English Extension Belonging

Crime writing is adaptive and ever changing, it continues to mirror its contextual society, revising its form to reflect societal and moral values, delivering a powerful message that resonates with audiences across time. When you read or watch a crime text, you are invited to not only look into the Detective’s spying glass and witness the contextual and social concerns of the composers’ era, but also communicate with him and share his opinions and thoughts. This makes the Crime genre ever relevant to a wide range of audiences and is a fascinating trait that makes Crime worthy of study.

These traits are encompassed in the voyeuristic and morally grey 1954 crime film “Rear Window” by Alfred Hitchcock, and reinforced in the iconic 2002 hard-boiled graphic novel “Fables” by Bill Willingham, which introduces a new take on fairytale characters. This emphasises crime’s constant evolution as a genre, and surely, such a timeless and universal genre, will be studied in the future?

The effective utilisation of classic Golden Age conventions in “Rear Window” to portray rising social concerns of its 1950s, justifies crime writing’s continued inclusion as a module as it is able to interweave both traditional and modern elements. Hitchcock firstly uses a “Closed Setting” to raise the moral and ethical concerns of Voyeurism in post Word-War America. The world of “Rear Window” is enclosed by claustrophobically tall buildings, and features a menacing red backdrop to symbolize the rising fears of communist regimes. This paranoia and restriction of freedom is heightened by Jefferies’ imprisonment in his “plaster cocoon”, shown through the final scene between him and Thorwald, where a series of low camera angle shots and the absence of music establish his helplessness without the use of his legs, and further helps to create a tense and suspenseful atmosphere. This film reflects the 1950s fear of the new “Big Brother” surveillance, and the closed setting which allows Jeff to spy on...