12/27/2023 0 Comments Psycho theme stereo master foundThis signifies that Marion, in the throes of madness, is unable to take responsibility for her actions or to extricate herself it takes meeting Norman for her to be able to realize the ramifications of what she's done. However, after she has stolen the money, Marion does not consider her own image, even though she is in front of a mirror in the used car lot bathroom, in the Bates Motel office, and in Cabin 1. She actually looks in the mirror when she's with Sam in the hotel room and at home. For example, he places Marion in the frame with her reflection a number of times. Furthermore, Hitchcock frequently uses mirrors to underline the dual nature of all human beings. The theme of duality is an important one in Psycho, most visibly in the form of Norman's bifurcated psyche. Then, the final shot in the film is of a chain pulling Marion's white car out of the grimy darkness now, everyone's secrets are out, but the world is no happier for it. Later, after Marion's murder, Norman works hard to restore the clean, white bathroom before burying all the physical evidence in an endless black swamp. At the Bates Motel, when Marion suggests that Norman put his mother in a home, he starts to become angry - but manages to pull "mother" back just in time he manages to avoid arousing Marion's suspicion. As Marion is running away, she lies time and time again to conceal the true nature of her trip she even trades in her black car for a white one, trying to maintain the image of innocence. "Arbogast sums it up neatly when he says of the Bates Motel: 'This is the first place that looks like it's hiding from the world" (Spoto).Įven as this darkness starts to ooze out onto the surface, Hitchcock's characters are desperate to hide it. Marion and Sam fool around in hotels during her lunch hour, Marion's co-worker, Caroline, has a purse full of tranquilizers, Cassidy doesn't pay taxes, Lowery has a secret stash of liquor, Marion steals and lies, and charming Norman has the most shocking secret of all. Nothing in Psycho is what it seems everyone has something to hide. It is the shell of a livelihood where conventional relationships (like mother and son, or husband and wife) can only exist on the surface, and beneath which lie the rotten reality. The Bates Motel itself, a failing family business, is a visual symbol of the corruptive power of the American Dream. Later, Marion is so eager to get out of the used car lot that California Charlie, unable to accept Marion's unorthodox behavior, practically begs her to bargain with him. First, she steals from her boss, a man who trusts her implicitly with his money and kindly allows her to go home early when she complains of a headache. Meanwhile, Marion's crime disrupts many commonly accepted images of American society. Not only does the film imply a past incestuous relationship between mother and son, but Norman's sexual urges are what bring out his "mother" side. Most prominently, Hitchcock unravels the role of the mother through Norman and Mrs. Psycho dismantles a number of tenets that (still) are important to American society. By placing the audience in the place of the spy and not the object of his/her gaze, Hitchcock warns his viewer about the dangerous effects of our own hidden desires. Marion's desire to stop hiding her relationship with Sam drives her to steal Cassidy's money Norman's secret yearning for Marion drives his "mother" to kill. Narratively, the theme of voyeurism in the film indicates that human sexual urges can fester and go sour when suppressed for too long. Later, when Norman is watching Marion undress in her cabin at the Bates Motel, Hitchcock uses point-of-view shots to implicate the audience in Norman's spying. Hitchcock introduces the visual theme of voyeurism from the very first shot of Psycho - he invites the viewer behind the drawn blinds and through the window of Sam and Marion's hotel room. 'He wanted the camera, being the eyes of the audience all the time, to let them as if they were seeing it with their own eyes.'" (Rebello 93). Hitchcock instructed cinematographer John Russell to shoot Psycho using 50 mm lenses, which "give the closest approximation to human vision technically possible.
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