Voyeurism and Sensationalism in Film

Hitchcock had a fetish for blonde women, as we see in the film Vertigo. There is a current fascination with blonde women in contemporary film. One young woman in class said something along the lines of, “we want to look at pretty things and pretty people.” We see “eye candy” everywhere go; “eye candy” has become the standard in pop culture, particularly in contemporary films.
When watching films we often root for the protagonist, because we want him to achieve his goal and get the girl. If he doesn’t, we are upset because he didn’t get what he “earned.” The fetish for attractive people definitely exists in Hollywood Cinema. Just because it’s become the standard, doesn’t mean that the standard is justified.
As we discussed in class many people enjoy watching films, because we can escape our own lives and watch someone else’s. This pleasure in looking is called voyeurism. It happens when we the audience looks at someone else’s life, through a fictional character on screen. Most of the time, the main character in a film has many relatable qualities, so most of the audience can root for the main character through their on-screen conflicts, and imagine themselves in the character’s shoes. So as the character feels hurt, the viewer also feels that emotion. The audience can travel on an emotional rollercoaster with the character throughout a film. Watching someone else’s life played out we become like a “peeping tom”, seeing things we might not usually be allowed to see in our own lives.