A Gender Roles in 1950's

Alfred Hitchcock’s 1954 feature film, Rear Window, follows a photographic journalist, L.B Jefferies (James Stewart), in his restrictive leg cast as he forms increasing suspicions about a murder committed by his neighbour, watching from the window of the apartment he’s confined to. Rear Window explores Jeff’s fascination with looking at others and how it stops him from looking at himself.

During the time of the Red Scare in the 1950s, privacy invasion and spying was common, and the belief in existence of communist practises in society saw that this behaviour was considered justified as an act of vigilance performed for the greater public good of America. During this decade, the threat of communism lead many people to conduct surveillance on others based off assumptions and scepticism rather than evidence. Hitchcock mirrors this concept in Rear Window, during the scene where Jeff looks out his window at his neighbour, Thorwald, who he strongly suspects has murdered his wife, as his nurse, Stella harshly criticises both him and society, saying they’ve “become a race of peeping Toms”. This is reflective of how wary of each other people had become in the light of the Cold War and how it was considered justifiable to invade someones privacy if it was thought to be in the best interest of the public’s safety. This concept is also seen when Jeff and Doyle discuss Thorwald’s behaviour across the courtyard. Doyle is extremely unconvinced that Thorwald is guilty based on the total lack of evidence, and is also critical of Jeff’s invasive behaviour. When Doyle questions Jeff on if he “tells (his) landlord everything”, Jeff is unable to provide an answer as he is in the midst of having Lisa sleep over, but continues his voyeuristic behaviour nonetheless, leading the audience to realise the hypocrisy of his acts. Hitchcock does this to position the audience in a conflicting state of mind where they can neither justify Jeff’s ruthless behaviour nor can they let go of his belief that Thorwald is guilty as the audience continues to be involved in their own voyeurism of Jeff and their shared surveillance of the neighbours. The audience is reminded of this when Stella, unimpressed with Jeff’s invasive onlooking, states that “people should stand outside their own house and look in once in while.” Throughout Rear Window, Jeff never gives up his belief or his behaviour, which elongates the suspense from the beginning to the end of the film, until it is discovered that Jeff’s suspicion was right from the beginning. At this point, Doyle announces that Thorwald is “ready to take (them) on a tour of the East river”, where he had dumped the body of his wife. This justification for Jeff’s behaviour was long - coming and was employed by Hitchcock to vindicate the concept of how society watched over each other in fear of secret communist practises, as the 1950’s saw a surge of people admitting or being caught with involvement in the Soviet Union. Due to this, it can be said that Jeff’s obsession with spying on the neighbours leads him to believe his voyeuristic behaviour is vindicated as an act of vigilance performed for the greater good in the same mindset as American society during the Red Scare in the 1950’s.

During the 1950’s, there was immense pressure to be married by a certain age, particularly for women, but because women were stigmatised to become ‘nagging’ wives, men were often hesitant to engage in such commitments. This is seen when Jeff uses his neighbours as a distraction from the rising pressure from Lisa and others to commit in his relationship, such as the scene when he begins his obsession with his neighbours, and Lisa tries her best to seduce Jeff in his apartment, but his focus is completely fixed on the suspicious behaviour of Thorwald across the courtyard. Eventually she gives up after Jeff says “theres something terribly wrong” and realising her persistence is useless, Lisa replies with “Yes and I’m afraid its with me.” This demonstrates the dominant ideology of the 1950’s, which was that marriage was considered a woman’s main goal, but this was not the case for men. Hitchcock is reflecting this concept in Jeff and Lisa’s relationship, as she continuously tries to gain Jeff’s attention and affection, but he consistently refuses her advances and instead fixates on his obsessive surveillance of Thorwald. This ideology is also displayed when Lisa returns and refuses to let Jeff continue to look out the window as she grabs his wheelchair before he can turn around to face the neighbours as he pleads with her “Lisa, please” and she assures “theres nothing to see”. This reinstates the belief that was popular during this time that women could succumb to a “hysterical” trope in relation to marriage, and were ‘desperate’ to get married. Hitchcock demonstrates this by representing their relationship in Lisa’s desperation to keep the focus on her and not on the window. While Jeff often uses his fixation on the neighbours to distract himself from Lisa’s advances, overtime, it becomes the reason for Jeff’s new perception of Lisa as someone he could marry. This is done steadily through the film as Lisa’s character becomes more involved in dangerous situation to gain evidence on Thorwalds guilt, such as the scene when she climbs the fire escape to break into Thorwald’s apartment. From here, Jeff begins to think, contrary to his original beliefs, that Lisa may be someone who is “willing to go anywhere and do anything and love it”. From this, it’s clear that Hitchcock employed the dominant ideology of 1950’s America regarding women and marriage into the film, however used the dynamics of the film to change Jeff’s and the audience’s perception of her as a woman and a potential wife.

The 1950’s was a time of solidified gender roles in Western society, where males were considered the dominant gender and were deemed ‘in control’ in relationships. Hitchcock however directed Rear Window with the idea of evolving these stereotypes. Throughout the film, Hitchcock portrays Lisa’s character as the dominant one in her and Jeff’s relationship. It begins with Jeff being immobilised in his wheelchair and leg cast, meaning he can’t live independently or freely without help and assistance, which comes from both Lisa and his nurse Stella. Hitchcock does this to make Jeff appear completely emasculated as while Jeff’s attitude is keeping with that of a “macho” man, he is unable to demonstrate any dominance while is confined to his wheelchair. Hitchcock also depicts Lisa as the dominant character through the use of lighting, in one of the beginning scenes, Jeff, asleep in his wheelchair is covered by a looming shadow, and opens his eyes too see Lisa standing over him. The director’s use of lighting and shadows in this scene is symbolic of how Lisa has more control in the relationship and over Jeff, and her positioning above Jeff represents her dominant position in their relationship. Rear Window depicts the breaking of gender stereotypes as a sign that society was beginning to progress into a new age of societal and political phenomenons. During the 1950’s, western culture considered men always to be the dominant gender and was so depicted in Hollywood especially. However after the cold war began and people realised that the future was going to look particularly different, Hitchcock used the film to convey a new break in of gender stereotype rearranging, and as realised, in years after, women’s rights movements were added to the growing amount of political happenings in America.