Despite being made 60 years ago, 'Peeping Tom' is as prevalent nowadays than ever before. Like Mark Lewis, the protagonist, we all have an addiction to viewing things, whether that be looking at our phones or TVs, binge-watching various films and series. Viewing can be regarded as an addiction in this day and age. The central idea to 'Peeping Tom' is scopophilia or voyeurism, the love of looking. As the story unfolds, we learn that for Mark, this scopophilia is more of a condition, a potential hereditary illness that he was once subjected to and is now carrying out in place of his father by murdering women in order to document their fear. Director Michael Powell challenged audience expectations by showing how our privacy can be breached through the use of cameras. As a result, audiences feared this. The film was a huge box office failure, essentially ruining the career of a filmmaker who had been loved for his collaborations with Emeric Pressburger throughout the years.
Mark Lewis is a serial killer but his shy nature almost makes us feel sorry for him. The use of subjective camerawork right from the beginning aligns us with Mark as we ARE the camera, looking through his lens of the woman he approaches. This is a really interesting way of viewing the film a bit differently and the use of Eastmancolor gives a very aesthetically pleasing look to the film. Right from the offset we see Mark with his camera, he always has it by his side. The use of foley exaggerates the cogs of the whirring camera, portraying how him and the camera are one. Later on in the film, Mark is questioned by the police following the murder of Vivian - "Anyone with you? No sir, just my camera." The fact that Mark seems to even personify his camera shows how much it means to him, almost someone, not something. Whilst documenting the activities of the police after his committed murder, Mark claims he's working for 'The Observer', yet another indication of the significance of looking and what bystanders can perceive. During these various murders, Chief Inspector Gregg remarks on how they are a new kind of terror, therefore bringing in the idea of how evolving technology such as cameras were changing the shape of media and still are today.
The character of Helen, who is one of Mark's tenants and lives below him, brings forth internal conflict for the protagonist who jostles with trying to create the perfect film by continuing his murders or perhaps falling in love. When Helen picks up his camera, Mark even snatches it away from her, not wanting it to take control of her as well. Whilst watching this, I thought the sudden mood swings of Mark during his encounters with Helen to be perhaps weaker acting but maybe this is just Mark's contrasting ego trying to force its way through. Perhaps one of the best scenes in the film is where Mark meets Helen's mother in his studio. Helen's mother is blind but her hearing senses have been heightened, making for an interesting parallel, a metaphorical battle between what we see vs what we hear, what's more important to us? When Helen's mother bids farewell, she runs her hand over Mark's face, making a mental picture. Whereas Mark obviously uses his sight to capture still images through his camera.
At the end of the film, Mark explains to Helen how he was able to capture such fear in the expressions of his victims, by use of a mirror to show the victim itself how scared they were - "The most frightening thing in the world is fear".
Having only discovered the films of Powell and Pressburger (The Archers) a couple of years ago, I've come to really like the 'Britishness' of their magical films. So, when I came across 'Peeping Tom', I knew I had to watch it and it didn't disappoint. Like many of his earlier films, Powell addresses ideas that we often question and I found the central idea of the importance of sight to be a really engaging and thought-provoking one.
Mark Lewis is a serial killer but his shy nature almost makes us feel sorry for him. The use of subjective camerawork right from the beginning aligns us with Mark as we ARE the camera, looking through his lens of the woman he approaches. This is a really interesting way of viewing the film a bit differently and the use of Eastmancolor gives a very aesthetically pleasing look to the film. Right from the offset we see Mark with his camera, he always has it by his side. The use of foley exaggerates the cogs of the whirring camera, portraying how him and the camera are one. Later on in the film, Mark is questioned by the police following the murder of Vivian - "Anyone with you? No sir, just my camera." The fact that Mark seems to even personify his camera shows how much it means to him, almost someone, not something. Whilst documenting the activities of the police after his committed murder, Mark claims he's working for 'The Observer', yet another indication of the significance of looking and what bystanders can perceive. During these various murders, Chief Inspector Gregg remarks on how they are a new kind of terror, therefore bringing in the idea of how evolving technology such as cameras were changing the shape of media and still are today.
The character of Helen, who is one of Mark's tenants and lives below him, brings forth internal conflict for the protagonist who jostles with trying to create the perfect film by continuing his murders or perhaps falling in love. When Helen picks up his camera, Mark even snatches it away from her, not wanting it to take control of her as well. Whilst watching this, I thought the sudden mood swings of Mark during his encounters with Helen to be perhaps weaker acting but maybe this is just Mark's contrasting ego trying to force its way through. Perhaps one of the best scenes in the film is where Mark meets Helen's mother in his studio. Helen's mother is blind but her hearing senses have been heightened, making for an interesting parallel, a metaphorical battle between what we see vs what we hear, what's more important to us? When Helen's mother bids farewell, she runs her hand over Mark's face, making a mental picture. Whereas Mark obviously uses his sight to capture still images through his camera.
At the end of the film, Mark explains to Helen how he was able to capture such fear in the expressions of his victims, by use of a mirror to show the victim itself how scared they were - "The most frightening thing in the world is fear".
Having only discovered the films of Powell and Pressburger (The Archers) a couple of years ago, I've come to really like the 'Britishness' of their magical films. So, when I came across 'Peeping Tom', I knew I had to watch it and it didn't disappoint. Like many of his earlier films, Powell addresses ideas that we often question and I found the central idea of the importance of sight to be a really engaging and thought-provoking one.