The Cinematic Killer: Cameras and Peeping Tom

Abstract

In Michael Powell’s Peeping Tom, cameras are delegated the role of antagonist. Cameras become the movie’s monsters, murdering women and their identities. These murders reflect flaws of and anxieties preoccupied with technological advancements in documentary film during the middle of the 20th century. The terror cameras cause in Peeping Tom showcases the danger in believing in an objective lens.