Rear Window and the Representation of Gender

For this piece I intend to look at the representation of gender within the film Rear Window (Hitchcock, USA,1954) and how this relates to moral and social ethics of both the present day and when the film was made. In Rear Window, the representation of femininity, is a traditionally misogynist point of view for the bulk of the film. From the opening scenes, it is instantly apparent that Hitchcock is indulging in a typical male …

…the end of the film. Throughout the picture, Jeffries tries to project an image of being an all action, rugged kind of guy, but with his incapacitation, it is left to the females to jump into the fray, and execute all the dangerous tasks, in trying to prove Thorwold’s guilt. This belittles all of the chauvinistic posturing, of both Jeffries and Doyle, showing the so-called men of action, to be faltering behind the ladies.