Auteur Theory - Tumblr Posts
Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960) is notable for a number of reasons, one of these is the first use of the “man gone wrong” antagonist. Although this is a common and popular narrative device in many modern Horror films, such as Patrick Bateman in American Psycho and Michael Myers in Halloween, at the time Norman Bates was a revolutionary character as he would change the role of antagonists forever. Norman’s name was chosen simply because it would close to the word “Normal”.
Hitchcock was obsessed with the idea of verisimilitude throughout the filming of Psycho, he used television actors from his series “Alfred Hitchcock Presents” rather than high profile actresses and actors, as he had done in films such as Vertigo (1958) and Rear Window (1954). The audience is encouraged to identify with Norman as soon as Marion leaves the narrative, the spectator follows Norman cleaning the mess and film critic Zizek argues that we identify with this as he undertakes cleaning jobs like the spectator.
Hitchcock’s innovation with the “man gone wrong” antagonist has changed horror films and furthermore, highlighted the horror of true life. Part of the attraction in horror films is that fact that, most of the time, the antagonist is caught and the spectator revels in the idea that the protagonists are safe. However, in real life this is rarely the case, numerous murderers and criminals are not caught and this was what the man gone wrong antagonist proves- it points out that serial killers/murderers/general criminals look like the everyman and we are living amongst them, just as Marion lived next door to Norman Bates.
One of Hitchcock’s repeatedly used narrative techniques was the concept of libido ripping it’s way through to reality, this is seen in Vertigo (1958) and The Birds (1963). However, Psycho (1960) provides a different narrative technique.
Psycho can be read as a film solely about the repression of our true desires and how horrific the release of our “Id” can be. Norman Bates acts as the embodiment of the classic Hitchcockian film whereas, Norma Bates acts as the films repressive figure. The ambiguity regarding Norman’s identity towards the end of the film further proves this, if only Norma exists than the only thing we can truly do is repress our desires as society rejects the freedom of our Id. Norma’s final actions prove this as she states, “I’m not even going to swat that fly. I hope they are watching… they’ll see. They’ll see and they’ll know, and they’ll say, “Why, she wouldn’t even harm a fly…”. This highlights how important repressing actions is to her character.
Whilst The Birds find it’s narrative progression through the freeing of our desires, Psycho (and definitely, Vertigo) highlights the horror of male desire and how the world cannot exist along with desire becoming reality.