Months ago, I had a couple thoughts about Rear Window, and I watched the movie again recently in order to develop them.
Initially, I was considering only a scene near the end. Thorwald has figured out that Jefferies is the one behind an informal investigation into the murder of Thorwald's wife, and he enters his apartment, at first merely to confront him but then to attack him. Jefferies uses flash bulbs to stun Thorwald temporarily, slowing his progress until Jefferies' police friend Doyle arrives. Perhaps just coincidentally, Jefferies' use of the flash bulbs here illustrates literally what he's also doing metaphorically: exposing Thorwald.
While this is exposure in a more general sense, not the specific sense as in photography, it also got me thinking about Jefferies' profession and its significance in the plot. The first scenes of the movie explain that Jefferies is a photographer who broke his leg after stepping out onto a racetrack to get an action shot. While he's convalescing, he starts watching his neighbors, eventually suspecting Thorwald of murdering his wife. Particular characteristics of his career as a photographer make him especially suited for this endeavor. Most obviously, he's observant, and this quality allows him to notice changes in his neighborhood and details in the Thorwalds' apartment specifically. His experience also gives him insight into Thorwald's demeanor. As Thorwald looks out into the courtyard the day after murdering his wife, Jefferies tells Stella, the insurance company nurse, that "that's no ordinary look; that's the kind of a look a man gives when he's afraid somebody might be watching him." Shortly after he says this, he starts observing Thorwald with binoculars but soon exchanges them for his camera, which provides him with a greater magnification, an asset others wouldn't have.
Later, he's able to deduce that Thorwald had buried something in the garden, partially because he saw an-other neighbor's dog snooping around but primarily because on a slide, he has an image of the flower bed from about two weeks ago, which he compares with the current view. "Those two yellow zinnias in this end aren't as tall as they were. Now since when do flowers grow shorter in two weeks?" The occupations of the other neighbors wouldn't allow for such a direct comparison as Jefferies has access to. Once again, his profession gives him an advantage in suspecting and ultimately exposing Thorwald as a murderer.
