Exploring Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho

2381 Words5 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Analytic take on psycho alfred hitchcock

For this paper I chose to explore Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho because it has remained the only horror movie I’ve seen to date. I went into a couple others but immediately left; let’s just say horror is not my favorite genre of film. People may or may not always call Psycho a horror film, it may be more of a thriller to people nowadays, but I still believe the correct genre analysis is horror because it should always refer to the genre at the time the film was created and released. I chose Psycho because I spent multiple weeks in high school studying Hitchcock, and Psycho specifically, so I feel comfortable writing on it. I also thoroughly enjoy the film, its backstory, and the character development. Plus, it’s been roughly adapted into one of my favorite shows: Bates Motel, which I will also briefly explore.

Any quotes on specific pieces of writing, film, art, or anything else tend to have more meaning because those speaking could be supporters, critics, or neutral minded analysts. Most specific quotes have some sort of direction that go with them, and I enjoy exploring them. With Hitchcock, most of his quotes were deep and insightful, but some really stood out as being analytical and almost responsive to his own work. For my second angle of this paper I chose to explore the prompt where we were to write a thorough analysis based on a single character because everyday we analyze people by watching them and analyzing them based on appearance and personality. When there’s an appearance of very interesting people, we enjoy diving deep into their characters. We explore who they are as a person, where they came from, why they are where they are, and to what extent our relationship would lead. When given the opportunity to explore a char...

... middle of paper ...

...ere. Only when they are presented to us do we acknowledge them, similarly, when Norman gets arrested he realizes that there is something wrong with him. Hitchcock’s style of film really allows for spectators to develop a relationship with Norman through the desire to not want to lead a similar life. As Norman, he is a fine person and spectators would be more than happy to maintain a healthy relationship with him; however when he presents his alter ego, his mother, spectators are immediately dissuaded from wanting anything to do with Norman. Hitchcock creates this very personal relationship for the spectators, as they want nothing to do with the way Norman acts about, and as, his mother.

Bibliography

Gottlieb, Sidney (ed.). Hitchcock on Hitchcock. London: Faber and Faber, 1995.

Truffaut, François. Hitchcock. London: Secker & Warburg, 1967; orig. pub. 1966.

Show More
Related

  • Auteur In Rear Window

    812 Words  | 2 Pages

    Now we will address a few of these from the film. First, Drawing parallels between characters with a difference, usually a negative one, is a repeated concept in Hitchcock films. Such as in the film “Strangers On a Train”, where Bruno ends up killing Guys’ wife while Guy had himself been desiring to be rid of her somehow. Here in “Rear Window” early in the film we can see this between Lisa and Jeff to Thorwald

    Read More

  • Development of Suspense by Hitchcock in Psycho

    2047 Words  | 5 Pages

    Development of Suspense by Hitchcock in Psycho 'Psycho,' the somewhat infamous film by Alfred Hitchcock was produced in 1961, a time when the American censors, The Hays Office, still dominated the film industry with their strict rules and principles. It earned its notoriety by defying the traditional cinematic convections of that time and pushing the boundaries of what could be shown in mainstream cinema. The rules implemented by The Hays Office were far stricter than they are today, and Hitchcock uses all available means to reach and go slightly beyond the set limit. Using clever and different camera angles, he implies things that are not shown. He proves that innuendoes can portray the same image and retract the same audience responses as blatant actions and pictures.

    Read More

  • Use Of Psychopathic Elements In Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho

    191 Words  | 1 Pages

    “Poor decisions and bad luck are contingencies of most horror films” (Wesley Morris). The 1960’s thriller, Psycho, is no exception. It has been acclaimed as one of Alfred Hitchcock’s best films because of its use of psychopathic elements to create what has come to be known as a “slasher films”, a subcategory of horror films. It evolved the horror genre from monsters and the supernatural to the human condition and the monster living inside. The motion picture Psycho tells the story of a Marion Crane, a secretary who flees Phoenix, Arizona with $40,000 she steals from her boss. Days later she arrives to the Bates Motel in Oregon. At the isolated, vacant motel, she meets the owner Norman Bates who shows her hospitality. Later, however, we find

    Read More

  • Hitchcock's Techniques in Psycho

    459 Words  | 1 Pages

    bank. Marion went home there was a close up shot on the money then on

    Read More

  • Exploring How Alfred Hitchcock Manipulates The Audience In Psycho

    1509 Words  | 4 Pages

    is true, because all of the terror and surprise in the film is due to

    Read More

  • The Truman Show vs Rear Window

    1709 Words  | 4 Pages

    Stam, Robert & Pearson, Robertson., ‘Hitchcock’s Rear Window: Refluxivity and the Critique of Voyeurism’ in Deutelbaum, Marshall & Poague, Leland A. ed., A Hitchcock Reader (John Wiley & Sons: 2009).

    Read More

  • Psycho, The Movie

    2312 Words  | 5 Pages

    Perhaps no other film changed so drastically Hollywood's perception of the horror film as did PSYCHO. More surprising is the fact that this still unnerving horror classic was directed by Alfred Hitchcock, a filmmaker who never relied upon shock values until this film. Here Hitchcock indulged in nudity, bloodbaths, necrophilia, transvestism, schizophrenia, and a host of other taboos and got away with it, simply because he was Hitchcock.

    Read More

  • Freudian Psychology In Rear Window, By Alfred Hitchcock

    712 Words  | 2 Pages

    Because Alfred Hitchcock implied a great deal in his films, his films may have implied a great deal about himself. If this is true, Alfred Hitchcock had a cryptic way of expressing who he

    Read More

  • The Alfred Hitchcock Signature in his Films, Shadow of a Doubt and Vertigo

    382 Words  | 1 Pages

    One major attribute in Hitchcock films is how creatively Hitchcock tricks the audience about the fate of the characters and the sequence of events. Many people argue that it is a tactic by Hitchcock to surprise his audience in order to increase the suspense of the movie. For example, in Shadow of a Doubt, the audience assumes that young Charlie is an innocent young girl who loves her uncle dearly. However as the movie progresses, Young Charlie is not as innocent as the audience suspects. Young Charlie, once a guiltless child, ends up killing her evil uncle. In Vertigo, the same Hitchcock trickery takes place. In the beginning, the audience has the impression that the Blond women is possessed by another woman who is trying to kill her. The audience also has the notion that the detective is a happy man who will solve the murder case correctly. Just before the movie ends, the audience realizes that the detective was specifically hired by a man to kill his wife. The detective, in the end, seems to be the hopeless, sad victim.

    Read More

  • Psycho: The character of Norman Bates

    802 Words  | 2 Pages

    The character of Norman Bates deviated from the book's original character, a forty year old pervert, to Anthony Perkins' character 'a tender vulnerable young man' one could almost feel sorry for. Perkins plays Norman Bates as if the role were written for him, with his nervous voice used throughout the movie and his awkward appearance and actions. A distinct part of Norman's character is his subtle lapses in which he shows signs of the ever present 'Mother'. The parlour scene is an excellent example of these lapses. The lines 'a boy's best friend is his mother' and 'we all go a little mad sometimes' are e...

    Read More

  • Psycho Research Analysis Essay

    558 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the world of cinema, there’s almost always a discussion regarding what scenes would be suitable for the grasping imagination of any audience, young or old. Alfred Hitchcock’s 1960 film, Psycho, sparked a plug for the movie industry as it was the first movie of its kind to display such graphic scenes of sex and violence to a worldwide audience.

    Read More

  • Alfred Hitchcock's Main Themes In To Kill A Mockingbird

    738 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Hitchcock’s narrative structure, he focuses on relationships. The relationship between society and their thoughts of morality, guilt and innocence. In the film, we never witness a murder, only the outcome of them. What we do see are the reactions to the killings. Every single week, the newspapers write

    Read More

  • Hitchcock’s Work at an Auteur in his Movie, Vertigo

    446 Words  | 1 Pages

    Hitchcock has a way of throwing clues in the face of the spectator, yet still allows some room for the spectator to find their own less obvious details. In the same museum scene, Hitchcock shows the viewer exactly what he wants them to see. In a sense, Hitchcock can be very manipulative with the camera. The audience sees the picture containing the women with a curl in her hair holding flowers, and then the direct connection is made by the camera, by showing the curl in Madeline’s hair, and the flowers sitting next to her. The spectator is led to believe that they have solved the mystery and she is truly possessed by the women in the picture. However, Hitchcock does this on purpose to lead the audience away from the truth that she is only acting. It is for these reasons that Hitchcock’s work at an auteur adds a level of depth and intrigue.

    Read More

  • Alfred Hitchcock's Control Of What We See in Rear Window

    978 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...instantly leaves the audience suspicious regarding his motives. Hitchcock often insinuates, rather than making a character state what. is happening. A blatant example of this is when Lisa is wearing traveller’s clothes at the end and is seen reading a traveller’s book. but quietly starts reading a fashion magazine when she is sure that Jeffries is asleep in the air.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of The Film 'The Man Who Knew Too Much'

    769 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the film Hitchcock showed an American family’s unexpected encounter with the darkest side of European power struggles and a horrid personal misfortune that ensues. In the narrative space of the film we find the tongue-tied exasperations of Ben McKenna, Jo Conway’s frustrations both as a mother who lost her child and a Broadway performer who has lost her career and the kidnapped child Hank’s wide-eyed astonishment at the nefarious spectacles opening around him-all this brilliantly formalizes Hitchcock’s own encounter both with America and with the possibilities of cinema. (Pomerance 17). The ending of the film is based on a true life occurrence and the incident took place around 1910 known as Sidney Street siege (Truffaut 90). In the last

    Read More

More about Exploring Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho

Open Document