Worksheet #4: rear window

WORKSHEET #4: Rear Window In the context of film history and criticism, what is an auteur? An auteur is a film director who influences their films so much that they rank as the films author. It is a kind of a theory which explores the notions of personal creative control and vision in a cinema. The critical perspective explains that the director is very unique in his personal artistic perspectives and that the film is a significant product of the perspective. The director is criticized with consideration of his reflection on the society where the film was created.
2. What is meant by the term genre? What genre is Rear Window and what recognizable elements are present in the film that helps to identify its generic identity?
Genre is a particular focus of structural criticism and is considered as a set of conventional patterns in a basic formula. The Rear window focused on some major thematic clusters. One of the clusters has to do with the relationship between the spectator in the cinema and Jeffries, the director. When a structural security authority gets set up and incarcerated in the most secret prison, he has to use his personal skills to escape with assistance from the inside.
3. What are the principal themes in Rear Window? In other words, what is the film about? Bear in mind that this is a different issue than thinking about what happens in the film (though they are closely related of course). What are the bigger ideas to which the film is pointing us?
The principle themes in Rear Window are; relationship and romance. The romance between Lisa and Jeff is seen while relationship is depicted in the superficial analysis of the neighbors.
4. Your course pack readings identify a number of different analytical positions from which we can approach any film. Define each of them briefly and explain why a feminist perspective has been used so frequently to explain the movie.
The form of a classical film manifests the male control (patriarchy) as the culture in which it was initiated. The film, as an instrument of the spectatorship of men is more explained through feminism. Feminism is therefore used frequently as an indicator of control or power within the movie.
5. Rear Window is now nearly 60 years old. To what extent has it maintained is ability to create fear, panic, and tension in an audience? Do you think it would be a “ better” film if Hitchcock had had access to the kinds of seamless special effects we see in modern movies?
The film has maintained a critical and commercial success while its reputation creates the same emotions to all its viewers today. Although the film has been rated the best in the industry, the access to the kinds of seamless special effects would greatly improve its effect and quality (Woolrich et al. 77).
6. Who was Sigmund Freud and why might he so frequently be associated with the films of Alfred Hitchcock?
Sigmund Freud is a psychologist who studied behavior in human beings. He is frequently associated with the films of Alfred Hitchcock because it all takes such things like the ego, id, identification and the death drive. All psychological concepts in the film have been based on Sigmund Freud’s work. Other things like; unconsciousness, repression, wishes and desires have been included in the film.
Work cited
Woolrich, Cornell, Maxim Jakubowski, and Richard Rayner. Rear Window. New York: Ibooks, 2001. Print.