Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 masterpiece Psycho intricately weaves the seven elements of storytelling in a clever and highly stylized fashion. Hitchcock, known for his meticulous attention to detail, elaborately illustrates his character's traits with the use of mise-en-scene subtle mannerisms. The director consistently skews the audience's perception of reality and Norman's fantasy world, resulting in the film's unfolding of Norman's sinister and bizarre plot. Psycho follows a traditional three act structure with approximately thirty minutes setting up the bulk of the plot, hour body and subsequent thirty minutes resolution. The beginning of the film in fact, has little to do with the bulk of the plot, Marion is merely a conveyance to introducing Norman, the primary focus.
[...] Marion's concept of time is hurried and always fleeting, it is only when she decides to return the money that she slows down. For Norman, time has no bearing. Part of Norman's reality is that nothing ever changes, that is, as long as he can hide it from his consciousness and society. Upon meeting Marion, Norman tells her about the slump in business: sense in dwelling on our losses. We just keep lighting the lights and following the formalities.” Norman refuses to reconcile with parts of his past (mother's death) but revels in the admonishment of passing time. [...]
[...] Several journeys accompany the plot line of Psycho both literally and figuratively. Marion's journey is physical as well as psychological. In the first scene with Sam, Marion wears white undergarments yet after she has stolen the money she switches to black underwear, signaling the duality of her character. Her purity is lost and she clings to the delusion that the money will solve her problems. Her trek to the Bates Motel is accompanied by frenetic music, voices in her head and an impending sense of doom. [...]
[...] Hitchcock imposes these social and psychological straightjackets on both Marion and Norman. Norman's desires inhibit his ability to face reality. His room indicates his desire to remain a child, to forgo his mother's death and continue his life as if nothing ever changes. By denying himself sexual pleasure, Norman keeps with his mother's strict reign upon him. When Lila goes into Mother's room she notices the ivory, crossed hands sitting upon her dresser, a sign of chastity and restraint. Norman commits each murder dressed as Mother, an allusion to her banishing temptation from Norman; murder is a way of cleansing Norman of his unchaste desires. [...]
[...] Hitchcock juxtaposes Norman fairly ostentatiously with the birds, not only in the parlor but in his mannerisms and idiosyncrasies. Anthony Perkins' angular face is often lit and shot from certain angles that he resembles a bird. Particularly this is done as Norman speaks with Arbogast. Norman leans in to see Marion's fake name on the registry as the camera angle drops below him and is angled so that his chin's shadows falls on his neck, replicating a beak. He chews gum rapidly which gives the impression of a bird pecking at grain; Norman is usually chewing something in this same style. [...]
[...] His constant uneasiness and fidgeting are a testament to his sexual frustration. While in the parlor with Marion, Norman can hardly sit still as he awkwardly strokes a phallic-like statuette when Marion asks of his hobbies. Phallic devices are everywhere when Norman speaks with Marion. Hitchcock uses the knife as yet another phallic device thus making Marion's murder a sort of figurative rape. Norman is so repressed and sheltered from the world that he ceases to be apart of it. [...]
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