In order to interpret the gender dynamics in Rear Window, we have to read the film in the backdrop of tensions in 1950s American culture postwar. Each character and couple is representative of that decade. The opening of the film itself shows Jeff (James Stewart) as a typical 1950s American male, anxiety stricken about women in general “whose economic and sexual behaviour seemed to have changed dramatically (May 93). Jeff, legs in cast is immobile, so he feels emasculated when he sees Lisa (Gray Kelly) moving freely. Men have shown a vested interest in maintaining the status quo when women’s traditional roles are concerned. Lisa in the film is typical of this change, can stand on her own legs, earns money, independent and is proud of
