[SPOILER. DO NOT WATCH IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN REAR WINDOW AND PLAN ON DOING SO IN THE FUTURE. ACTUALLY IT MIGHT NOT MATTER BECAUSE HITCHCOCK IS A MASTER AND WILL STILL MAKE YOU WET YOURSELF REGARDLESS.]
Last night I started my Film Theory and Analysis Class at the New School (I’m in my first year in the Media Studies grad program) and we kicked off the semester with a viewing of Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window. Now, I’ve seen Rear Window maybe 4 or 5 times (including in ANOTHER theory class) but, somehow, I can NEVER remember exactly what happens in the last 20 minutes! I was in the middle of class and went “Oooooh crap!” when Jimmy Stewart picked up the phone [see above clip]. His eyes go wide and you’re mentally slapping him and screaming, “What are you stupid? Now he knows what apartment you’re in! Aaaghh!” (like nurse Stella would have done). Somewhere deep down I knew it was going to happen, but still, I could barely handle it. Bravo, Hitchcock, bravo.
I know I should be asking the big theory questions, but we’ll be discussing phallic symbols and psychoanalyzing all the characters in class next week. Right now I just want to encourage everyone to rewatch this movie, making sure to watch it in the daylight and/or have a friend with you.
Ok, one more side note: what an awesome feminist hero Grace Kelly’s character turns out to be at the end, right? Never mind the hardcore investigations, etc. But that very last act of defiance where she puts down the travel (? I don’t remember what kind) magazine and picks up Bazaar? Don’t you put her in a box, Jimmy Stewart!
