The incomparable, Alfred Hitchcock is an English film director and producer originally born in Leytonstone, Essex, England to strict Roman Catholic parents, Emma and William Hitchcock. Together with his two older brothers, the family relocates to London’s East End, which is where the notorious serial killer, Jack the Ripper, commits many murders. While in an interview, Alfred states that he was lonely as a child due to obesity, and his parents had unconventional ways of punishing him. As a matter of fact, his father would send him to the police station so they can place him into a cell for 10 minutes. In addition, Hitchcock’s mother would make him stand at the foot of her bed for several hours as punishment to recount the events of his day. …show more content…
“Jeff” Jefferies (James Stewart), who has become wheelchair bound after breaking his leg in an accident. The rear window of his Greenwich Village apartment looks out into a community courtyard with other apartment buildings surrounding the space. Out of sheer boredom, Jeff begins to spy on his neighbors and believes that one of them may have committed murder. With the help of his girlfriend, Lisa Fremont (Grace Kelly), and nurse, Stella (Thelma Ritter), they uncover the truth that haunts the neighborhood. The film takes place entirely in Jeff’s apartment, and the audience will see everything from Jeff’s point of view as he stares out into the apartments of others. Moreover, Alfred explores several techniques while confining all the film’s events in one set location. Audiences are able to learn a lot about all the characters from the very limited use of space and that is due to the inclusion of Hitchcock’s running motifs. The film’s main motif is that of voyeurism. The characters as well as the audience looks into the apartments of strangers, and as a result the next motif begins as we search for the true identity of Lars Thorwald as a possible murderer. Jeff suspecting that Lars is a murderer is the film’s Macguffin or plot device. This ultimately leads to the running from someone motif as both Lisa and Jeff attempt to escape the clutches of Lars. In addition to the plot set-up, Lisa fulfils Hitchcock’s typical portrayal of women by being a blonde femme-fatale as she is constanting acting as a mystery to Jeff throughout the entire film. Finally, Hitchcock further develops the mise-en-scene of his films by always including stairways as a suspenseful element. This running motif is shown in as nonfunctional in Jeff’s apartment as well as on his fire escape. Hitchcock makes his cameo appearance across Jeff’s courtyard in the apartment of the piano
The Blind Side is a heartwarming and compelling story of the NFL player Michael Oher, who is adopted into a family that is a significantly higher social class than he. The story is a true account of a boy that went from rags to riches and depicts eloquently the social stratification in the United States.
Alfred Hitchcock’s films not only permanently scar the brains of his viewers but also addict them to his suspense. Hitchcock’s films lure you in like a trap, he tells the audience what the characters don’t know and tortures them with the anticipation of what’s going to happen.
During the establishment of the film Jeffries clearly possesses the power in the relationship, with Lisa submitting to his needs and demands. The power begins to shift during the middle of the file as Lisa implements her ‘sex appeal’ and demonstrates her intelligence in an attempt to seduce Jeffries. Finally, when Lisa shows her sudden burst of bravery and adventure, Jeffries’ admiration for her grows and she becomes possessive the power within their relationship. At the beginning of the film Jeffries is represented as a caged lion, with a fierce personality, he is trapped as the result of a photography accident, which has left him with one leg in a plaster cast. At the end of the film, Jeffries had two plaster casts due to a further accident perpetrated by the murderer, suggesting now that he is more seriously involved with Lisa perhaps he has become even more trapped. This shift of power is confirmed when Lisa switches the travel book she is reading while Jeffries is awake to a fashion magazine which insinuates that she has the power and has him wrapped around her
According to Seth M. Blazer author of “Rear window Ethics Domestic Privacy Versus Public Responsibility in the Evolution of Voyeurism” he says that Jeffries “[l]acking any other source of entertainment, he begins to spy on his neighbors across the courtyard” (Blazer 381). This becomes important later on in the story because he watches his neighbors to entertain himself. While Jefferies watches his neighbor, Lars Thorwald, he realizes that “he’d been packing a trunk, packing his wife things into a large upright trunk” (Woolrich 73). This leads him to think that Lars Thorwald has murder his wife because she wasn’t in the apartment. According to Dana Brand author of “Rear-View Mirror Hitchcock Poe, and the Flameur in America” she states that “Jeffries imagines [Lar Thorwald] has murdered his wife and cut her into pieces” (Brand 130). This is important because he imagines it, but he is not sure. Jeffries obsession to watch his neighbor lead him to think his neighbor committed
The movie Blind Side begins with the author, Michel Lewis explaining the incident of Joe Thiemann in which he broke his leg into two parts. He then explains the importance of a left tackle in the game of football. After a brief description author introduce Michael Oher; tall, beefy, quiet and athletic guy who is being interviewed by what it seems like a government officer. Michel who was abandoned at very young age and didn’t knew much about his father nor his mother, although he wanted to stay with his mother who was an alcoholic and struggles to find an orphan house or a good family that can take care of Michel. Despite not having much a family nor someone who takes care of him, Michel never gave up on the situation and lived most of his
This essay will be explaining the definition of sociology, the sociological factors of obesity using Symbolic Interactionism Theory and the Functionalism Theory and a description of the medical condition obesity and how it may affect individuals suffering from it.
In Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window, L.B. Jeffries, played by Jimmy Stewart, becomes completely obsessed with spending all of his waking hours watching his neighbors from his wheelchair. He even uses a camera to better his view and thus enhances his role as both a spectator and a voyeur. This contributes to the creation of a movie being played right outside Jeffries’ window. In this “movie within the movie” his neighbors’ lives become the subject for the plot. Each window represents a different film screen, each which is focused upon only when Jeffries directs his attention to it. He witnesses both the anxieties associated with the beginning of a marriage and the heartache of relationships ending. The plots that are played out before his eyes become more important than his own personal life. In fact, Jeffries renounces the idea of marriage due to the scenes he witnesses from within his apartment. This is displayed by his initial rejection of the beautiful Lisa Freemont, played by Grace Kelly. She is unable to divert Jeffries’ attention from the window even with the most forward flirtations. It is not until she puts herself on the other side and into the “movie” that he becomes interested in her. Lisa finally becomes the subject of the gaze and only then does Jeffries show any sexual attraction towards her. When Lisa breaks into Thorwald’s apartment, Jeffries does not see the same Lisa he saw when she stood by him and sat in his lap. He now looks upon a “guilty intruder exposed by a dangerous man threatening her with punishment” (Mulvey 207). He is aroused by this new spontaneous side of her. From this scene we see that Lisa Freemont cannot become a part of the movie until she becomes a character in the “movie within the movie.” This creates a new perception of Lisa for Jeffries and clears away many of his marriage anxieties, providing closure to their dispute and foreshadowing a relationship and eventually a marriage between the two.
hitchcockVertigo stars James Stewart as Scottie, a retired detective, and Kim Novak as Judy Barton, who gets disguised as Madeleine, a woman hired by Scottie's friend to act as his wife in order to frame Scottie. The story takes place in San Francisco in the 1950's. The film opens on a high building, where officer Scottie and his partner are in pursuit of a suspect. Scottie's partner's life is on the line and only he can save him. Unfortunately, he has vertigo, a fear of heights. Scottie is unable to assist his partner who unfortunately falls to his death.
Situated in the rising action of the film, Rear Window (Hitchcock, 1954), this scene depicts Jeff sending a note to his neighbor, Mr. Thornwald, with the help of Lisa and Stella letting him know that they know about his crime. Hitchcock's use of mise-en-scene elements such as, lighting, setting, props, spacing and expressions between characters all allow Hitchcock to prove Jeff’s’ inability in the situation and develop important themes such as opposite perspectives and peoples’ engrossment with lives other than their own.
All directors of major motion pictures have specific styles or signatures that they add in their work. Alfred Hitchcock, one of the greatest directors of all time, has a particularly unique style in the way he creates his films. Film analyzers classify his distinctive style as the “Alfred Hitchcock signature”. Hitchcock’s signatures vary from his cameo appearances to his portrayal of a specific character. Two perfect examples of how Hitchcock implements his infamous “signatures” are in the movies, A Shadow of a Doubt and Vertigo. In these movies, numerous examples show how Hitchcock exclusively develops his imagination in his films.
One of the sociological theories is conflict theory. The conflict theory deals with people's level on wealth, or class. The conflict theory says that social change is beneficial, contrary to focuses on social order. In the story of the woman and her children, the conflict theory plays a big role on the situation. Police of higher class are threatening the homeless woman. The conflict theory is a constant struggle of people of higher class over powering people of lower class, or the weaker. The police are trying to over power the woman by telling her to leave. Even though the woman and her children were doing nothing wrong, the police used their power to tell her to leave. Also the people of the area showed their conflict theory by telling the police officers to come. They must have felt embarrassed to have a woman of such lower class to be around them. They used their power of class to have the woman removed from their community. The woman wants to be there because she has no home and it is a good community to be in, but the people look at it as an embarrassment to them because it makes their area look bad for someone of such lower class to be around them. The conflict theory is unique to all other theories because it separates people into categories determined by their wealth and standards. Their status is the element that categorizes them, weather it is class, race, or gender. The conflict theory do not always use class, race, and gender all at once. In this situation race and gender is not a main issue, although gender could be a reason, but it would fall under the feminist theory. This story is mainly dealing with class. Through all this conflict the woman feels over powered and domina...
Alfred Hitchcock developed his signature style from his earlier works The Lodger and Blackmail. These films were the framework for his signature films later on. His themes of “an innocent man who is accused of a crime” and “the guilty woman” were first seen in these two films and are repeated throughout Hitchcock’s cinematic history
Hitchcock has characteristics as an auteur that is apparent in most of his films, as well as this one.
The film, 'Rear Window' has an essence of 'urban isolation/ loneliness' in it. The entire film is made on one confined set. In the whole movie, the viewers can either see the apartment of the immobile protagonist, Jeff or the window views of his neighbors. With the idea of confined set, Hitchcock (director) showed the loneliness and urban isolation of Jeff. Due to his leg injury, Jeff can not go anywhere so he passes his time by peeping into his neighbors' life through his rear window and can see different stories going on in different apartments. Each apartment window is like a TV series for him, which he watches on a daily basis. This film shows the visual study of obsessive human curiosity.
In the blockbuster movie The Blind Side, director John Lee Hancock brings to light an emotionally charged and compelling story that describes how a young African American teenager perseveres through the trials, tribulations and hardships that surround his childhood. The themes of class, poverty, and also the love and nurturing of family encapsulate the film mainly through the relationship that Mrs. Tuohy and Michael Oher build during the entirety of the movie. This analysis will bring together these themes with sociological ideas seen throughout the course.