The characters in Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960) each have a dual nature that is masterfully portrayed through character development and use of mirrors throughout the film. The very first shot in Psycho is zooming in from an open view of the city where it is a bright and sunny day. As the shot zooms in further and further it comes into a dark and shaded room that shows Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) and Sam Loomis (John Gavin) having an affair in a undisclosed hotel. This is dualistic image is just one example of many that Hitchcock has placed in this film.
Marion Crane is the first main character that is focused upon for the first half of Psycho. “All that Marion Wants, after all, are the humble treasures of love, marriage, home, and family.” (Brill 227) [up and down] This is the reason why Marion steals the money in the first place. The money is her first real chance at escaping the life of meeting at cheap hotels in secret. The opening scene shows the lack of money and personal isolation that Marion has while making love in secrecy in a hotel that “aren’t interested in you when you come in, but when your time is up.” Marion is desperate for any type of companionship with Sam even claiming she would happily live in the spare room at his work.
The progress of Marion in Psycho is followed very closely by her appearance and her apparel. “…the bag is a transgressive agent associated with stealing, escape, and independence.” (Gottlieb, Brookhouse 151) [Sarah Street 151] Before any crime was ever committed, Marion wore a white bag that matched her underwear and her clothing. After the money was taken, she made a choice to place the envelope of money in her black bag, rather than her suitcase which would completely hide the mone...
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... Marion Crane eventually ends up slumped over, very dualistic to that of a bird with a broken neck staring blankly upward. The stare of death that remains on Marion’s face is a mirror image of the birds that hang in the parlor of the motel, permanently stuck staring out from death.
The angles of the shots when Marion and Arbogast are being murdered are from a very high up view to symbolize even further to create a duality between Norman’s mother and a bird. “Hitchcock’s camera, initially indentified with the love-bird, now comes to occupy the gaze of the death-bird in a series of high-angled shots that accompany the murder of Marion […] swoops down to murder Arbogast on the landing of the gothic staircase.” (Gottlieb, Brookhouse 296) [Richard Allen] Both murders relate to a frenzied bird swooping down from high above and attacking its prey with its vicious beak.
Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho"-the movie the world recognised-was first premiered in the home town of New York on the 16th June 1960.The film follows the life and strife of a young beautiful woman Marion Crane, played by the Janet Leigh, who is on the run from the police after stealing $40.000, she manages to find refuge at the Bates motel where she makes her worst mistake possible. During and after the film production of "Psycho" Alfred Hitchcock had his aids buy as many copies as possible of the novel "Psycho"-written by Robert Bloch. Why? To conceal the ending form the public's eye so when the film was shown in cinemas the audience would'nt know the ending. When people found out the title of the movie Hitchcock said it was based on a greek love story "Psyche".
The dual personalities of Norman Bates and Marion Crane are shown through the vivid use of Irony. Hitchcock uses this technique to capture the foreshadowed future of events that arise between Bates and Crane. For instance,
Sex is evident in the very first scene of Psycho, when Marion Crane and Sam Loomis are wrapping up an unusual sexual lunch break. Sex only appears in the beginning of the film but the theme draws the audience into the character of Marion Crane and her intentions. The sex comes first and then the violence follows later on in the film. But the theme of sex is primarily used to characterize Marion’s character. Sex during her lunch break is not something that most woman do. On the other hand, Rear Window’s sex theme seems to only be present in L.B. Jefferies relationship with Lisa Carol Fremont as they have numerous kissing scenes and sexual references. But the theme can also be seen in the neighbors. There is clear tension in Lars Thorwald relationship with his wife. Although, it is unclear, it takes place in the bedroom of their apartment. The violence soon follows the tension and L.B. Jefferies gets
And last but not least is the villain in these movies. Most of the killers in these films are portrayed as mentally deranged and/or has some type of facial or bodily deformation and who have been traumatized at an early age. Even though these characters terrorized and murder people they have taken on the persona of anti-heroes in pop culture. Characters like Halloween’s Michael Myers, A Nightmare on Elm Street’s Freddy Krueger and Friday the 13th’s Jason Voorhees have become the reason to go see these movies. However, over time,”their familiarity and the audience’s ability to identify and sympathize with them over the protagonist made these villains less threatening (Slasher Film (5))”.
I don’t believe Bates to be a ‘bird of prey,’ or “born killer.” Birds of prey are not disgusted by the sight of blood or death, because it is in their nature. When Bates finds out that his mother killed Marion, he screams and almost becomes ill by the sight of Marion’s lifeless body. The last scene of the movie concludes with Bates sitting in a police interrogation room. Bates’ mother can be heard talking about how the police know it wasn’t her who killed those people because she is dead, after which Bates looks up at the camera and smiles. I believe this indicates Bates’ mother knows she still has control over her son because he allows her personality to take over his, and that she got away with killing those people because Bates will have to suffer the consequences as she is dead. Bates’ staring in to the camera also indicates to the audience that he knows we are watching him, fulfilling our voyeuristic
The human body and mind are the most complex and intricate tools known to man. The connection between the two are remarkable, the way body feels pain and the mind is able to understand from where and how the pain is being formed, the way the body lags and drops when the mind does not have enough sleep and rest. Most curiously, it is the way our body and mind speak to each other without really knowing. It is the uncomfortable feeling in your chest, the tenseness of your shoulders and the goose-bumps on your arms that are the very basics of human intuition. Intuition is knowing something without having a logical or reasonable explanation to follow the feeling. But it is when our intuition overcomes our ability to think that we become paranoid; constantly looking over our shoulders, noticing people and objects that were never noticed before, and having this retching feeling that someone is out to get you. Paranoia is a thought process where anxiety and fear accumulate to the point where the person suffers from irritation and delusions. It is often developed through an inner guilty conscience which threatens the self. It is that exact tingling sensation in your stomach, the tightness in your throat and the eerie feeling that you are being watched that makes James and Hitchcock's pieces realistically fantastical. The alternate worlds illustrated in these pieces are not of those of dreams and fairy tales, nor those people superheroes or chimeras, but a realist world, where the minds of the characters are exposed and the only source of reliability. James depicts a young woman who struggles to be a heroine for her wards, only to be torn between the lines of sanity as she questions the existence of two ghosts, while Hitchcock’s psycho can ...
...and framing, Hitchcock expresses the horror of wrongful imprisonment through visual devices. Hitchcock allows Hannay to escape the snare of the police into the open world, as Hannay finds himself outside in a parade. Hannay, now free from the confines of the sheriff’s office and walking amidst the people, is now vindicated, living momentarily in the comfort of anonymity. But Hitchcock re-plays his fears, so of course Hannay will soon be back in the binding spotlight in the next sequence. Yet it is more than the fear of police and confinement that is a mark of the Hitchcock film - it is the visual expression of these psychological states that are examples of the artistry of Hitchcock as an auteur. And as seen through the first shot of the chosen sequence in which the sheriff’s laugh is merged with the crofter’s wife’s screams, Hitchcock went beyond the German Expressionists that he admired, manipulating sound to express ideas in their purest, most subtle forms.
The images related to birds are the major symbolic images in the narrative from the very beginning of the novel:
Everybody knows Alfred Hitchcock is the master of suspense and is known for inciting fear in the hearts of his audience. His multiple, fast cuts directs his audience to what he wants them to see and feel. Close-ups of the actors faces clearly shows what the characters are feeling and forces the audience to feel the same emotions. With all his expert directing skills, is there any meaning behind what he chooses to portray in his films or is it all for show? Could there be a deeper meaning to his films? The answer to these questions is a firm yes. Hitchcock’s past experiences guided him to be the director he was. The inadequateness of the police, control of all details in his films, and long stretches of no dialogue all portrayed in his films are all directly correlated to Hitchcock’s early life and early professional life.
Responding to her guilt, Marion decides to return the stolen money. Responding to the guilt of betraying Norma, this alter ego of Norman’s murders Marion.
Norman Bates is arguably the most unforgettable character in the horror genre. His movements, voice and aura at first radiate a shy young man but transform into something more sinister as the movie Psycho (Hitchcock, USA, 1960) progresses. How has the director, Alfred Hitchcock, achieved this? Norman Bates was a careful construct: the casting, body language, lighting and even the subtle use of sound and mise-en-scène created the character.
In Alfred Hitchcock’s film, Psycho, he uses the symbolism of eyes and birds to manipulate the audience’s emotion and to create suspense throughout the film. The mis-en- scene of the scene where Marion and Norman are talking while she eats dinner in his parlor demonstrates this statement farther. She is surrounded by two birds and a table in front of her to hint how she is now trapped by Bates’s mother and won’t be able to leave the motel. During the same scene, the birds that are placed in the room powerfully represent the two characters. An example is the owl that is mounted on the wall above Bates, while a small song bird and crow are near Crane. The owl symbolizes his mother’s watchful eyes and how she disoriented her son’s mind. The small songbird represents Crane’s vulnerability and helplessness compared to the large owl. The song bird like Crane is unaware that Norman’s mother, the owl, is out ...
Hitchcock employs plenty of unique visuals, including camera tricks that confuse depth perception, invasive close-ups, film noir lighting, and rapid cuts to show nudity with out showing nudity or extreme violence / killing without much blood. The movie “Psycho” was a first for several filmic elements making it sometimes more notable than effective. At its heart, however it’s a extreme thrilling murder/ mystery that boasts a climax unlike any other before its time. The suspense and anticipation are almost unbearable, keeping the ultimate, answers brilliantly stowed until the very
Mrs. Wright, however, justified killing her husband due to Mr. Wright trapping her inside the house and how Mrs. Wright job is only to be domestic wife. When Mrs. Hale (farmer’s wife) and Mrs. Peters (sheriff’s wife) discovered a dead bird with her neck bruised all over, they start to put the pieces to the puzzle together and ...
Alfred Hitchcock, the incredible director who brilliantly integrated sex, humor and suspense in his movies passed away over three decades ago. Despite the thirty years since his death, the legacy of films he made continues. His work has influenced many of the great directors today, and inspired the foundation of the spin off television series Bates Motel. To better interpret the films he created, it is essential to understand the creator of them and examine how his past life traumas and deep inner-thoughts in reality transpired through the fictitious worlds that he created on the big screen. Hitchcock, whether consciously or subconsciously, portrayed his frustrations, fears, and fantasies with the opposite sex through his leading actors and films. This ultimatley allows us to take a look at his past.