Psycho: Narrative and the Film Extract

For this post I'll be briefly discussing the nature of the narrative in Psycho and the relationship between the audience and the characters.

The film moves along according to the Marion’s progress and later, after her death, the characters’ attempts to discover her fate and Norman Bates's efforts in concealing it. The plot moves according to the passage of time, and while events occurring in scenes with Bate’s may not be happening at the same time as other characters, it is reasonable to assume that they are around the same time.

Throughout the film we are influenced to feel sympathy for most of the characters, especially Norman Bates, who we see as an awkward man, who is trapped at the Motel with his mother, having no freedom of his own. His dialogue and Marion’s reaction to him elicits these feelings of sympathy, even when it’s discovered that he is actually a psychopath. You get a feeling that what he’s doing isn’t being doing out of sadism or some sick desire but because he has no choice, that the mother side of his personality is oppressing him. On a lesser scale we have Marion Crane, who only commits thievery in order to purchase a better life for her and the man she's having an affair with.

Socio-Cultural Influences in Psycho

One of the things that makes Psycho such an important film is the effect it had on society and the effect that society had on it. The film comes from a culture that is obsessed by the idea of psychopaths and the mentally unbalanced. “In 1955, Newsweek declared that ‘The U.S. is without a doubt the most psychologically oriented, or psychiatrically oriented nation in the world.’” This fits perfectly, considering that the main protagonist of Psycho is a psychotic with multiple personalities. This film was made during the time of the Cold War, only a decade or so after World War 2.

As a film, Psycho really discusses a crucial question, how can you know if someone is a psychopath? He/she could be anywhere, at anytime, but they are able to hide themselves so well that you would not know until it was too late. Norman Bates, a supposedly normal, slightly awkward man with a confused past, is the epitome of such a hidden personality, which is why Hitchcock casted Anthony Perkins as Bates.

The film could either be considered a primitive or classic film, in relation to the genre it is. While it is considered to be the first slasher film, it also has several elements of a suspense thriller, something that was very much popular at the time of filming. Films like Dial M for Murder and The Wrong Man, also films by Hitchcock, were thriller/suspense films as well. So in the end, it may be appropriate to list Psycho as a Classic. It was the first movie of its time to do something unique, to go in new directions concerning the genre in general.

And to put this film in context, a much more specific context, we should start with Psycho in relation to the country in which it was made, the U.S.. As a country that focuses on the mentally unstable, it's the perfect choice, and the atmosphere of some areas of the country adds to this perception. As coming from American culture, the film of course plays off of those fears that a psycho could be anywhere, at any time, and be undetectable. The film focuses on those with a double life, with Norman Bates and his mother side, and Marion Crane suddenly becoming a thief, contrary to her nature.

Psycho's impact on American society was immense, since it was more violent, more revealing, and more daring than other films of its time. It's focus on the psychopath played on the fears of many at the time, the fear that someone could harbor such desires as murder without anyone knowing.

Historical and Institutional Influences in Psycho

The film Psycho took its influences from numerous sources, more so than most films at that time. Hitchcock himself gives his own personal touch to the film. As said by Michael J. Lewis in The Canonical Hitchcock, “the basic architecture of Hitchcock’s storytelling remained the same, turning on the motifs of guilt, suspicion, and fear”. And it’s true; his many films do share these themes, and Psycho is no different. His experience with policemen in his early life also has an impact in early scenes in Psycho, with the imposing police officers. But it goes deeper than that.

“His later films would often hinge on this precise scenario: a character who bears a crucial object or item whose meaning is withheld from him, but not the audience.” The money, left in Marion’s car when Norman erases the evidence of her murder, inevitably leads the private investigator and Marion’s sister to the scene of the crime, unknowing of what occurred. In addition to all of this, the way in which the film is cut is influenced by his own personal technique. As said in The Canonical Hitchcock, “his most radical contribution was in the depiction of thought...By showing us a sequence of images, he leads us through a careful sequence of thoughts so that we come to the same conclusion as the protagonist”. And this can be shown in one of the first scenes, when the camera pans slowly from Marion in her apartment, to the money she was assigned to keep, to the bags being packed on her bed. From this we can see exactly what is going on in the characters mind.
Moving on to another tack, why is this film so important? And not just as a hallmark of film history, but to the people of the 1960’s who saw the film for the first time? Well, for the time in which it was made, it was revolutionary. Its showing of violence, having the supposed main character killed off midway through the film, and a generally unique plot made quite a stir when it was first showed. And how about what it meant for the studio system? By making his own independent studio Hitchcock was able to work independently of the censors and work freely with Psycho, allowing him to add to it the things that made it such a blockbuster.

Hitchcock - Genre and Audience

Psycho (1960) is a Hitchcock film based off of the novel of the same name by Ed Gein. It is a film belonging to the suspense horror/thriller genre. The features that set this film apart as a suspense horror/thriller include monochromatic filming, an aggressive, suspenseful soundtrack, and tense, close shots emphasizing fear and exciting moments.

Some of the influences for this film were the novel Psycho by Ed Gein and Robert Bloch, the films Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920), The Last Laugh (1924) and M (1958), and the expressionist genre of art.

The movie was first envisioned by Alfred Hitchcock, who was shown the novel by his production assistant, Peggy Robinson. He went on with the project in order to recover from two previously abandoned projects, and to film new material compared to his previous work.

Psycho fits with his other works in the way that he incorporates darker elements, like murder, crime, and insanity.  

• More specifically, Psycho incorporates the theme of birds, “audience as voyeur” (Rear Window (1954)), “the charming sociopath” (Notorious, Frenzy), and “transference of guilt” (also seen in Vertigo (1958), Suspicion (1941), and Shadow of a Doubt (1943)). There are others, but do you honestly expect me to list all of them. What is this, IB?

The major theme of Psycho is that of multiple personalities and/or roleplay. The narrative structure itself is said to be as fractured as the characters who play in it, most notably Norman Bates, the central character of the movie.

From Silents to Studio' Golden Years

Movie studios were not prepared to accept sound at first because they felt like it would be a passing fad, would not be liked by audiences, was too expensive to implement everywhere, etc. It became more mainstream when Warner Brothers made the “talkie” The Jazz Singer. It instantly became a major hit, and Warner Bros started to make more sound films. Then most studios followed suit. 

As an immediate effect, many actors were fired as they couldn't fit their voices to the characters they were portraying, and many sound producers went out of business as films only had to have sound recorded one time.

Some of the downsides of the inclusion of sound include scenes being very bland and staying in the same place, as the camera couldn't move without making noise and microphones were usually placed as a prop between two characters, so they would lean over it menacingly. 

The studio years followed this. In this era studios formed a sort of monopoly over film, and shut everyone else out of the industry. On the plus side, nearly everyone could watch a movie, and studios were dedicated to designing well done sets for their films. On the downside, it was hard for people who weren’t part of studio’s to exhibit their films to the public and actors were bound by extremely restrictive contracts.

Outside links: http://cybercollege.com/frtv/frtv003.htm

Writing About Film

Read something on the Internet the other day. It was an article about writing about film. Here’s the lowdown.

There are 5 main types of film writing: formal analysis, film history, ideological papers, cultural studies, and discussion of the auteur. 

Film analysis concerns breaking down the film to it’s base components and, well, analyzing it. Concepts such as sound design, lighting, composition, and narrative structure are some of the things analysed.

Film history papers are about looking into the production history of the film, the challenges involved, the process of distribution and release, and the reactions of different audiences in different cultures, along with how the film made history in the context of film in general.

Ideological papers focus on analysis of the message the film was trying to give to the audience, and how it did so through the camerawork and sound design.

Cultural studies mainly look into the film’s importance to the culture it was made in. More specifically, how did the culture influence the FILM?

Lastly, discussion of the auteur focuses on the idea that one man and his vision created the film. This type of papers looks into this, and are used to understand broad concepts such as the theme of the film.

In the article, the author uses the phrase “think beyond the frame”. By this, the author means that when watching films we should focus on the things that go on in making it, like who the director was, what the development process was like, the genre, and how the film relates to cultural phenomena.

Pre-Pro: Bay Area Animal Shelters

Purpose: This piece is intended to inform the audience as to the origins, structure, message, purpose, and future of animal rescue shelters. Or just one.

Contacts: Tammy Alsterlind, Redwood City animal shelter (it’s owner, the workers, perhaps people who are adopting)

Interview Questions:

What does the shelter do? How does it work?
How did the shelter start? Why? Were there any challenges in doing so? If so, what were they and how were they overcome?
What is the ideology (if any) of the shelter?
How do you go about rescuing animals?
What do you plan for the future?  

Shot List: Close-ups of the interviewees, wide shots of the inside of the shelter if possible, shots of the workers, well, working with the animals, establishing shots of the shelter itself, shots of potential adopters meeting animals (if possible). Close ups of the animals themselves in the shelter, being taken care of, sleeping, etc.

General Flow: Beginning: It will start out with a brief description of what the shelter actually does, with shots showing the volunteers (employees?) doing their job. Middle: Then it will move into the history of the shelter, why it was started, who started it (if possible). Then, descriptions of challenges/problems that have to do with their job. End: It will finish off with the workers plans for the future, mentioning how people can get involved, how they work with other shelters.