An analysis of how narrative and genre are used to create meaning and generate audience response in the opening of "Rear Window" (Hitchcock, USA 1954).

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 …

…out of a very different generic and narrative framework, and it could be said that in this regard Rear Window provided Hitchcock with a model for the narrative structure of Psycho. The main effect of this opening, then, could be said to be to heighten the audiences' pleasure in the subsequent thriller genre and narrative by deferring that pleasure, and providing additional pleasures by establishing a romantic narrative thread which provides us with further expectations.