Essay On Rear Window

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2008 PAPER Crime writing explores the unraveling of mystery from different angles. Write an essay in which you evaluate the extent to which this is true. In your response you must refer to TWO prescribed texts and TWO texts of your own choosing. Neale describes genre as “instances of difference and repetition”. The crime writing genre is an ever-changing entity. Its conventions can be subverted to reflect the values of the context it was written in. Crime writing explores the unraveling of mystery from different angles. The different angles may be a reflection of the crime composer’s context and values. Alfred Hitchcock’s 1956 crime film Rear Window exposes values of the 1950s American society through a plotline that explores voyeurism and gender roles. Michael Ondaatje’s postmodern crime novel Anil’s Ghost (1999) is a contemporary text with a strong anti-war message. Anil’s Ghost explores modern day crime on a large, international scale and investigates different ways of valuing…show more content…
Many people were afraid of communism and the Cold War was causing unrest. This was a very suspicious time in America and civilians were asked to keep a check on their neighbours. Hitchcock in Rear Window reflects this context through Jeff’s voyeurism. In Rear Window Hitchcock demonstrates how voyeurism can lead to a descent into vigilantism. The movie opens with a panning shot that follows the natural movement of the human eye as it takes in aspects of the neighbourhood. Jeff’s curiosity and action of taking the law into his own hands, eventually leads him into danger with the dangerous Thorwald entering his apartment. Jeff uses the blinding light of camera flashes to deter Thorwald. The bright, blinding flashes of light on the screen illuminate the way truth can be used as a weapon. Through Jeff’s voyeurism of the crime, Hitchcock echoes the context and values of his
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