"The cinema offers a number of possible pleasures. One is Scopohilia (pleasure in looking). There are circumstances in which looking itself is a source of pleasure" Laura Mulvey writes in her chapter called "Visual Pleasure and narrative cinema". In the case of Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window, scopohilia is a main idea.
What is the significance of the audience's role as well as "looking" in Rear Window?
L.B. Jeffries participates ina voyeurism that also invite the audience to join in. We take a look through the lens just as much as L.B. does. We feel uneasy about it, but we can't look away. I don't think anyone can say that they wouldn't take part-especially with such interesting neighbors. Alfred Hitchcock almost says to the audience "Here you go, do my job" He takes shots where at one point, Jeffries is holding the camera and then swings it around to make it as if he has placed the camera into our hands. By doing so, the audience and the main character are one.
What is the effect of Hitchcock allowing us to participate?
Hitchcock presents a sort of tension that had me biting my nails. He even uses the effect of sound just as much as sight. Lack of sound is important too- while watching the neighbors with Jeffries, we have to include our own assumptions about what is going on. The murder of Thorwald's wife, the dog, and even what the men are saying to "Miss Torso".
What is the effect of using sights, sounds, and even lack there of in the film?
Once again, tension plays a big role here. When Jeffries is caught watching Thorwald (and the audience too! So nerve wracking!) We see Thorwald leave his apartment and just know he is heading straight for us. Then the power goes out. All the audience and their accomplice, L.B. hear are Thorwald's footsteps. The result is a high state of panic, especially because L.B. is stuck in his wheelchair.
Mulvey writes, "...the look is central to the plot, oscillating between voyeurism and fetishistic fascination. Hitchcock has never concealed his interest in voyeurism,cinematic or non-cinematic" (386).
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