Final answer:
L.B. 'Jeff' Jeffries in Hitchcock's 'Rear Window' is satirically criticized for his unethical voyeurism and the film's dismissive treatment of the Black experience contrasted with the more culturally nuanced 'Number 37'. The comparison underscores the importance of including diverse perspectives in storytelling.
Step-by-step explanation:
Oh, the gallant L.B. "Jeff" Jeffries, hero of Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window, what a paragon of ethical prowess he is not! Hitchcock serves us a protagonist whose pastime of choice is a voyeuristic invasion of privacy. It seems Jeff's broken leg has done little to impair his ability to leap to conclusions and engage in neighborhood espionage from the comfort of his apartment. Compared to this, the protagonist Randal from Number 37, a modern reimagining by Nosipho Dumisa, makes Jeff's ethical breaches seem like child's play. Randal's actions are shaped by a post-apartheid South African backdrop, as a Black character entrenched in the complexity of social narrative after the fall of apartheid. Herein lies the satire: while Hitchcock's film skirts around the shallow ponds of peeping tomfoolery and dismisses the complexity of the Black experience with a flippant comic relief, Dumisa's rendition digs the wells deeper, traversing into a realm where crime and social commentary interlace.
Hitchcock, innovator of suspense or orchestrator of racial erasure? Perhaps both. The laughable notion that the master of suspense considered it acceptable to dabble in the audio version of blackface while simultaneously earning critical acclaim is an irony sharper than cut glass. The inclusion of a stereotype, nearly tossed in as an afterthought, for a bit of a giggle in the midst of a white-knuckle thriller, is a mockery of storytelling itself—quite the ethical faux pas, wouldn't you agree, Mr. Jeffries?
Moreover, the juxtaposition of Rear Window's narrow world view with the rich cultural tapestry of films like Black Panther spotlights the outdated nature of such exclusionary practices. It's high time Hollywood's narrative tows the line of diversity, as the movie-going public grows increasingly aware and discerning of the stories it consummates with its currency.