Theme Of Voyeurism In Alfred Hitchcock

Film Essay: Hitchcock In the hundred or so years of cinema, there have been many significant figures behind the camera of the films audiences have enjoyed, though there has been a select few that are considered “auteurs.” One of the most famous of auteurs in film history is the great Alfred Hitchcock, who is most identified with the use of suspense in his films, while also being notorious for the themes of voyeurism, the banality of evil, and obsession. In both the films we watched in class, Psycho and Rear Window, these three themes were somehow a part of the deeper meaning Hitchcock wanted to convey to the audience. Of the three themes from above, voyeurism is the most obvious one since it is what drives the motive for the main subject

Due to Mrs. Bates need for Norman’s attention, she kept him from experiencing the world outside the motel, such as relationships with other girls, forcing Norman to suppress his sexual urges. This lead to Norman’s infatuation with his mother and his unwillingness to let her memory go with her death. His inability to have normal interaction with other girls caused Norman to peep instead to substitute for his desires. Through his attraction to Marion and the two other girls, his “mother” from his mind kills to suppress him from completing his

Hitchcock used the subjective view of the two characters to put the audience into the same position and mindset of these voyeurs. This was used to create an uneasiness through the spying of vulnerable people. The ability to be a voyeur for the audience turns on us toward the end of both films through the breaking of the fourth wall. In Rear Window, Thorwald looks straight into the camera when he Lisa unintentionally endangers Jeff when she was pointing oddly at the ring. The glare he gives causes the audience to feel the same threat that Jeff is now under. In Psycho, when Norman/ “mother” is at the police station covered by the blanket, they are sitting there with her telling how she is harmless and that it was all Norman. Leading to her to look up straight into the camera audience, forcing them to feel the chilling glare of a