Rear Window

The other night I watched the Alfred Hitchcock movie Rear Window. It was discussed in our reading as an interesting take on a film frame acting as a window through which the audience observes the story. In this movie the main character is literally observing the story through a window. The whole story unfolds across the back courtyard of his building where he is able to see into his neighbor’s apartments. This movie helped me to understand the meaning of “rhyming element” which had confused me somewhat in class. This movie was overflowing with them and they were critical in explaining and advancing the plot.
Since the movie begins with Jeff observing the daily routines of his neighbors, their habits become the rhythm of the film. Next door is the newlywed couple who we can assume is busy getting to know each other behind closed blinds. On the top left is Miss Torso, who can be found dancing during the day and entertaining a steady stream of gentlemen callers at night. Then there is the songwriter in the unhappy marriage and Miss Lonely Heart who drinks and eats with an imaginary friend every night. Lastly there is the top floor lady who lowers her dog down to the yard everyday in a basket. It is this last element that becomes one of our greatest indicators that all is not well in the hood.
Just as Jeff and Lisa’s suspicions start to seem totally ungrounded and outlandish, one of the rhyming elements in the film is interrupted. One evening the little dog that traveled by basket daily was found dead in the courtyard, murdered. The discovery of his death sends his owner into an outrage that interrupts everyone’s routine. This disruption knocks the whole system off kilter and chaos ensues culminating in the suspected murderer crossing the courtyard into the protagonist’s safe haven and tossing him out the very window through which he has seen so much. The disjunction of the rhyming elements stimulates the plot and unleashes a series of dramatic events which eventually conclude with peace and routine restored to the building, with a few small improvements.