Psycho Analysis
Plot:
The film centers on secretary, Marion Crane, who, after stealing money from her employer, ends up at a secluded motel
and the motel's estranged owner-manager, Norman Bates, and his mother only to end up murdered by the hands of a mysterious
silhouette.
Director:
Alfred Hitchcock
Stars:
How is ‘Psycho’ an
archetypical film (adapt)?
•
The threat in this film is cryptic, leaving the
audience in suspense.
•
Within the film, Hitchcock created a fast paced
motion within the key scenes by building suspense then shocking the audience
when they least expect it, not giving them a pause for relief until the climax
has come to an end. E.g. in the shower scene, Marion is oblivious and
vulnerable, creating the same sense of calm within the audience until the
shadow sneaks up on her. The music is harsh and discorded, fraying the audience’s
nerves further. Not only that but it shocks the expectations of the audience as
they have come to believe that Janet is the main character.
•
Within ‘Psycho’, what entices us about the
villain is not that they are powerful or better equipped but the fact that they
are unpredictable and volatile, that’s what makes them dangerous, the fact that
no one knows who the murderer is and that they always manage to stay one step
ahead is what keeps the suspense running throughout the film.
•
Hitchcock said it is important to avoid cliché
and repetition – particularly with regard to character – e.g. murderers can be
charming and the heroes flawed. In his films Hitchcock often placed evil in the
most banal of settings.
•
Story-wise, Psycho is not extraordinary; its
true ingeniousness lies in its construction. Hitchcock has developed the movie
in such a way that it consistently flouts expectations. There are two major
surprises: the shower scene murder and the final revelation about Mother.
•
A viewer who sees the film for the first time
without knowing about either will experience the full impact of what Hitchcock
intended. The greatest shock for the uninitiated is the early exit of Janet
Leigh. This is doubly unexpected because, to this point, the screenplay had
tricked us into accepting Marion as the main character.
•
When events dispel that illusion, and the
point-of-view shifts to Norman Bates, viewers are understandably nonplussed. In
order to keep this crucial aspect of the film secret and intact when Psycho opened in 1960, there were no
advance screenings and no one was admitted to a showing after the feature had
started.
•
“Psycho
is a brilliant excursion into fear that pushes many of our primal buttons”
•
None of Hitchcock's films had as profound an
impact upon the American psyche as this one. When it was initially released in
1960, it was a huge box office hit (there are stories of 3-mile long lines at
drive-in entrances), and its popularity has not waned over the last four
decades.
•
Whenever anyone speaks about Psycho, the first images that come to
mind are those of Janet Leigh being hacked to death in the shower. The scene is
so famous that even people who have not seen the movie are aware of it.
•
Bernard
Herrmann's strident, discordant music has been used in countless other
movies to denote the appearance of a "psycho." The brilliance of the
scene lies in the editing. Those who go frame-by-frame through it will note how
much is left to the imagination. We see a knife, blood (actually chocolate
syrup), water, and a woman's naked body (with certain parts strategically
concealed from the camera), but only briefly is the penetration of the blade
into the flesh shown. The full horror of the murder is only hinted at
on-screen. It takes the power of the viewer's imagination to fill in the
blanks. (Presumably, that's the reason why so many of today's unimaginative
movie-goers, who are accustomed to having a screen full of gore presented for
their consumption, find Psycho
tame).
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