Watching Rear Window after reading Keenan’s Windows provides and interesting spin on the movie. The line “People do a lot of things in private they couldn’t possibly explain in public” mixed with the blurring of the seam between the two spheres perfectly sums up the conundrum of public cell phone conversations and Facebook and the funny things you “overhear” while going about everyday life.
Why do we, as spectators, feel ashamed to be Peeping Toms with Jeff while watching Rear Window, too asking ourselves, “I wonder of its ethical to watch a man with binoculars and a long-focus telephoto lens,” but it seems natural for us to be in his apartment, watching him sleep? This question doesn’t really cross our minds as we are watching the movie because we are used to being in the middle of characters’ living rooms. We are very aware when we know we are prying into something we shouldn’t be, violating their privacy with just our eyes, being a yenta, as you may say. We feel like we are hurting the people on the other side of the courtyard, but that we are helping Jeff, Stella, and Lisa in their quest for truth. The neighbors are identified as the others, but we are but looking in a mirror at the protagonists, identifying with them. Because they are we, it is okay that we are involved in their business because it too is ours.
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