Tuesday, November 11, 2014
Psycho
In Hitchcock's Psycho, he approaches "horror" in a thought-provoking way. In comparison to many current horror films, Psycho stands out for its artistic creativity and conceptual plot. This was one of the first horror films to ever focus on the aspect of paranoia. While watching, from the very first moment where the audience was introduced to Norman, it is clear that something is "off" with his character, especially by the way he gets defensive about his "ill" mother. As the plot progresses, and our main character is murdered, hints are dropped to convey the true identity behind Mrs. Bates. For example, when the audience discovers that there had been an incident between Norman and his mother ten years ago when he felt abandoned to his mother's partner. It is said that Mrs. Bates had died years ago, so how could his mother be the figure in the window? I found it quite captivating to have a plot that was so unpredictable with sudden deaths and a main character (Norman) who is hiding something. Norman's sickness combined with his obvious paranoia of people coming around him and his "mother" only leads him to commit several murders all being blamed on his mother. This insanity is an interesting way to portray a "villain" or "bad guy" considering it is a mental disorder that he has put on himself. Did you consider this film to be predictable? What components did Hitchcock use to achieve or to stray away from this idea?
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I wrote about something similar as well. I thought it was really interesting, and more importantly, thought provoking, that the element of horror that Hitchcock focuses on is insanity. It is very different than horror movies of today because I think today, horror movies solely focus on brutal killings with little explanations. So it is clear to see why Pyscho was so revolutionary, because the terrifying elements came from Norman as a person, and not just what he did. To answer your question, I think this film is unpredictable. Although hints are given as to what actually happened with his mother, I think you can't full understand that he is pretending to be her, until the final reveal. Also, I think that these hints seem invisible unless you know what happens at the end, so to a first time viewer, the ending is extremely unpredictable, and Hitchcock did a great job at creating this effect.
ReplyDeleteI really liked how you mentioned the mental illness aspect of Norman and how it led him to be so paranoid and ravenous murderer. In my opinion, I did not consider this film to be predictable because the foreshadowing of the bird and hints that were given to the viewer, only lead us to believe that there actually was a Mrs. Bates up in her bedroom planning the next stabbing. Another component that made the film even that much more less predictable were the fake conversations Norman would have with himself and "his mother". Up until the very last scene, all along we heard and saw Norman's mother (not actually).
ReplyDeleteI think it is obvious that there is something odd about Norman, but until the very end we aren't sure exactly what it is. We know that he becomes very defensive whenever people talk about his mother and that he keeps many secrets, but I think Hitchcock does a very good job to try to misdirect the audience from ever discovering what will end up happening at the end of the film by always keeping Mrs. Bates in the shadows so even though we never really know it's her, but we will still believe that it is her.
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