Rear Window Ethics

"I'm not much on rear window ethics," said Lisa Fremont, played by Grace Kelly, at one point in Rear Window.

Director Alfred Hitchcock's masterpiece, Rear Window tackled the ethics of the "peeping tom". Despite the film having been released in 1954, watching it today, it appears to not have been aged after all. Today, there are cameras that the paparazzi holds, satellites, and the internet all constantly watching people. Lines are being crossed, and the privacy of people are being invaded.

Magazine photographer L.B. Jeffries, played by Jimmy Stewart, is confined to a wheelchair after breaking his leg on an assignment. He gradually becomes a "peeping tom" as he watches the lives of his neighbors. When Jeffries suspects a murder, he brings out binoculars and a telescope to watch even closer.

Jeffries is limited as to what he can do, so he accepts the help of Lisa and his nurse, Stella, played by Thelma Ritter, and they become his "legs." Jeffries focuses so much on his neighbors' lives, that he misreads his own, and underestimates Lisa's adventurous will. When Lisa risks her life for evidence, and is confronted by the murderer, Jeffries realizes that he could happily stay with Lisa after all.

Rear Window's success and popularity may be due to it's subject matter, rather than it's entertainment. It's difficult to distinguish the line between whether watching others is ethical, or not. Rear Window raises the question, "how much of a right do we have to watch each other?' Perhaps, Hitchcock believed that we all have a right to watch each other, nonetheless, we all continue to struggle with that question and answer today.