Looking Forward Through The Rear Window

Throughout Hitchcock’s film, Rear Window, we see many situations, people, and relationships going on in the apartments that surround Jeffries’ window. I think that each of the stories unfolding in these apartments reflect Jeffries’ insecurities about marriage and his relationship with Lisa. She is the upper-class, designer label type of woman and Jeffries just doesn’t feel like their relationship is realistic in a marriage sense. Jeffries also can’t see her as the adventurous type that he imagines himself with, which does not help when they argue about getting married. I also believe that through observing these situations with the neighbors, especially the murder in the Thorwald’s apartment, he is able to let some things go and accept the fact that no girl or marriage is going to be perfect.

Being a domesticated husband does not seem to be something that Jeffries is particularly fond of becoming, so when he observes certain neighbors, his firm stance against marriage becomes stronger. The extremely uneventful life of the couple with the dog has him believing that marriage is going leave him content with boredom and I think that really scares him because of the active, traveling lifestyle he has as a photographer. I also think that seeing how the women treat the men in this film makes Jeffries uneasy about choosing one woman to be with for the rest of his life. The young couple seem really happy at first (especially when they have the blinds drawn and are celebrating their fresh, new marriage) but things don’t stay that way for long, as Jeffries observes the wife take on the nagging role like another woman in the film- Mrs. Thorwald.

The Thorwalds have a particularly interesting relationship and Jeffries seems to be very intrigued by it. Mrs. Thorwald is a bedridden, nagging wife to Mr. Thorwald and he eventually becomes sick of her. Come to find out, just as Jeffries suspected, the frustrated husband kills his nagging wife. This lifestyle is definitely not appealing to Jeffries at all.

The single neighbors in the film also help Jeffries to reflect upon his relationship with Lisa and the idea of settling down. I feel like both the dancer and Miss Lonelyhearts (as Jeffries named her) give him a negative view of women. The dancer seems to have a very open personality, often dancing in front of large, open windows, and hosting parties that only men ever attend. Miss Lonelyhearts is just depressing, often loathing in self-pity, and even contemplates suicide at one point in the film. The women seem to be very frustrating and unstable, and that makes Jeffries uncomfortable with the whole idea of being around one for the rest of his life.

With all of this being said, I believe that by Jeffries constantly watching his neighbors during his time in a cast actually opened up his eyes in a positive way, despite the negative personalities and situations that occur with his neighbors. When Lisa finally buys into Jeffries suspicion of Mr. Thorwald being a murderer, he sees the sense of adventure in Lisa and his eyes are really opened up to the idea of being with her. We see Jeffries look at her in a completely new way when she scales the wall into the Thorwald apartment; he also shows great concern when she gets caught. At the end of the film, we see Jeffries and Lisa sitting very happily inside of his apartment and I think it is evident that marriage has become a plausible idea in his eyes.

The Women in Glengarry Glen Ross

When I first began reading the play, Glengarry Glen Ross, I found it weird (and slightly annoying) that women were not actually present. I believe that Mamet had the characters only refer to women, rather than have them present during the play, for a specific reason. The absence of women in this play allows us to see the men in the stereotypical way of being masculine, career-focused and competitive. It seems that when women are referred to during the play, it brings out an emotional side of the salesmen, which is not seen during other scenes when they are working together or trying to make sales in an all-male setting. I also believe that the foul language and the extremely excessive use of it is also a characteristic of the salesmen that would not be seen as clearly if they were physically around women in the play.

The women in the play definitely seem to influence the men in an emotional way. Levene, for example, was a distinguished salesman at one point during his career and kind of has the attitude of a legend. However, when his daughter is brought into the picture, the manliness goes out the window. He succumbs to begging and pleading for better leads and also tries to bribe his boss because he is so worked up about the situation. His desperation shows a very emotional side that would not typically be seen in the office setting with a bunch of men around. Another situation where men’s emotions start flying is when Roma and Lingk are in the office together, and Lingk is trying to explain to Roma why he has to cancel their deal. Lingk cannot go through with the deal because his wife will not let him, and when she is brought up and he is trying to explain this to Roma, we see a more emotional side to both of them. Roma sort of panics and tries to lie his way around talking about the situation and Lingk gets so upset that he can’t complete a sentence and starts mumbling.

In this play, women seem to break down the masculine wall that the salesmen have built around themselves to hold up this super manly persona around each other. Also, women are always seen as emotional beings, whereas men are the tough guys, but I believe that Mamet breaks down that wall as well in the way he writes the female parts of the play. When women are referred to during the play, they bring out certain emotions in the men. I feel like in the setting and situation that the salesmen are in, it is almost impossible for them to be anything but “manly” and I believe that the references to women allow the audience to see that each of these men are human.

Persepolis: Rebelling Against It All

In Marjane Satrapi’s graphic novel, Persepolis, several themes are presented to the reader from both the pictures and the next. I love the illustrations and how well they work with the short text and found myself very surprised with how entertaining this book ended up being. In the book, many stories and struggles are presented, such as the Islamic revolution, issues with school, the war between Iran and Iraq, and Satrapi’s struggle with growing up and bumping heads with her parents. In my opinion, the strongest and most evident theme that arises from all of these situations in the novel is that of rebellion. Rebellion is constantly seen, in many different shapes and forms, all throughout this book.

One example of this comes from the very beginning of the novel (page 3) when Satrapi discusses how as a result of the Islamic Revolution, in 1980, the females became obligated to wear veils in school. The illustration at the bottom of the page paints a perfect picture of rebellion where you can see the children using their veils as reins and jump ropes, and basically making a mockery of the entire situation. This rebellion against the rules and the veil repeats several times throughout the novel when it mentions and illustrates the women wearing veils with some of their hair showing, which is not how it is supposed to be worn.

Another example of rebellion comes later in the novel (page 128) when Satrapi’s parents are trying to bring her something special back into Iran from their trip to Turkey. Before their trip, Satrapi asked for some posters and her parents made sure that they could meet her desires by doing whatever they had to. The series of 4 pictures shows Satrapi’s mother tearing out the lining of her husband’s coat, placing the posters inside, and then sewing the lining back in. It then shows Satrapi’s father standing there with wide, pointy shoulders because of the poster, which is one of the most hilarious illustrations in the book. Going through customs, her parents are faced with the accusation that they are smugglers, to which they eventually talk themselves out of and board the plane. They did whatever they had to do to make their daughter happy and excited in the hard times that she was going through. Satrapi’s parents rebelled against the rules and lied to the man and customs and it was actually a very touching moment in the novel to me.

These two aforementioned examples were only a very small portion of the many instances where rebellion was illustrated throughout Persepolis. I noticed in this story that a lot of what was going on in this novel could have, and probably did, happen in the United States in the 1980s and moving forward. The youth in this book embrace pop culture and style and try to attain approval and social status from their peers, which reminds me very much of how I have grown up. Other relatable examples are Satrapi arguing with her parents, the characters having extreme patriotism for their country during the war, and instances where Satrapi got in trouble at school. All of these remind me of personal experiences in my own life and I think that gave me an odd new acceptance for the people or Iran. I have found that although the details of their issues may differ from ours, overall, they are normal people—a lot like Americans, in fact.

The Moviegoer: What Happens to Binx?

At the end of Walker Percy’s novel, The Moviegoer, Binx decides to end his “search” and claims that, “as for my search, I have not the inclination to say much on the subject” which leaves the reader wondering what exactly made him stop his search for something more. Did he feel as if he had failed and would never find the answer to his search, or did something happen that made him feel as if his search was no longer necessary because he found what he was looking for? I believe that by the end of The Moviegoer, Binx has actually had some form of religious shift and has found God. I also believe that in the context of The Moviegoer, Binx has experienced two of the three stages of existence that Kierkegaard describes in his explanation of Christian Existentialism.

At the beginning, and throughout the bulk of the novel, Binx finds himself doing everything is his power to escape “everydayness” although he actually falls into it quite often, such as seeing the same people regularly and going to work daily. Before the novel begins, I feel like Binx is a man who is just typically normal and lives the everyday life like most others around him. When the book begins, he is becoming bored with that lifestyle and starts looking for something more, which leads me to believe that he is experiencing the first stage of Christian Existentialism, which is the aesthetic. He spends his days stuck in the mode of everydayness and often feels empty and can no longer stand it. This angst that Binx is experiencing shows that he is living in the aesthetic stage and has become overwhelmed and begins his search to move on from this phase of his life.

The second stage of existence is the ethical stage, which I do not believe Binx necessarily experiences in the way that Kierkegaard describes it. Binx is a man of his own rules and although he does not necessarily do horrible things or commit crimes, some of his actions show that he is not necessarily living up to a high moral standard. Binx is a selfish person and often has sexual encounters with women he could seemingly care less about. Trying to be good does not seem like something Binx really cares or thinks about.

The third stage of Kierkegaard’s list is the religious stage. Although the ending of the book is kind of ambiguous as to what actually happens with Binx, I believe that he experiences the religious stage and begins to have faith in God. The one person in Binx’s life that he often talked about religion with is Lonnie, who despite his confinement to a wheelchair is a very religious and faithful person. He helps Binx tremendously in his “search” and when Lonnie passes away, I think it becomes evident that Binx has actually accepted the existence of God. After Lonnie dies, the children ask Binx if Lonnie will be in a wheelchair or like them when he gets into Heaven. Binx responds to them by saying, “he’ll be like you”. Throughout the book, Binx is straightforward and honest with the reader, so by admitting that Lonnie will not be in a wheelchair in Heaven, shows that Binx is accepting that there is such thing as Heaven and God.

Looking at Kierkegaard’s stages of Existentialism after reading The Moviegoer helped me to make some stronger connections with parts of the novel that I had originally not found any meaning in. Binx is a character that I feel almost everyone could relate to in some form or fashion and I truly believe that his “search” came to an end because he found something much bigger than him or his problems-- God.