10 Iconic Images From Alfred Hitchcock Films

8. Peeping Tom To The Extreme

In Rear Window (1954), an accident leaves photographer L.B. "Jeff" Jeffries (James Stewart) apartment bound with a broken leg and nothing to do except spy on his neighbours in the courtyard. Once he starts suspecting that one of his neighbours, Lars Thorwold (Raymond Burr) has murdered his wife, he becomes obsessed with trying to prove his guilt. This image captures the sneaky nature of Jeff's personality and his camera, including the size of its lens, works as a metaphor for the technologically advanced ways in which we can watch each other- even when we're far apart. It also symbolizes the obsessiveness of watching others, which is what gets Jeff involved in Thorwold's murder plot in the first place.