalation of cases of stalking, violence, sexual fantasies and other threats. In addition, it has contributed to the creation of the mantra that “sex sells”, which has been extensively adapted in the promotion of products. Voyeurism has evolved very rapidly since its introduction to the mass media by Hitchcock and other early film makers. Consequently, the general public has been reduced to the point of watching others living their lives, instead of focusing on leading their own lives. The Role of Men and Women Hitchcock’s Rear Window demonstrates the director’s opinion of how men and women fit in the world. In this suspense-filled masterpiece, Hitchcock puts to use all his preferred gender roles for both female and male characters in his movies. This film, along with Psycho (1960) and Spellbound (1945) portray women as care-givers and men as damaged and in need of help. According to Hitchcock’s opinion, men think women’s paramount interest is money, success or status, whereas women’s main interest is to love and be loved. Moreover, men always display reluctance to initiate action, and only women’s desire to resolve matters push them to confront the situation. In Rear Window (1954), women are portrayed as sexually appealing objects. For example, viewers catch the view of “Miss Torso” scantily dressed across the courtyard. Almost the entire dialogue between men and women in the movie serves to reinforce the concept of female superficial beauty. Hitchcock even goes the extra mile of tormenting fully-dressed women, either wittingly or unwittingly implying that women ought to wear less (Toles, 227). The idea of superficial beauty also helps to catch the killer in the film. Lisa discovers Mrs. Thorwald’s make-up and jewelry in Thorwald’s apartment and remarks that a woman never goes anywhere other than the hospital without her make-up. This indicates that patriarchal society has shaped women into figures who are intensely obsessed with beauty. This female predisposition enabled the characters to conclude that Mrs. Thorwald never left the apartment. Hitchcock’s Rear Window (1954) also plays a greater role than his other movies in bringing out the concept of the “damaged man” who requires help from “care-giving” women. Jeff is confined to a wheelchair after breaking a leg and has to rely on home-care nurse, Stella, to assist him in carrying out his daily activities. Similarly, Lisa becomes an extension of Jeff and assists him around the apartment in addition to doing things in his stead outside the apartment. For example, she sneaked into Thorwald’s apartment and helped Jeff solve the mystery of Mrs. Thorwald’s disappearance (Doane, 85 – 96). Hitchcock’s Rear Window (1954), also sheds light on the role men play in relationships in modern times. The film uses Jeff to bring out the fact that men have a tendency of over-analyzing relationships. Jeff conducts a logical analysis of the status of the relationship he has with Lisa. He reasons that his career as a photographer who frequently travels and Lisa’s status as a dress designer from an upper-class family would pose severe challenges to a committed relationship between the two of them. Stella advices Jeff to apply the use of common sense rather than intellect in dealing with relationships with women. The point that Hitchcock is attempting to put across is that men ought to abandon the role they have taken up as the logical analyzers of relationships, because it does not work (Corliss, 12 – 14). Evidently, Hitchcock’s movies, especially Rear Window, have played a significant role in shaping feminism, modern voyeurism, and the role men and fulfill in society and relationships. Works Cited Brent, Jessica. “Beyond the Gaze: Visual Fascination and the Feminine Image in Silent Hitchcock”, Camera Obscura, 19 (1). 2004, 77 – 111. Corliss, Mary.  “Alfred Hitchcock: Behind the Silhouette.”  MoMA, 2 (5). 1999, pp. 12-14. Doane, Mary Ann. “The Close-Up: Scale and Detail in the Cinema”, Differences: A Journal of Feminist Cultural Studies 14 (3). 2003, 89–111. Tay, Sharon Lin.  “Constructing a Feminist Cinematic Ideology: The Gothic Woman’s Film Beyond Psychoanalysis.”  Women, 14 (3). 2003, pp. 263-280. Toles, George E. “Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window as Critical Allegory”, Boundary 2, 16 (2). 1989, 225 – 245. Read More