I can see you in court now, surrounded by a bunch of lawyers in double-breasted suits.
You're pleading. You say,
"Judge, it was only a little bit of innocent fun —
I love my neighbors,
like A Father."
Hitchcock's God
is cruel and arbitrary,
and like some kind of
bird of prey or raptor
which is gazing down rather
coldly and disinterestedly
on its human subjects.
In the shower sequence,
the violence is directed
and that knife is coming towards US.
So we're being punished
for being the voyeurs.
There are consequences
to watching and being watched.
In the character of James Stewart,
if we identify with him in Rear Window
has a very literal, great fall
at the end of it where he breaks the other leg.
Meaning another six, eight
months of pain and itchiness and
not being able
to screw Grace Kelly.
All those things are
pertinent to Hitchcock.
