The Truman Show vs Rear Window

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What are the issues of watching and voyeurism in film? The intention of this essay is to discuss both films (The Truman Show, 1998 and Rear Window, 1954) alongside established theoretical criticism (Laura Mulvey and Norman K. Denzin) in an attempt to demonstrate how the issues of watching and voyeurism, as seen in todays mainstream Hollywood cinema, both engages and entices the spectator and to look at how the definition of the voyeur has changed. Before entering into a discussion about voyeurism in Rear Window and The Truman Show, an understanding of what is meant by ‘the dynamics of voyeurism’ in film must be attempted. The dictionary definition of a voyeur is: (1) a person who gains sexual pleasure from watching others when they are naked or engage in sexual activity, and/or (2) a person who enjoys seeing pain or distress of others. Voyeurism is initially noted for the investigation of the woman, demystifying her mystery, however, I think this definition is a small interpretation of the word voyeur. So the intention of this essay is to explore further the meaning of voyeurism by looking at two films adjacent to, two critics with conflicting opinions of what voyeurism is represented by in film. But to understand what voyeurism means we need to look at the cinematic gaze and two types of looks; scopophilia and narcissism.

Scopophilia is taking other people as objects, subjecting them to a controlling and curious gaze by allowing the spectator to look into a secret diegetic world, a projection of desire onto the former. For example, Peeping Tom (1960) stimulates a direct connection with the audience between eye and phallus, through the form of a camera wielded by protagonist and serial killer Mark Lewis (Carl Boehm). He is equip...

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...988).

Nichols, Bill., ‘Movies and methods’ An Anthology, Volume 1 (University of California Press: 1985).

Sadar, Ziauddin ed., ‘The Rise Of The Voyeur’ (The New Statesman Essay: 06 Nov 2000).

Sluyter, Dean 1st ed., ‘Cinema nirvana enlightenment lessons from the movies’ (New York: Three Rivers Press, 2005).

Stam, Robert & Pearson, Robertson., ‘Hitchcock’s Rear Window: Refluxivity and the Critique of Voyeurism’ in Deutelbaum, Marshall & Poague, Leland A. ed., A Hitchcock Reader (John Wiley & Sons: 2009).

Filmography

Peeping Tom. Director: Michael Powell (Anglo-Amalgamated Film Distributors, 1960)

Rear Window. Director: Alfred Hitchcock. (Paramount Pictures, 1954)

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford Director: Andrew Dominik (Warner Bros. Pictures, 2007)

The Truman Show. Director: Peter Weir. (Paramount Pictures, 1998)

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