Comparing Voyeuristic Behavior In Rear Window And Vertigo

Rear Window and Vertigo are two Hitchcock films in which the main character shows voyeuristic behavior, experiences relationship problems and suffers from some sort of a handicap, be it physical or psychological. Rear Window has to do with a group of peeping toms. As his broken leg heals, wheelchair-bound L.B. Jefferies becomes absorbed with the parade of life outside his window and soon fixates on a mysterious man whose behavior has Jefferies convinced a murder has taken place. Many would believe the main part of the movie is Jefferies and his fiancée Lisa Fremont’s attempt to solve the case of the murder, when in reality, the main plot is the complex relationship between the two. Vertigo has to do with a retired San Francisco detective, John 'Scottie ' Ferguson, suffering from acrophobia who investigates the strange activities of Madeleine Elster, the wife of his friend, who he believes is possessed. As he follows her, he slowly realizes that he has fallen in love with her. After he thinks she has died, the movie makes an unexpected twist revealing the real plot that Madeleine had already been murdered and he had been falling in love with a paid imposter, Judy Barton.
The two films have many points in common including similar themes, the same actor playing the leading role in each, and containing traits that make it recognizably a Hitchcock film.
The theme of both films is mystery. Hitchcock uses voyeurism as a main theme in both of these masterpieces. In Rear Window, Jefferies and Lisa exhibit voyeuristic traits once they start to stare at the neighbors through the window and especially once they begin to concentrate on the suspected murderer. In Vertigo, Ferguson is hired to follow and spy on who he thought was Madeleine Elster. The voyeuristic act of watching the thought to be possessed wife can relate back to Rear Window in the way that both Jefferies and Scottie enjoy watching their
victims.
Both the characters of L.B. Jefferies and John 'Scottie ' Ferguson are played by James Stewart. He does an excellent role playing the very similar characters in both films. Both characters want to watch the leading lady. The leading ladies are different than the ones in film noir. In film noir the leading ladies had a very influential impact on the main character since the men always did what the women wanted them to do since they wanted the women to love them. In the Hitchcock films, the men have the women falling for them and trying to get the men to love them. I find Stewart’s acting very effective in both of these complex movies. Both characters begin the movie having little to no feelings towards the main lady whether it is Lisa for Jefferies or Madeleine, Judy, for Scottie. Both Jefferies and Ferguson make an obvious change in character when they realize they love the main lady of the movie. Stewart’s acting made the change in emotion very apparent to the viewers, which in turn revealed the main plots of the movies which were hidden.
Both films are obviously Hitchcock films. You can always know when you are watching a Hitchcock film. Both films have a MacGuffin. The MacGuffin is nothing. The only reason for the MacGuffin is to serve a pivotal reason that drives the suspense forward. In Rear Window, “the Thorwald murder is the MacGuffin, merely a pretext to examine the movie’s central concern, the affective relationship of Jeff to Lisa”.(3) In Vertigo, the MacGuffin is the belief that Madeleine, or more the imposter of Madeleine, is possessed. The suspense in the films cause us to at first believe that the MacGuffin is the main plot, but as the movie goes on, we realize the real plot. The MacGuffin is the side effect of creating pure suspense.
Hitchcock uses a variation of parallel editing to build suspense.(2) In Rear Window, Lisa has climbed into Thorwald’s apartment. We know that Thorwald is gone because Jeff faked a phone call telling Thorwald to meet him at a restaurant. Again the audience is confined to Jeff’s point of view. We can see Lisa in Thorwald’s apartment searching for ‘clues’ and we can also see the hallway outside of Thorwald’s apartment. When we see Lisa find Mrs. Thorwald’s wedding ring, we can also see Mr. Thorwald coming down the hallway to his apartment. By strict definition this is not considered parallel editing. However, this scene allows us to view two action sequences at once and allows us to watch as those two sequences converge. This captures the idea of parallel editing. We can see Thorwald in the hall and Lisa in the apartment and we know that neither one knows the other is on the opposite side of the door. This builds suspense in us as an audience. The suspense climaxes when the two action sequences converge with Thorwald opening the door, discovering Lisa and attacking her. We are helpless as we are confined to Jeff’s point of view and there appears to be no hope for Lisa but luckily Jeff has called the police and they arrive just in time. In Vertigo, this also occurs in the form that “the male hero [Scottie] sees exactly what the audience sees”.(1)
I greatly found this pair of Hitchcock films much more entertaining than all the film noir movies I have watched. The suspense in the films made you always at the edge of your seat, unable to wait to see what will happen next. The use of MacGuffins in the movies created that re-spark of interest in the movie, causing you to continue watching the movie with even more excitement than when you began. It is no surprise that the legendary filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock was defined as the chief auteur by French critics.

Works Cited
1. Barr, Charles. BFI Film Classics: Vertigo. London: British Film Institute, 2002.
2. "Building Suspense in Rear Window | Engaging Cinema at Tech." Engaging Cinema at Tech. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Jan. 2013
3. Spotto, Donald. The Art of Alfred Hitchcock: Fifty Years of Motion Pictures. New York: Anchor Brooks, 1992.