Fourth Wall, Rear Window

Due Wednesday 3/4

• The main character L.B. "Jeff" Jefferies (played by James Stewart) was based loosely on the famous war-correspondent photographer Robert Capa. What significant traits do the real and fictional versions of this photographer share, especially with regard to photography?

• The modern usage of the word camera has origins in the Camera Obscura, or dark chamber. How can Jefferies’ apartment be considered analogous to a large camera?

In film and theatre, the concept of the fourth wall implies a separation between the audience and the actors. The actors engage in a drama while the audience passively spectates. The fourth wall is challenged or “broken”, most generally, when the audience is confronted directly by the actors and stage activity. This engagement places the audience in an active role. A lesser example has actors speaking directly to the audience. A more extreme example might be a theatre production with audience participation.

• In the most general sense, what defines the fourth wall in photography? Is this the same for film/cinema?

• How does the film Rear Window call attention to the fourth wall (and perhaps challenge it) through visual means? Pay attention to camera work.

• How does Rear Window call attention to the fourth wall through the storyline/plot/narrative?

• Describe the most poignant ways in which the fourth wall is challenged or broken in Rear Window as you see it.

• Overall, what seems to be Hitchcock’s attitude towards voyeurism here? Who is looking or spectating? Who is being observed? Are we as audience implicated in any way with Jeff’s fixation on his neighbors?

• How does the concept of fourth wall relate to the notion of point-of-view? How could you use some of these ideas to engage your audience more directly in you own work?