What is the importance of Freud’s theory of male castration anxiety for the film “Rear Window”?
“Rear Window”, by Alfred Hitchcock, starts off with a man in his apartment … alone, and he is stuck in a wheel chair with a cast from his ankle up to his waist, focusing on his neighbors around him through his window and into theirs. He then sees something that peaks his interest. He then uses his camera to get a closer look into other people’s lives.
The film, “Rear Window”, portrays many examples of Freud’s theory of male castration anxiety. The theory is Freud’s perspective on the male and their relationship to the penis. The male, follows Freud’s theory, with his explanation of castration anxiety. This is a fear that the male will loose his penis one day.
This is loosely seen throughout “Rear Window”, by the male protagonist, who is helpless within his apartment. The protagonist being without the use of his penis due to his injury reopens the fear of castration anxiety. According to Freud, this anxiety never goes away, but just goes into repression. The cast that is preventing the protagonist from using his penis resurfaces the fear and anxiety.
“Rear Window”, by Alfred Hitchcock, starts off with a man in his apartment … alone, and he is stuck in a wheel chair with a cast from his ankle up to his waist, focusing on his neighbors around him through his window and into theirs. He then sees something that peaks his interest. He then uses his camera to get a closer look into other people’s lives.
The film, “Rear Window”, portrays many examples of Freud’s theory of male castration anxiety. The theory is Freud’s perspective on the male and their relationship to the penis. The male, follows Freud’s theory, with his explanation of castration anxiety. This is a fear that the male will loose his penis one day.
This is loosely seen throughout “Rear Window”, by the male protagonist, who is helpless within his apartment. The protagonist being without the use of his penis due to his injury reopens the fear of castration anxiety. According to Freud, this anxiety never goes away, but just goes into repression. The cast that is preventing the protagonist from using his penis resurfaces the fear and anxiety.
How does this castration anxiety coincide with Freud’s theory of Fetishism?
Freud’s theory of Fetishism is a substitute of something to repress the castration anxiety in the male. The male protagonist is a photographer, in the film, “Rear Window”, and uses a camera with a long range lens to see into other’s apartments. Though this is what the camera was used for as seen throughout the film, it also could be seen as his fetish.
The camera size and elongated lens make it hard to not realize that the whole entire thing is large and long. The camera is the substitution for the lack of the use of his penis. He can not use his penis, which then resurfaces the castration anxiety, and therefore forces him to find something else in his life to substitute for this. This is the connection between Freud’s theory of the male castration anxiety and his theory of Fetishism.
Freud’s theory of Fetishism is a substitute of something to repress the castration anxiety in the male. The male protagonist is a photographer, in the film, “Rear Window”, and uses a camera with a long range lens to see into other’s apartments. Though this is what the camera was used for as seen throughout the film, it also could be seen as his fetish.
The camera size and elongated lens make it hard to not realize that the whole entire thing is large and long. The camera is the substitution for the lack of the use of his penis. He can not use his penis, which then resurfaces the castration anxiety, and therefore forces him to find something else in his life to substitute for this. This is the connection between Freud’s theory of the male castration anxiety and his theory of Fetishism.
