movies a thematic analysis of alfred hitchcock s

Movies: A Thematic Analysis of Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho
Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho has been commended for forming
the
archetypical basis of all horror films that followed its 1960
release. The mass
appeal that Psycho has maintained for over three decades can
undoubtedly be
attributed to its universality. In Psycho, Hitchcock allows the
audience to
become a subjective character within the plot to enhance the
film's
psychological effects for an audience that is forced to recognise
its own
neurosis and psychological inadequacies as it is compelled to
identify, for
varying lengths of time, with the contrasting personalities of
the film's main
characters. Hitchcock conveys an intensifying theme in Psycho,
that bases itself
on the unending subconscious battle between good and evil that
exists in
everyone through the audience's subjective participation and
implicit character
parallels.
Psycho begins with a view of a city that is arbitrarily
identified along
with an exact date and time. The camera, seemingly at random,
chooses first one
of the many buildings and then one of the many windows to explore
before the
audience is introduced to Marion and Sam. Hitchcock's use of

random selection
creates a sense of normalcy for the audience. The fact that the
city and room
were arbitrarily identified impresses upon the audience that
their own lives
could randomly be applied to the events that are about to follow.
In the opening sequence of Psycho, Hitchcock succeeds in
capturing the
audience's initial senses of awareness and suspicion while
allowing it to
identify with Marion's helpless situation. The audience's
sympathy toward Marion
is heightened with the introduction of Cassidy whose crude
boasting encourages
the audience's dislike of his character. Cassidy's blatant
statement that all
unhappiness can be bought away with money, provokes the audience
to form a
justification for Marion's theft of his forty thousand dollars.
As Marion begins
her journey, the audience is drawn farther into the depths of
what is
disturbingly abnormal behaviour although it is compelled to
identify and
sympathize with her actions.
It is with Marion's character that Hitchcock first
introduces the notion
of a split personality to the audience. Throughout the first part
of the film,
Marion's reflection is often noted in several mirrors and

windows. Hitchcock is
therefore able to create a voyeuristic sensation within the
audience as it can
visualise the effects of any situation through Marion's conscious
mind. In the
car dealership, for example, Marion enters the secluded bathroom
in order to
have privacy while counting her money. Hitchcock, however, with
upper camera
angles and the convenient placing of a mirror is able to convey
the sense of an
ever lingering conscious mind that makes privacy impossible.
Hitchcock brings
the audience into the bathroom with Marion and allows it to
struggle with its
own values and beliefs while Marion makes her own decision and
continues with
her journey.
The split personality motif reaches the height of its
foreshadowing
power as Marion battles both sides of her conscience while
driving on an ominous
and seemingly endless road toward the Bates Motel. Marion
wrestles with the
voices of those that her crime and disappearance has affected
while the audience
is compelled to recognise as to why it can so easily identify
with Marion
despite her wrongful actions.
As Marion's journey comes to an end at the Bates Motel,

Hitchcock has
successfully made the audience a direct participant within the
plot. The
suspicion and animosity that Marion feels while at the motel is
felt by the
audience. As Marion shudders while hearing Norman's mother yell
at him, the
audience's suspicions are heightened as Hitchcock has, at this
point, made
Marion the vital link between the audience and the plot.
The initial confrontation between Marion and Norman Bates
is used by
Hitchcock to subtly and slowly sway the audience's sympathy from
Marion to
Norman. Hitchcock compels the audience to identify with the quiet
and shy
character whose devotion to his invalid mother has cost him his
own identity.
After Marion and Norman finish dining, Hitchcock has secured the
audience's
empathy for Norman and the audience is made to question its
previous
relationship with Marion whose criminal behaviour does not
compare to Norman's
seemingly honest and respectable lifestyle. The audience is
reassured, however,
when Marion, upon returning to her room, decides to return the
money and face
the consequences of her actions.
Upon the introduction of Norman, Hitchcock introduces the

first of
several character parallels within Psycho. The clash between
Marion and Norman,
although not apparent to the audience until the end of the film,
is one of
neurosis versus psychosis. The compulsive and obsessive actions
that drove
Marion to steal the money is recognisable, albeit unusual
behaviour, that the
audience embraces as its sympathy is primarily directed towards
her character.
The terror that Hitchcock conveys to the audience manifests
itself once the
audience learns that it empathised with a psychotic person to a
greater extent
than with rational one when its sympathy is shifted to Norman.
The shift from
the normal to the abnormal is not apparent to the audience in the
parlour scene
but the audience is later forced to disturbingly reexamine its
own conscience
and character judgment abilities to discover why Norman's
predicament seemed
more worthy of its sympathy than Marion's.
During the infamous shower scene, Hitchcock conveys a
sense of cleansing
for the audience. Hitchcock has reassured the audience of
Marion's credibility
and introduced Norman as a wholesome character. The audience's
newly discovered

security is destroyed when Marion is murdered. Even more
disturbing for the
audience, however, is that the scene is shot not through Marion's
eyes, but
those of the killer. The audience, now in a vulnerable state
looks to Norman to
replace Marion as its main focus in its subjective role.
After Marion's murder, the audience's role in the film
takes a different
approach. Hitchcock provokes the audience to utilise the film's
other characters
in order to solve the mystery of Marion's death yet he still
successfully
maintains the sympathetic bond between Norman and the audience.
Interestingly,
Hitchcock plays on the audience's obsession with the stolen money
as the
audience knows that it had been sunk yet clings to the fact that
Marion's death
may have been a result of her crime with the introduction of Sam,
Lila, and
Arbogast.
Hitchcock uses Arbogast's character to arouse suspicion
within the
audience. Arbogast's murder is not as intense as Marion's because
the audience
had not developed any type of subjective bond with his character.
Arbogast's
primary motivation, however, was to recover the stolen money
which similarly

compels the audience to take an interest in his quest. Despite
the fact that
Arbogast interrupts Norman's seemingly innocent existence the
audience does not
perceive him as an annoyance as they had the interrogative
policeman who had
hindered Marion's journey.
When Sam and Lila venture to the Bates Motel to
investigate both
Marion's and Arbogast's disappearances, Hitchcock presents the
audience with
more character parallels. As Lila begins to explore Norman's
home, Hitchcock
conveniently places Sam and Norman in the parlour where Marion
had dined with
Norman before she had been murdered. As the two men face each
other, the
audience is able to see their contrasting personalities in
relation to Marion.
Sam, who had legitimately gained Marion's affection is poised and
respectable in
comparison to Norman, whose timid nature and sexual repression is
reflected in
the scenes of Lila's exploration of his bedroom. The conflict
that arises
between Sam and Norman reflects the fact that Sam had what Norman
wanted but was
unable to attain due to his psychotic nature.
Psycho concludes by providing a blatant explanation for
Norman's

psychotic tendencies. The audience, although it had received a
valid explanation
for Norman's actions, is left terrified and confused by the last
scene of Norman
and the manifestation of his split personality. Faced with this
spectacle,
Hitchcock forces the audience to examine its conscious self in
relation to the
events that it had just subjectively played a role in.
The fear that Psycho creates for the audience does not
arise from the
brutality of the murders but from the subconscious identification
with the
film's characters who all reflect one side of a collective
character. Hitchcock
enforces the idea that all the basic emotions and sentiments
derived from the
film can be felt by anyone as the unending battle between good
and evil exists
in all aspects of life. The effective use of character parallels
and the
creation of the audience's subjective role in the plot allows
Hitchcock to
entice terror and a convey a lingering sense of anxiety within
the audience
through a progressively intensifying theme. Hitchcock's
brilliance as a director
has consolidated Psycho's place among the most reputable and
profound horror
films ever made.