Dissertation Title: Mainstream Media and the Male Gaze: A Psychoanalytic Analysis of Hitchcock’s Rear Window
Research Methodology: Qualitative Theoretical Analysis
Research Design: Single-film Case Study Using Close Textual and Visual Analysis of Rear Window
Abstract
Background: Mainstream cinema has long been criticised for reproducing patriarchal visual regimes through the “male gaze”, a concept popularised by Laura Mulvey to describe how film form organises visual pleasure around heterosexual male desire. Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window (1954) is frequently cited as a paradigmatic example of voyeurism and scopophilia, yet there remains value in a detailed, integrated analysis of how cinematography, set design, sound, and the star system collectively construct women as objects of the gaze.
Aim: This dissertation examines how mainstream media embodies the male gaze through a psychoanalytic reading of Rear Window. It explores how the film’s visual and auditory strategies position the spectator, objectify female characters, and privilege identification with a male protagonist, while also considering the viewing positions available to marginalised or female spectators.
Methods: Adopting a qualitative theoretical approach, the study integrates Freudian psychoanalysis (scopophilia, voyeurism) with feminist film theory on the male gaze. A single-film case study design is used. Through close textual and visual analysis of key sequences, camera movements, framing, lighting, sound (including leitmotif), and star construction of characters such as Jeff, Lisa, Miss Torso, and Miss Lonelyhearts are examined to reveal underlying structures of looking and desire.
Results: The analysis identifies several interrelated themes: the image and framing (including “frame within a frame”) confine the spectator to Jeff’s point of view, constructing women as visual commodities; cinematographic techniques (tracking shots, zooms, close-ups, diegetic lighting) intensify scopophilic pleasure and render female characters vulnerable and “to-be-looked-at”; and the Hollywood star system amplifies feminine glamour and sexualised visibility while normalising male authority and control. Although marginalised or female spectators can develop alternative modes of looking, they are largely invited to enjoy the film by aligning with Jeff’s voyeuristic perspective.
Conclusion: The findings support the claim that mainstream media, exemplified by Rear Window, structurally privileges the male gaze by centring male subjectivity and organising female characters as erotic spectacle. The study highlights how psychoanalytic and feminist film theory together illuminate the power relations embedded in cinematic form, and it suggests that any genuinely transformative spectatorship must critically resist the default alignment with the male protagonist’s gaze.