Film Review - Psycho (1960)

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Alfred Hitchcocks' Psycho (1960) is an iconic and influential film which defined a genre 'The Slasher' and ingrained itself in the minds of creatives who parody and reference it as influence in film, art and media. Hitchcock quietly bought the film rights to the book 'Psycho' by Robert Bloch in 1959. "The man had become not just a great director, but also a trademark — and he was tired of it. He had already explored naturalism in “The Wrong Man,” voyeurism in “Rear Window” and obsession in “Vertigo.” Now he would go even further into the dark." (Whitty, 2010), he had read the newspapers about Ed Gein also known as The Butcher of Plainfield, and felt he could explore in film, the element of 'Going Mad'. The Freudian Theory applied to it works incredibly well when explaining the house where Norman Bates (Antony Perkins) and his mother live as a personification of Id, Ego and Super Ego. The Basement is Id, where dark secrets and desires are repressed, The Super Ego of the mothers bedroom, where good morals, control and values are kept, and the Ego, the ground floor where the two planes of thought are balanced, this could be the representation of Normans mind, further re-enforcing the cerebral themes.    

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It is possible the most unforgettable element in the film is the musical score, wrote by Bernard Herrmann, especially the scene in the shower, violins are used to create the sound, which is intrinsically personified in the act of what occurs. "So it creates a very different sound from what we think of as the usual Hollywood romantic film score that used violins. It's the exact opposite. It's cold, it's chilly, and he uses the strings also for percussive effects." (Siegel, 2000). This effect creates very harsh, sharp sounds on a violin, if we think about waveform and how we imagine it to look in our heads we can see that each note is a sharp and deadly knife. Is it possible we see the notes this way due to this film and its influence on us, or does the way we imagine these notes to look influence and heighten the way we interpret the scene?

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The idea of Freudian theory could be applied in various ways in Alfred Hitchcocks 'Psycho'. One of the themes that is installed in our subconscious minds from the beginning is the idea of split personalities. We see this with the Heroine of the film Marion Crane (Janet Leigh), as during the first third of the film, and mainly during the scenes where she is running away with the money, mirrors are used to indicate polarities in thought and mixed emotions towards the subject matter which compels the audience to identify with the character "Hitchcock is able to create a voyeuristic sensation within the audience as it can visualize the effects of any situation through Marion's conscious mind." (Novelguide, 2018), we can imagine exactly what she is going through, this is something which arguably sets us up to make the shower scene, such a more horrific encounter.

Bibliography:

Novelguide. (2018). A Thematic Analysis Of Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho | Novelguide. [online] Available at: http://www.novelguide.com/reportessay/literature/novels/thematic-analysis-alfred-hitchcocks-psycho [Accessed 26 Jan. 2018].

Siegel, R. (2000). Bernard Herrmann's Score to 'Psycho'. [online] NPR.org. Available at: https://www.npr.org/2000/10/30/1113215/bernard-herrmanns-score-to-psycho [Accessed 26 Jan. 2018].

Whitty, S. (2010). A ‘Psycho’ analysis: Alfred Hitchcock’s spookiest movie brought with it the end of Hollywood innocence. [online] NJ.com. Available at: http://www.nj.com/entertainment/movies/index.ssf/2010/10/a_psycho_analysis_alfred_hitchcocks_spookiest_movie_brought_with_it_the_end_of_hollywood_innocence.html [Accessed 26 Jan. 2018].

Illustrations:

Figure 1 - Oshkosh Daily Northwestern (1959). 10 Skulls found in house of Horror. p.22.

Figure 2 - Psycho (1960) [film] - Alfred Hitchcock: Shamley Productions: Paramount Pictures

Figure 3 - Psycho (1960) [film] - Alfred Hitchcock: Shamley Productions: Paramount Pictures