|
Abstract
|
Another of Hitchcock's classic films, Rear Window (1954), concerns voyeurism and obsession. Voyeurism in DSM 5 (APA, 2013) is diagnosed as having intense sexual arousal from observing a person who is naked, engaging in sexual activity or in the process of disrobing. Akin to the first paper (Bhugra, 2020, p. 100015), when applying these criteria for Voyeuristic Disorder in relation to Hitchcock's Rear Window, there is a certain level of psychopathology exhibited by the protagonist.
It is important to recognise that there is a clear difference between diagnosable disorders and certain behaviours. Like many behaviours and conditions which form 'a continuum' from abnormal behaviour to psychiatric disorders, voyeurism too reflects this spectrum (Duff, 2018). There is a danger in medicalising many conditions, but voyeurs can be extreme and therefore need treatment (Metzl, 2004). In a study, Joyal and Carpentier (2017) reported that in a sample of 1040 adults, 34.5% had experienced in at least one act of voyeurism in their lifetime. Dawson, Bannerman, and Lalumière (2016) noted that more than half of men (52%) and more than a quarter of women (26%) expressed an interest in voyeurism and reported arousal, thereby raising the question of what is normal and what should be seen as abnormal. Balon (2016) discusses how 'many so-called "normal" people enjoy voyeuristic activities', of which pornography can be seen as one. This is also evident in many modern television programmes, which not only highlight voyeurism in the viewer, but positively seem to encourage it; for example, Big Brother, Love Island, I'm a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here on British television, along with various competitive shows and series of Real Housewives in many countries. Interestingly, as a psychiatric discipline, one could argue that physicians specialising in this field want to look into the windows of others, especially the minds of our patients. Some of our patients share their innermost thoughts, fantasies, fears, and concerns with us, allowing us to see their inner world.
Based on a short story by Cornell Woolrich, Rear Window is set in a Greenwich Village (Westside of Manhattan, New York) block of flats, Although the story was originally about an unemployed individual, Hitchcock made his hero L.B. Jefferies (James Stewart) a photographer, who, having broken his leg...
Language: en |