Alfred Hitchcock’s 1954 film “Rear Window” presents the ideas of two people who look at life and marriage in two completely different ways. Jeffries, bound in his apartment with a broken leg, seems to look at life in a negative way, thinking of marriage as a bad idea. Lisa however seems to look at life in a more positive light and looks forward to marriage, thinking that everything will be perfect once she is married. The apartments that we are able to see present everything in life that Jeffries and Lisa are both questioning as well as falling victim too.
Miss Torso, for example, is swimming in men, not in love with any of them, waiting for her true love, the sailor, to return home. Lisa sees this and comments that she knew what it was like to juggle men and not love any of them.
Miss Lonelyhearts, one of the characters that bring Jeffries and Lisa even closer together, makes them both feel sympathetic towards her. Lisa sees Miss Lonelyhearts as poetic, waiting for the perfect guy, her long lost love. When Miss Lonelyhearts just can’t take it anymore, she is about to commit suicide, until she hears the Composer’s music. Jeffries and Lisa are witness to this act. Jeffries and Lisa are brought closer together through Miss Lonelyhearts.
The Newlyweds are unseen through most of the film, for they close the window blinds to their window in the beginning. I feel the idea here is that love is great in the beginning, but once reality kicks in, the Newlyweds begin to argue over the fact that he doesn’t have a job. Jeffries sees this as an actual real life issue, where when Lisa sees this she just wants the feeling of being a newlywed. She wants to be married to badly.
The Thorwalds, the main focus of the film, is the ultimate point that brings Jeffries and Lisa together. When Jeffries first becomes interested in the Thorwalds he realizes that something just isn’t right over there. Mr. Thorwald is married to a woman who doesn’t appreciate him and is ill in bed. She is constantly nagging him and putting him down. Mr. Thorwald is also having an affair on top of this. Lisa only becomes interested once Jeffries has told her about his suspicions and she catches a glimpse of what was actually going on over there. The Thorwalds are what bring Jeffries and Lisa the closest together.
When Lisa goes into Thorwalds’ apartment and secretly is able to retrieve Mrs. Thorwalds wedding band, proving that she wasn’t really on a trip, Jeffries finally realizes that she is the woman for him and that he loves her. She points to her finger with the ring on it so Jeffries can see her from his rear window. This one act is really what brings them together. Jeffries sees what lengths Lisa is willing to go to, up to the point of being caught by a killer.
By the end of the film, Jeffries with two broken legs now instead of one, is posted up in his apartment still, but now with Lisa staying there as well. By looking into the lives of their neighbors, Jeffries and Lisa’s differences made them grow closer together. Solving the mystery of Mrs. Thorwalds’ disappearance, however, is what finally made them see eye to eye and love each other.
Monday, July 19, 2010
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
The Leads
David Mamet’s play, Glengarry Glen Ross, is a play that is full of egotistical business men; each of them trying to get ahead in their cutthroat business no matter what it really takes. These men are willing to lie, cheat, and even steal to be able to succeed in business. The one thing that Mamet’s play lacks, however, is any seen woman characters. There are several references to women throughout the play, but not one is seen.
Early in the play, Levene mentions the “ex” that had “kicked out” of a deal. His mention of this woman makes her seem somewhat bad in a sense that we as readers are not quite sure at this point what the big picture is. A little while later Leven makes another reference to a woman, this time his daughter. He tries to use his sick daughter as a means of negotiating with John to get the good leads. With these two women, it seems that Levene is only good at making excuses for himself through these women. He tries to use them to get ahead, it’s disgusting.
Levene also mentions one more woman in the play. He speaks briefly of Harriet Nyborg, who bought crumb cake from the store and fed it to Levene and her husband while agreeing to sign a contract she has no intention or means of purchasing. This last woman that Levene mentions is slightly different from the other two. She goes so far as to sign the contract and give Levene a bad check. At least she did this to get him to shut up. For we all know salesmen won’t shut up or leave until you buy something from them, so it might as well be a faulty check to get rid of them.
There is one more mention of a woman in the play. Mrs. Lingk is brought into the picture when Roma tries to sell her and her husband some land they didn’t want. Roma was able to close the deal the night before, but the next day gets a rude surprise when Mr. Lingk comes to tell him he needs his check back because his wife said to get everything back. She seems to be the most sensible out of all the women mentioned. She sees right through Roma’s shifty lies and realizes that what he has offered them is a bunch of b.s., as is the entire contract.
There is argument that these women mentioned not only ruin Roma’s contract but also bring about Levene’s final fall. I argue against this. It seems to me that the only thing these men were good at was lying, cheating, and stealing. Their business deals were b.s. and the lies that poured out of their mouths just to get people to sign a contract were ridiculous. The lack of actual women characters actually makes them seem stronger. Without them there we are only able to go off of what the men give us. Knowing how the men are in a business sense allows us to see right through them when they speak about women. The only reason they even seem to deal with the women mentioned in the play is because they need both signatures the close a deal. They must always be closing.
Early in the play, Levene mentions the “ex” that had “kicked out” of a deal. His mention of this woman makes her seem somewhat bad in a sense that we as readers are not quite sure at this point what the big picture is. A little while later Leven makes another reference to a woman, this time his daughter. He tries to use his sick daughter as a means of negotiating with John to get the good leads. With these two women, it seems that Levene is only good at making excuses for himself through these women. He tries to use them to get ahead, it’s disgusting.
Levene also mentions one more woman in the play. He speaks briefly of Harriet Nyborg, who bought crumb cake from the store and fed it to Levene and her husband while agreeing to sign a contract she has no intention or means of purchasing. This last woman that Levene mentions is slightly different from the other two. She goes so far as to sign the contract and give Levene a bad check. At least she did this to get him to shut up. For we all know salesmen won’t shut up or leave until you buy something from them, so it might as well be a faulty check to get rid of them.
There is one more mention of a woman in the play. Mrs. Lingk is brought into the picture when Roma tries to sell her and her husband some land they didn’t want. Roma was able to close the deal the night before, but the next day gets a rude surprise when Mr. Lingk comes to tell him he needs his check back because his wife said to get everything back. She seems to be the most sensible out of all the women mentioned. She sees right through Roma’s shifty lies and realizes that what he has offered them is a bunch of b.s., as is the entire contract.
There is argument that these women mentioned not only ruin Roma’s contract but also bring about Levene’s final fall. I argue against this. It seems to me that the only thing these men were good at was lying, cheating, and stealing. Their business deals were b.s. and the lies that poured out of their mouths just to get people to sign a contract were ridiculous. The lack of actual women characters actually makes them seem stronger. Without them there we are only able to go off of what the men give us. Knowing how the men are in a business sense allows us to see right through them when they speak about women. The only reason they even seem to deal with the women mentioned in the play is because they need both signatures the close a deal. They must always be closing.
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