Essay: Rear Window – classical Hollywood cinema

It is undeniable that Hollywood cinema plays a significant role in world movie. The “dream factory’ Hollywood is a high profit and dominating business. Hollywood movies are easily recognize by audiences. Hollywood movies are always successful and have a high box-office due to their fixed mode. Classical Hollywood cinema refers to the American film industry in 1927 to 1963 production of the film used in visual and sound style. This period of time is often called as the “golden age of Hollywood.” The classical style also known as “invisible style” which is weakening the role of the camera and background music, so that audiences forget that they are watching movies and they feel in the movie scene. “Classic Hollywood” narrative and visual narrative methods become the world’s most powerful and most popular film production style. This following essay will focus on Classical Hollywood cinema and analyze the how Rear Window reflect narrative, visual aesthetic, technology and the star power of classical Hollywood cinema.
Considering how Hollywood movies are able to obtain commercial successful, the first thing need to be concern is narration. Branigan (1992) stated that:“ narrative is a perceptual activity that organizes data into a special pattern which represents and explains experience”. In most Hollywood movies, it contains more than one unique plot. Meanwhile, the narrative is clear in Hollywood movies. Maltby (2003) mentioned that “most critical writing on Hollywood assumes that the primary purpose of a movie is to tell a story”. Looking at Real Window, it adapted from Cornell Woolrich’s 1942 short novel. It tells a love story and a suspense story, meanwhile the whole movie also consist of other small stories. This movie splendidly combines mystery murder, reflections on marriage issues and voyeurism with moral criticism. The main character Jeff is a global photographer but he have to stay in his small room as he got a broken leg. The door is close, but the window is open. Rear Window is a movie about the movie, the photographer Jeff is the audience. In this movie, several stories be shown through Jeff’s subjective lens (POV): his neighbor Thorwald took care of his frail wife; blessed newlyweds got a problem with their marriage at the end of movie; middle-aged couples seems to have a happy life but their dog be killed; and the dazed music composer, lonely lady, depressed unmarried women, frustrated white-collar workers. These stories is not the main part of this movie but actually they reflect the life of Jeff and Lisa. Looking at the two main stories of this movie, one is the love story between Jeff and Lisa, one is the murder incident which happened at the back of window which in Jeff’s apartment opposite. It can appeal to different types of audiences and earn high profits. Furthermore, the narrative of Rear Window is clear, at the end of movie everything got the answer and reply. The murder be confirmed, Jeff and Lisa be together. The everything it contains are relate to typical Hollywood style.
Hollywood movies “are organized to deliver pleasure to their audiences” (Maltby, 2003). It is worth to concern visual aesthetics of Hollywood movies. Visual aesthetics is a part that cannot be ignored. Looking at the movie “Rear Window”, On the one hand, visual aesthetics related to the fashion woman; on the other hand, it is about the scene they established and the technology they used. The main female character in this movie is Lisa, she’s “costumes and accessories display a resolute assertion of her femininity” (Belton, 2000). She always dress up and get perfect make up. In this whole movie, she wears six different dresses with various jewels which be a desire for female audience. Tania, M. (1988) argued that “fashion is far from representing woman’s unproblematic assimilation to the patriarchal systems, but functions to some extent as a signifier of feminine desire and difference”. However the elegant main character be created in this movie represent patriarchal ideology. The female have to dress up in order to attract man even though the man is lower than her. Meanwhile, it represent all woman are eager to get married. But anyway the beautiful actor gives the audience a visual enjoyment. Except for character aesthetics, looking at the scene of Rear Window, it is built purely for the movie making, the main scene is an apartment which looks like in New York city but its fake, all the scene is created in the studio. It makes the movie looks like more perfect and real. Furthermore, Hollywood’s film technology has always been the most advanced, Hollywood system closely to develop new technology. In the film Rear Window, it is filmed at 1954, the technology be seen in today is lagging and ridiculous but in the middle of the twentieth century of film history, it is amazing and attractive. The one part in this movie, Jeff use his camera flashgun to shot the murder causing glare in the screen. This makes the audience feel novel in that certain time. Also at the end of movie, the part of Jeff falling down from the window, the camera focusing on his face and his gesture is very stiff if we seen in nowadays, but it scares the audience who living in that century. Moreover, the editing in this movie is smooth.”Rear Window” clip speed is gradually accelerated with the development of the plot. For peeping at different floors of different people’s lives, the use of parallel montage performance method, a number of clues cross each other, the picture is very complex life, life is normal, the rhythm is leisurely.
The customer is the significant factor for Hollywood movie making. In order to attracting audience, it is not only establishing perfect scene, using clear narration, but also choosing popular star as actor. Hollywood did not need their audience to “process a knowledge of its industrial processes in order to enjoy or understand its products” (Maltby, 2003), Considering the star power in Hollywood movie. Hollywood business own their star system which is the central part of Hollywood movies. Most stars in the Hollywood have long fixed contract, they do not allowed to control the role they play, otherwise “their contract might be suspended without pay as punishment” (Stine and Davis, 1974). Moreover, Hollywood cinema got the studio system which is the Hollywood company operating mode in the Golden age of Hollywood. This brings glory to the Hollywood film but then gradually decline. There were several studios like Twentieth Century-Fox, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Warner Bros and so on. “Each studio has a personality; each studio’s product shows special emphases and values” (Rosten, 1941). Furthermore, the film makers are more concerned about consumer satisfaction. They obtain audience tastes from the audience’s recognition of a star. Looking at the two characters in the movie of Rear Window. James Stewart is a famous American actor in the mid-twentieth century. He was awarded the Medal of Freedom and a number of Lifetime Achievement Award actors, is the American culture of the traditional era of elegant symbol. He is very popular in American society. Choosing him as a starring will undoubtedly attract the audience’s interest in the film, even if they are not interested in the plot of the film. This is the usual way for Hollywood movies. Grace Kelly is the another starring in this movie. She is an Oscar winner and she is very beautiful and elegant. The audience will also enter the theater to watch the movie because of her. Actors made a lot of contribution for Hollywood movie box-office.
In conclusion, Classical Hollywood cinema have both commercial and artistic. It is gaining a huge success in the world and accessing to a great reputation. The Golden Age of Hollywood has ceased to exist now but it is also worth to analyze. The clear narrative makes the story of the film fascinating, visual aesthetics used to attracting audience and the star power is useful for box-office increasing. The product of Hollywood Cinema Real Window is also really successful and in 1955 won four nominations for the Oscar: Best Director Award, Best Screenplay Award, Best Recording Award, Best Photography Award. This movie also have serious influence on other movies. It is due to Classical Hollywood mode. “The rear window” is Hitchcock suspense film masterpiece, it created a terrorist and suspense atmosphere, the image to discover out of everyone’s heart hidden like voyeuristic psychology. The film in the name of “rear window” seems to contain a sense – the door closed, open the rear window, it is another world we have ignored.
Bibliograph:
Belton, J. (2000). Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear window. 1st ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Branigan, E. (1992). Narrative comprehension and film. 1st ed. London: Routledge.
Maltby, R. (2003). Hollywood cinema. 1st ed. Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub.
Modleski, Tania. (1988). The Woman Who Knew Too Much: Hitchcock and Feminist Theory. London and New York: Methuen.
Rosten, L. (1941). Hollywood: the movie colony, the movie makers. 1st ed. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Co.
Stine, W. and Davis, B. (1974). Mother Goddam. 1st ed. New York: Hawthorn Books.