Marriage Anxieties and Voyeurism in Rear Window In Alfred Hitchcocks 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 Thorwalds 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 Johnson 2aroused 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...
