In the 1950’s, the Cold War between America and the Soviet Union had intensified. A man named Joseph McCarthy created a hysteria over the possibility that anyone you knew could be a communist. This was known as the Red Scare. The Red Scare led to a range of actions that had a profound and lasting effect on U.S. government and society. Many films and television were affected by McCarthyism and the Red Scare. Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window portrays the reality and dangers of McCarthyism and the sense of no privacy during the 1950’s.
The Cold War took place after World War II and was between the United States and the Soviet Union. They were allies during the war to defeat Nazi Germany, but both countries disputed over many ideologies and visions…show more content… Rear Window begins with an opening scene that introduces entirely through visual means the protagonist, his background, and his neighbors. This scene reveals many things: the cast on Jeff’s leg reveals his name, the photographs identify him as a photojournalist, the smashed camera and photograph of an out-of-control race car explain his injury. Hitchcock’s eye for detail is apparent in the shot of an outdoor thermometer reading a little over ninety-two degrees, “The heat affects the action in Rear Window” (Kohler 3). It is why the windows are wide open, and why Jeff can not sleep and sits in front of the window all night in his wheelchair. This is where the movie begins its plot of Jeff suspecting a murder happened from looking at a “rear window” in the back of an apartment…show more content… Detective Tom Doyle actively tries to discourage Jeff from pursuing the alleged murder across the yard by mentioning evidence against Jeff's observations and conclusions. Certainly taking into account the amount of criticism that he gets, it “describes him as a director or cinematographer as well as his ostensible use of visual aids to create narrative coherence of the discrete episodes he witnesses” (Kohler 5). Since the movie is mostly though Jeff’s point of view, Jeff is the “filmmaker” of the film. The outcome of this is the audience seeing the symbol of an intelligence agent obstructing a filmmaker (Kohler
