Comparing The Duality Of Human Nature In Alfred Hitchcock's Film Psycho

In the scene when the killer enters the showers while Marion is taking a bath, the shower curtains acted as a screen to the audience’s sight and later in the film, the shower curtain was used to wrap up the Marion’s body. Another example would be the parlor scene where Marion was sited on a comfortable coach while Norman sat on an upright and formal wooden chair. The usage of furniture suggested character’s attributes, as Marion has a rather relax and open-minded personality while Norman being a tense and uptight

In the movie each of the main characters, Norman who is eighty years old, Ethel who is seventy years old and Chelsea who is forty years old go through some of the stages of psychosocial development. The first character in the movie I will be talking about is Norman. I recognized him first from the movie because I knew something seemed wrong with him. For example, in the beginning of the movie him and his wife Ethel goes to their vacation spot and he sees a picture of them and doesn’t recognize who the people are. His wife had to remind him that it was them in the picture. He is very forgetful and it seems that his mental is not as strong as it

Although Ms. White’s thoughts are never truly expressed in the film, she plays a huge role in the formation of the plot. Recognition of Ms. White comes easily for the fact that she is a woman, and she is of power. An important aspect of her appearance is her clothing, being that in every shot she is shown wearing formal clothing and more importantly; heels. The clothing and heels serve to portray her as an

Alfred Hitchcock also used cinematography in a uniquely stylizing way. Hitchcock not only uses the camera to create dramatic irony, but he also uses the camera to lie to the audience and create anxious suspense. For example, in his film Psycho, when Marion is in the shower Hitchcock frames the scenes very tightly. Marion is in a confined and very personal space. This makes her incredibly vulnerable. Then Hitchcock heightens the suspense by creating dramatic irony with the reveal of a shadowy figure closing in on Marion, unbeknownst to her. This creates a lot of anxiety for the audience, knowing the protagonist is vulnerable and in danger with no way of altering the inevitable. Hitchcock then manipulates the audience by “revealing” a brief silhouette of an old lady as our shower killer. Hitchcock uses this “reveal” to lie to the audience, he makes the audience think they have more inside knowledge confirming their already growing suspicions, when in reality the audience is misled entirely and the murderer was Norman all along. The way Hitchcock uses the camera to reveal both inside information and misleading information truly keeps the viewer engaged and not knowing what to believe until the truth is finally revealed. By using this unique technique of controlling the audience by only showing what he wants you to see, Hitchcock masterfully defies expectations and creates suspense.

     Hitchcock uses misery, tragedy, and death to show the emotions of his characters. At no point is this more obvious than the end of the movie. Hitchcock spends the entire movie building up to this point and in the end he makes it extremely clear how tragedy has changed the relationship of everyone. After the nagging husbands murder of his wife has been confessed you see

Alfred Hitchcock’s stance in the film business is something to be marveled. His prominent position as the “Master of Suspense” is due in part to the textbook blueprint he created in the thriller genre. His catalogue has many examples, but the two with the most similar psychological depth would be Vertigo and Rear Window. Not only do these two movies thrill on the surface level, but they also thrill from the character’s emotional and psychological stand point. This makes the suspense less abrupt and more of a gradual progression into the classic Hitchcock climax. Hitchcock puts his viewers on a psychological roller coaster due in part to his three useful components: fear, guilt, and redemption.

After seeing a mother nervously awaiting the return of her child, the film cuts to a little girl walking down the street, bouncing her ball. She bounces it against a wanted poster for the child murderer. The murderer's first appearance is his shadow suddenly looming onto the poster, the shadow appearing to speak as he asks the child her name, stressing his anonymity. Lang intercuts between Elsie's mother getting more and more agitated and the murderer buying Elsie a balloon and whistling, the tune getting faster and faster as he gets himself more worked up. Lang keeps cutting from where Elsie is to where she isn't, making very effective use of using inanimate objects and empty spaces to make Elsie's fate more horrifying. When Elsie's mother calls for her, Lang shows a number of still life shots in succession: the empty sinister staircase in a twisted spiral with shadows like prison bars, to the empty gloomy courtyard, to her place at the table set

American Psycho is a movie adaptation directed by Marry Harron released in the year 2000 that was based off of the 1991 novel of the same name authored by Bret Easton Ellis. The movie focuses on the main character Patrick Bateman who is an investment banker in New York in the era of the early 1980’s. Patrick is a perfectionist whose life by day seemingly rotates between his picture-perfect job, his superficial relationship with his fiancée Evelyn, and his shallow interaction with his co-workers and peers. By night, Patrick is a textbook Psychopath and a serial killer.

asks if she is OK. I think most people would if you saw this woman

Alfred Hitchcock displays his flamboyance of building suspense and horror as an auteur in his memorable cinematography work of Psycho, released in 1960, through positioning the audience to identify with different characters. To allow the sympathy to efficiently shift between the characters specifically from Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) to Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins), Hitchcock carefully arranges his props in the mise-en-scene and continuously applies the elements of motif that explores the theme of madness and people caught in traps. Hitchcock positions the audience to personally engage with the characters of the film which is demonstrated in the conversation between Marion and the initially likable motel owner Norman. As Marion is invited

This particular dialogue breaks the jinx of Norman’s polite facade and Hitchcock has designed the character to complicate

The shower scene in Psycho is one that changed the film industry forever. It is one that, when faced with censors, tactfully charges straight through them. The brilliance that is Alfred Hitchcock shines in this film, so much so that this film is often viewed as Hitchcock’s masterpiece. Challenging the censors is this movie’s bread and butter, as it showed things that the audiences of 1960 had never seen before. The shower scene of Psycho can be viewed from both the perspectives of the audience, which would have been quite different in 1960, and that of Hitchcock himself.

The 1960 Alfred Hitchcock classic thriller, Psycho and the psychological thriller novel, The Talented Mr.Ripley by notable American author Patricia Highsmith both challenge the audience’s perception of the noir protagonist through pronounced exploration controversial themes via the. Through the use of a range of stylistic features, the authors aim to blur the line between innocence and guilt in order to develop a false sense of empathy for the protagonists Tom Ripley and Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins). Characterisation of both of these protagonists, used in a way that forces the audience to connect with them and adopt an controversial point of view, transforms the audiences perception of how the murderer of a psychological thriller should behave. Hitchcock uses

Due to budget restrictions Psycho was filmed in black and white. This also reduced the viciousness of the shower scene. The film is about Marion Crane who steals $40,000 and skips town. She stops at a lonely motel where she is stabbed to death, while taking a shower, by the motel manager. BODY - PARAGRAPH #7

Alfred Hitchcock (1899 – 1980), the “Master of Suspense”, was a English film director, who was well known for his use of suspense and psychological elements to shock and surprise his audience. Hitchcock was known for his use of recurring themes, motifs and plot devices, such as the use of birds, hand motifs, the audience as a voyeur, mothers, blonde women, and sexuality. He was also very technical in his editing, using filming techniques such as deep focus, point of view, close up and wide, tracking shots. Montage was also a technique he used frequently in his films. He believed that by using visuals, he could convey thoughts and emotions just as well as dialogue could.