Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window

I really enjoyed Hitchcock’s Rear Window. I like how Jeffries apartment building is set up so that he can see into the apartments of many of his neighbors. I’m sure there are many people today who would kill for a set-up like that. He reminds me of a stay-at-home mom who gets bored during the day and watches the cars that drive up and down the block to see which neighbor are receiving visitors during the day. It’s funny to me that Jeffries gives each of his neighbors a nickname that corresponds to their situation. There’s Miss Lonely Heart, the composer, the newlyweds, and Miss Torso. Yet he doesn’t have a nickname for the Thorwalds, perhaps because he already knows their name somehow or because their apartment becomes his main focus throughout the movie. Miss Lonely Heart is named because Jeffries watches her pretending to have a companion when no one is there. I wonder about the depth of her situation and if she once had a lover and lost him or whether she has always been alone. She is a direct contrast to Jeffries in that she longs for love and has no one and he has Lisa to love him but doesn’t seem interested. The newlyweds of course represent what Jeff and Lisa could be if they get married. Jeff compares Lisa to Miss Torso, the ballet dancer, when he sees her with the other men. He points out that she could have her pick of men, and in the end we see her boyfriend return from the army, a short man with glasses who doesn’t seem her type at all. Lisa could also have her choice of men but she picks Jeffries. Everyone’s lives seem to be intertwined somehow without them realizing it. I also really love the way Lisa starts to change from the time she gets involved with Jeffries’ investigation. In the beginning Jeff complains that she is to high maintenance for him and he could never be with her because of that. Because of his suspicion of Mr. Thorwald, Lisa starts to become more adventurous and even changes out of her designer gowns and into casual dresses and jeans by the end of the movie. The more she changes into an adventurous, curious woman, the more he finds her attractive it seems.

Glengarry Glenn Ross

Mamet’s play consists of all male characters and is fueled by male characteristics such as dominance, aggression and competition. Even though there are no women participating in the dialogue of Glengarry Glenn Ross, there is a definite female presence within the play, as well as the film version of the play. All of the salesmen are in a race to close the most leads. The losers lose their jobs. Levene’s motive for wanting to close his leads is his sick daughter, who he needs to be able to care for. Although we never see or hear from Levene’s daughter, it is our knowledge of her existence that leads us to feel sympathy for Levene’s situation. In other parts of the play, women are portrayed as naïve or weak links. In the scenes where Levene is contacting potential customers, he generally speaks to women and asks then when he can get them and their husbands together. He knows he needs the husbands in order to make the sale but he uses the wives to get to them. In one of these scenes, Levene comes to the house and is asked to leave by the husband, who says that because of his wife, they have been “plagued” by land salesmen. This doesn’t apply to Roma’s sale to Lingk, who is the weak link (no pun intended) in his situation. Roma manipulates Lingk into purchasing with friendship, something we are led to believe Lingk doesn’t have much of due to an overbearing wife. Lingk follows through with the transaction, possibly because he feels a connection with Roma, but it is overturned by his wife, who forces him to cancel the transaction. Lingk is the contrast to Roma and the other salesmen as he is the most feminine character. Aranow and Williamson follow behind as Aranow is too soft to make a sale and probably the most likely to be fired when the contest ends. He even admits that he is not a good salesman because he cares about the customers. Williamson is constantly berated by the others for going home to spend time with his kids, something a working man should not be concerned with. These men are somewhat feminized by their counterparts in the play, and femininity is linked to weakness.

King Lear by William Shakespeare

I enjoyed my reading of King Lear. I understood it better after seeing the film version. I think there is absolutely a benefit to watching Shakespeare performed, as it is meant to be. There is an added clarity of the text when associated with a visualized setting, and characters. It gives light and mood to the dialogue within the play, which greatly helps readers to understand what is going on and the significance. I think King Lear presents a very interesting approach to the relationship between father and daughter, and the effects kingship has on those relationships. In the beginning of the play, we see Lear as a materialistic man, who associates power with love. The more his daughters love him, the more power he has over them in that he decides who is to inherit the kingdom. Lear decides to divide his kingdom among his three daughters based on the amount of love each of them is able to express for him. It’s obvious Lear show great favor to his youngest daughter Cordelia and she returns his love, yet she refuses to take part in the ceremonious confession to Lear. When it is her turn to speak, she says “I love thee according to my bond, neither more nor less”. Based on her lack of flowery words for him, Lear regards her as disrespectful and disowns her completely. I don’t think Lear wants to banish Cordelia and I think he feels a tremendous amount of guilt after he does. But because of his kingship, he restrains himself from changing his mind and allowing her to return. What kind of king would he be if he couldn’t stand by his decisions? This inner conflict allows Lear to spiral downward into madness, where strangely, he finds his redemption. King Lear undergoes an immense amount of suffering, both physically and mentally, before he finally is able to see the world clearly. Lear possesses the qualities of a tragic hero in that he falls from his position of superiority to one of suffering, then he rises again with wisdom and knowledge. Of course, because it is a Shakespeare play, all must perish and the slate must be wiped clean so that order can be restored. Therefore, Lear makes this discovery too late and is destined to die anyway.

The Moviegoer by Walker Percy

The reading of this novel was slow for me. Percy gives long elaborate descriptions of characters and settings and I think because of that, I had a hard time getting into the actual story being told. I think this is partly because I am not from the south originally, which is where the story takes place, and I have never been to New O'rleans, so apart what I've heard about Mardi Gras, I know nothing of the city or the culture. Percy seems to linger on details as if the readers already know what he's talking about, so I did find myself having to go back and reread passages of the book. I like the main character, Binx, even though I found him to be selfish, arrogant and slightly obnoxious at times. But by the end of the book, I saw him as more of a child than a thirty-year-old man and I think I'm sympathetic towards him. I don’t think Binx ever feels like he’s found what he’s looking for in his “search”. He thinks he’s settling because Aunt Emily wants him to do something. Maybe he wants to get Aunt Emily off his back without giving her exactly what she wants and going to medical school. So he marries Kate instead. I do think Binx gets tired of spending his life going to movies and juggling secretaries, but I think he settles with Kate. He knows he and Kate have something to offer one another that no one else can understand. Even if their relationship is romantically awkward, they can still help each other. In calling off “the search”, Binx opens a new door for a different life that isn’t what he expected when he originally began his search.