The Film Analysis Of Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho

Perhaps no other film changed so drastically Hollywood's perception of the horror film as did PSYCHO. More surprising is the fact that this still unnerving horror classic was directed by Alfred Hitchcock, a filmmaker who never relied upon shock values until this film. Here Hitchcock indulged in nudity, bloodbaths, necrophilia, transvestism, schizophrenia, and a host of other taboos and got away with it, simply because he was Hitchcock.

The movie Psycho was filmed in 1960 by Alfred Hitchcock. The movie focuses on a woman named Marion Crane. It starts when she steal 40,000 dollars from her boss to run away with her boyfriend. It’s late and she decides to check into a motel, the Bates Motel. At the motel, she encounters a middle-aged man named Norman Bates. He becomes morbidly obsessed with her. But he then kills her…dressed as his dead mom. There is a show that acts as a prequel to Hitchcock’s masterpiece; Bates Motel. It is focused on Norman Bates and his mother, Norma Bates whereas the movie is focused on Marion Craine.

Alfred Hitchcock was a renowned film director known for his elements of suspense and psychological thrillers. His most popular work psycho uses the story of a phoenix secretary (Marion Crane) who embezzled money from a client to unveil the psycho in the male character (Norman Bates). The success of the film is greatly relied on Hitchcock’s unique techniques in creating tension and suspense. Elements that contributed to the success of the film include motifs and parallels, and perspective used.

     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

Personally to us, the director’s intention was to show how the psychology state of a man depending on his condition can affect his life and those around him. In this case, Norman Bates is affected by the various scenarios that happens in his life. His mother’s passing affected him the most as he murdered her. He took over his mother figure to get rid of guilt and started being her. He was in need of help, but he isolated himself from the outside world and this ‘mother’ personality had a very dominant role in his personal life which resulted in the murders he

“We all go a little mad sometimes,” and that could possibly be exactly how many feel after watching Psycho, released in 1960, and directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Hitchcock took a different route in terms of plot and structure for the typical Hollywood style. Psycho, like a young child never stops asking questions, it leaves us in a state of doubt and unbelief. It is classic horror, with the numerous jump scares leaving us at the edge of our seat, as every moment passes. Yet in the beginning, it 's seems to portray a rather classic form in a sense, a near-Aristotelian story. A woman who appears to be the main character in love, who is then faced with a problem, not enough money to marry her love, who then steals money to help build a future

The investigator questioned Norman, but wasn’t pleased with the lack of information. He went back later and tried to talk with Norman’s mother in the mansion, but in-turn was killed by the “mother”. Furthermore, Norman carried his “mother” to the fruit cellar to hide, leaving him isolated. In turn, he has created his “Inner Cave”. As Lila and Sam investigate the place, they get suspicious over where Norman’s mother is, so Lila searches the house. The “Turning Point” would be when Lila finds the corpse of the dead mother and gets Norman arrested. When Norman is apprehended by the police the “mother” personality takes over, which leads to the downfall of Norman Bates, also known as the “Catastrophe”. The cops received information about all the murders Norman has committed from the “mother” and ultimately put Norman in jail or an asylum. This would be the “Aftermath” and “Atonement”, respectively. Now the final stage of this format is “The Return”. Hitchcock creatively used Norman’s mother personality taking over his mind as “The Return” because it would be the return of the mother from death. In closing this film followed the Heroic Journey format, but in an innovative

Psycho illustrates a very psychological part in the film with Norman playing two characters due to the loss of his mother and not wanting to let her go; therefore, he would keep her alive by becoming her. Normans effectiveness to switch between himself and her was impeccable, because in his mind he knew when his mother would be jealous of his love life if he felt a certain way towards somebody else that wasn’t her. From the viewers point we can see the Psycho side of Norman playing his mother and not wanting to let her go but allowing her to take over and make decisions as him. This film definitely appeals to the thriller views, suspense viewers, and any viewer with an open

One of the philosophies that Hitchcock tackles is that of Sigmund Freud. Freud is known for psychoanalysis and his interpretation of dreams. Specifically, Freud’s theories can be seen

Sandis, Constantine. " Hitchcock's Conscious Use of Freud's Unconscious." Europe's Journal of Psychology, Aug. 2009, pp. 56-81. EBSCOhost,

Though we are disturbed at the evil things he is doing, we feel a sense of sympathy towards him. We feel for him because of how his mother had treated him. We in turn teach our sub consciousness to start blaming the mother for all the murders that have been committed, just like Norman does. Both Norman’s façade of normality and our ambivalence towards his character verifies him as a quintessential psychopath.

Alfred Hitchcock made very psychological films that makes you wonder if his personal life had any effect or influence. In the city of London, Alfred Joseph Hitchcock was born on August 13, 1899, to two strict catholics. His childhood was described as lonely and sheltered. Alfred once said that his father sent him to the police station with a note. In that note, his father asked to him lock him up for ten minutes as a punishment for behaving poorly.

With the world almost entirely consisting of patriarchal societies, meaning that men have an institutional dominance over women, most portrayals of gender involves some sort of conversation about this power-based dynamic. The deeply internalized social construct of a gender dichotomy in society causes gender to have some layer of meaning in almost any piece, whether it be film or literature and gives life to the feminist lens of analyzation. Alfred Hitchcock’s famous film Psycho, about a woman named Marion Crane who steals $40,000 from a wealthy man (Tom Cassidy) and is then murdered later on in a motel, is no exception to this ongoing commentary of gender dynamics. In the first half of the film, the viewer witnesses as Marion interacts with

A satisfactory film shows us characters and shows us their lives and analyze their actions and the environment. A tremendous film transports us into it's the character’s psyche and teleports us into their mind and show us the true humanity in their characters. A adequate director creates sympathy for characters, you should like. A talented director can forge and create the feeling of liking a broken if not even evil character. This act of creating these broken, but sympathetic and likable characters is something Hitchcock started. The beginning of this idea of making these broken people not a powerful and in control character your lead. Hitchcock is renowned for a multitude of new innovations of film from making the wrong man theme

Before the Psycho by Alfred Hitchcock made its way into theaters across the world, film was produced in a completely different way. Some of the elements that were in Psycho were things that nobody saw in movies before. According to Entertainment Weekly’s Owen Gleiberman, when the movie came out, it took place in “an atmosphere of dark and stifling ‘50s conformity” and that the elements of the film “tore through the repressive ‘50s blandness just a potently as Elvis had.” (Hudson). Alfred Hitchcock changed the way that cinema was made by breaking away from the old, “safe” way of creating a movie and decided to throw all of the unwritten rules of film making out the window. The main ways he accomplished this task was by adding graphic violence, sexuality, and different ways to view the film differently than any other movie before its time.