Overview
1. Write a paragraph that contains the following contents:
Part 1: One statement and/or question related to at least one of the following key terms: Cold War/Atomic Age; House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC)/red scare; Baby Boom; Genres and allegory: science fiction, Westerns, film noir; Audience segmentation; Anti-Trust Ruling/Paramount Decision; Television; Widescreen
Part 2: One statement and/or question responding to the film Rear Window (1954)
Part 3: One analysis connecting the film to one of the key terms. You can use different key terms from part 1.
2. Reply to other two posts:
reply:Yadira Ledesma VerduzcoFollowing the war, the Hollywood film industry began to have trouble keeping up with the entertainment success that was seen in previous years. Theatre attendance declined and box office numbers dropped significantly between 1947 and 1957. A factor that contributed to this was the rise of television in the 1950s. It was also during this time that we see a shift to suburbanization which was tied to the concept of a growing nuclear family lifestyle. Thus, those societal changes along with conformity and economic prosperity post-war are what led to a consumer culture whereby Americans began purchasing a wide variety of consumer goods with television being one of the top purchased products. Television sets became a staple in the nuclear family providing people with free entertainment in the comfort of their own homes something that the film industry could not provide. This brought competition between film and TV eventually leading the film industry to make changes in an effort to win over audiences once again.Rear Window was interesting given that it was filmed essentially in one location and because as an audience we see the story unfold through the eyes of the protagonist, L.B. Jefferies, who is confined in his home after suffering an accident that has left him trapped in a wheelchair. One way we can come to understand the film is through Jeff’s voyeurism. Stuck in his room with nothing to do Jeff seems to have taken an interest in spying on his neighbors from his apartment window. The act of sitting all day and watching the activities carried out by his neighbors through his camera and binoculars intrigues Jeff and gives him a sense of pleasure. His nurse and girlfriend warn against his fixation on the lives of others, particularly Mr. Thorwald’s suspicious deeds, but Jeff doesn’t listen. The use of point-of-view shots gives us a limited perspective adding to the mystery and thriller of the film as he tries to uncover whether a murder did in fact take place.Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window can also be seen as an allegory to the paranoia that occurred in the US post-war. Tensions between the US and the Soviet Union gave rise to Americans' fear of communism. This “Red Scare” spread fervently around the 1950s after senator McCarthy initiated aggressive approaches and gave speeches about the threat communist posed. As a result, people during this time had increasing uncertainty and distrust of others. The element of not really knowing who someone is or whether they are a possible threat is reflected in the film. Through Jeff’s perspective, we get a glimpse into the lives of his neighbors. Although limited to visual angles, Jeff grows to believe that Mr. Thorwald has committed a crime and works to reveal the truth with the help of his girlfriend Lisa and his nurse. With this allegorical lens, Thorwald could be seen as the invisible threat or “communist” supporting the idea that absolutely anyone can be a threat.Savanna Kathleen Rae CorroThe western, the sci-fi, and the film noir were all genres that were used as vehicles to share and spread messages pertaining to the worries of the current society at the time. As allegory is meant to subvertly convey a message to its audience, employing certain narrative techniques in order to guide those watching to infer what the real message of the film is about. In the case of genre, the conventions we see in each genre can be attributed to the fears of the society during this time period. Sci-fi often employs a fear of unknown life forms/creatures coming and ‘invading the land,’ and this is obviously an illusion to the fear of unknown people/races coming to take over the country. The western would frame the taming of ‘wild lands’ as a heroic pursuit, getting rid of the ‘savages’ who, as I would like to note, already lived there. This is also an allusion to the pursuit of taking pride in one’s land a.k.a. The U.S. In protecting the U.S. and defending it against others, you would be seen as heroic.Rear WindowThe ending sequence in which Jeffery is thrown out of the window by Mr. Thornwall is the only instance of the camera- and thus the setting- moving outside of Jeffery’s apartment. Apart from this scene, each shot is either stationed within Jeffery’s apartment or taking on the point of view of what can be seen through his windows. At no other point do we really take a step outside of this confined space, and this stylistic decision helps to get the audience to relate to Jeffery’s almost claustrophobic situation. As the force that pushes Jeffery out of this confinement is from the antagonist, this can be seen as an allegory to antagonistic, almost unknown forces (Mr. Thornwall isn’t given very much character development) pushing us out of our comfort zones and the consequences to that. As this displacement is uncomfortable and ultimately leads to further injuring our main character, the film is almost challenging the audience’s notion of what really is a safe space.Rear Window and the Red ScareRear Window helps to highlight the worries that people felt concerning the Red Scare by pushing the idea that privacy is never guaranteed, even when you’re at home. Part of the red scare was the idea that anyone at any point could be listening in to you, using your personal life to their advantage in order to blackmail you and whatnot. Communists wanted to tear down the country from the inside, making people more and more wary of the others around them at any given point. We see this fear highlighted in Jeffery’s character, as he is the neighbor who knows about the daily activities of his neighbors and, once he starts suspecting one of them of wrongdoing, takes actions to bring them to justice. Here, we get the feeling that the film is trying to say that if you don’t have anything to hide, then you don’t have to worry about such situations. However, the red scare was more nuanced than that because many circumstances were misconstrued in order to shift suspicion onto others.