The Narrative Techniques Used by Hitchcock in Rear Window

The Narrative Techniques Used by Hitchcock in Rear Window

L.B. Jeffries is a high-class magazine photographer for what seems to

be a worldwide publication. In Alfred Hitchcock's 'Rear Window', he is

a temporarily wheelchair-bound man and his voyeuristic side appears

later on in the film.

'Rear Window' depicts a 20th century New York in which fraudsters,

murderers and salesmen all live alongside each other. The story

describes a man who broke his leg during a photography assignment. He

is, for the time being, stuck in a wheelchair with nothing to do but

look at the neighbours through his 'Rear Window'. He hasn't seen the

light of day since seven weeks ago.

Rear Window is one of Alfred Hitchcock's most memorable films. L.B.

Jeffries becomes engrossed in voyeurism, which carries on throughout

the film. James Stewart, in one of his most unforgettable roles,

represents a photographer with a broken leg, who amuses himself by

casually spying on the neighbours. All of the windows he peers into

presents a glimpse of relationships, in which the men and women are

poles-apart, the newlyweds who can't get themselves off of each other,

the crooked salesman, the forlorn musician. These become mirrors into

his mind, reflecting his apprehension he feels about his bond with the

fashion-writer Lisa Carol Fremont who wants him to get married. Rear

Window gets even more enthralling as it moves to an excruciatingly

fast-moving climax.

The opening scene, the credit sequence, creates an image in people's

minds of a new day, people waking up on a summer morning. We know it

is summer as there are people waking up on their balconies of their

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...fries receives a phone call from his boss.

From just a ninety-second phone call, we learn a substantial amount

about the characters in the film. From this call, we learn that L.B.

Jeffries is a magazine photographer and that he had broken his leg on

a big assignment. There is a big photography assignment that Jeffries

would benefit financially substantially from; he cannot go as he has a

broken leg. Hitchcock uses the conversation on the phone in an

intellectual way. When Jeffries is on the phone to his boss, talking

to him about marriage, he is looking at a married couple having an

argument.

Alfred Hitchcock's 'Rear Window' had a great balance of suspense,

mystery and romance in it. He uses the camera as a narrator and

focuses on telling the story through the tremendous use of film

language rather than dialogue.