Hitchcock And Psycho Comparison

Since the beginning of the entertainment era, especially with Hollywood, remakes have been made routinely. Remakes are not all unfavorable, some might argue, they mostly remind people of the great original films out there and enroll new audiences into classical creations. A well-recognized remake in the cinematography world is based on Hitchcock’s masterpiece, Psycho, 1960, by Gus Van Sant. Arguably, Van Sant’s Psycho, 1998, is a ‘shot-for-shot’ remake of Hitchcock’s original film. However, there are several formal differences between these two films that must be addressed because they bring a distinct overall meaning to the screenplay. Some of these differences can be found first in the elements of narration, second in the direction style …show more content…
First of all, the dialogue and its delivery were smoothly altered. For example, characters expressed themselves differently when talking about adultery and marriage because these topics were taboo in the 60’s and not so much in the 90’s. At the same time, a few scenes were added to the movie’s remake. The most predominant, and perhaps shocking added scene was Norman Bates’ (played by Vince Vaughn) masturbation scene. Both movies have Norman looking at Marion Crane through the eyehole, however, this slight change in the narration portrays how Norman’s character is messed up while it also shows the contemporary conformity with sexuality onscreen. In the Hitchcock’s original, this scene is captured through Norman’s perspective, making it a heterosexual gaze. However, in the remake, a few shots to Norman’s room break the flow of the gaze allowing both characters to become sexualized while it also provides a range to analyze Norman’s sexual behavior. The slight change in the narration conveys a different meaning in Psycho, 1998, because Norman’s character is seeing as a more sexualize object and pinned as a neurotic person, while in