An Analysis of how Narrative and Genre Are Used to Create Meaning and Generate Audience Response in the Opening of "Rear Window"

The opening of "Rear Window" is very traditional, literally a curtain raiser for the film. The genre and narrative strands that are introduced, however, are not quite as clear as we might expect from our prior expectations of a Hitchcock thriller. This essay will examine how the opening introduces the audience to the world of the courtyard and the main characters in a way that suggests that the predominant genre of the film may be romantic comedy, and that the main narrative thread may be the relationship between Lisa and Jeffries, rather than the thriller which is subsequently played out.…