The trend setting 1960’s horror film called Psycho highly focuses on a reference to birds in the scene of Marion and Norman in the parlor. The first birds that one witnesses are the owl hanging on the wall along with another large bird on the wall. Also you see a perched crow or raven that sits right above the chair where Marion had been offered to sit by Norman. Next to her sits a lamp on a table that has small little songbirds around it. Across from her sits Norman where the bigger birds are placed. For the duration of this scene there are numerous references of birds that tell us more about what is going on than the characters themselves. The relevance of birds in this film help us make connections that tell us things that are not shown clearly, but are symbolized clearly in the film.…
The movie, “Psycho” best exemplifies dissociative identity disorder. Marion Crane, a real estate secretary in Phoenix, Arizona, is discussing with her boyfriend, Sam Loomis, how they cannot afford to get married because of Sam’s debts. After lunch, Marion returns to work where a client drops off a $40,000 deposit on a property. Her boss asks her to deposit the money in the bank and then she asks if she can take the rest of the afternoon off. She runs home, packs for an unplanned trip, deciding…
Psycho Psycho is a film that captures your attention and keeps you on your toes from beginning to end. Unlike the gory horror films of today, Psycho, as the name suggests, plays to the psychology of the crimes and events. The main character, Norman Bates, is based off of the murderer Ed Gein. Norman is an odd young man from the start and has a strange attachment to his his mother just like Gein. One of the quotes that stays in my mind from this movie is when Norman tells Marian "After all, a…
Norman Bates describes life as a trap, or more accurately, our own private traps that we cannot get out of – no matter how hard we try. While this is true for many characters in the film Psycho directed by Alfred Hitchcock, it is most true about Norman himself. The surprising information we learn about Norman throughout the movie proves this point more and more. Norman suffers from a multiple personality disorder brought on by his desires. Norman lives as both himself and his deceased mother. By…
Only Bates Can Get A Little Voyeuristic At Times: An Analysis on Robert Bloch’s “Psycho” When it comes to Gothic Literature, there are various conventions that could come into play, to define a work as such. In the “Glossary of Literary Gothic Terms”, Douglass H. Thomson notes that in such a genre there is a gap of difference that separates works that evoke terror and those that ignite horror as he says: “Works of horror are constructed from a maze of alarmingly concrete imagery designed to…
Kora Lahm Hour: 1 The film Psycho was made on September 8, 1960, by Alfred Hitchcock. Psycho was Hitchcock’s most successful film and it’s said to be the best horror film of all time. Most of the film focuses on Marion Crane, a Phoenix real-estate secretary. Marion was trusted by her employer to take $40,000 to the bank, but she sees the opportunity to take the money and start a new life. With the money, she leaves town and heads towards Sam’s California store. During a storm, she gets off the…
I'm not even going to pretend that I'm qualified enough to critique the masterpiece known as Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho. The film is pretty much near perfection in all regards and there is nothing I could say that hasn't been heard a million times before. However, there is one thing I want to talk about and that is, the differences between the movie and book. Alfred Hitchcock is quoted as saying that everything that is in Psycho was from the book by Robert Bloch. For the most part, that statement…
In the film ‘Psycho’, Hitchcock shocked the audience, and strayed from the traditional heroic journey by killing off the main character halfway through the film. Mary Crane lives in her Ordinary world; she is an unassuming woman living in Phoenix Arizona, working as a secretary. Her boyfriend, Sam Loomis is low on money. Mary is unsatisfied with her current situation, prompting her to leave her Ordinary world and accept her call to adventure. There is little to no reluctance as Mary rushes home…
One of the most iconic filmmakers of the classical Hollywood era is Alfred Hitchcock. And perhaps one of the best works by him is the movie Psycho. Made in 1960, Psycho started out with actually a lot of negative criticism by well-known movie-goers and critics. Labeled “a violation of good film construction”, the movie turns out to be packed with brilliant plot twists and turns (Kendrick, 6). And in the back end of this brilliant presentation is the subversion and the creativity that has driven…
more startling when the audience does not expect it to happen. Psycho, a film by Alfred Hitchcock is an American classic, because of one specific scene, the scene where Marion Crane is stabbed to death in the shower. Psycho starts with Crane stealing the money of a client at the bank she works at, and leaving town to give the money to her boyfriend. On the way, she stops at Bates Motel to stay the night. At the hotel, she meets the owner Norman Bates and learns some about his mother Norma. While…