Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho is considered one of the most terrifying and atypical horror movies of the 1960’s leading up to today’s horror films. Hitchcock pulls the rug out from under his viewers as he kills off his lead actress less than halfway through the film creating a whole other meaning to the element of surprise.
In the article, Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema, author Laura Mulvey discusses the theme of scopophilia and how women are often utilized as a sexual object on screen for both characters’ pleasure and the viewer’s (Laura Mulvey, pg. 5). Marion is depicted as this sexual object from the opening scene where she is presented wearing a bra and underwear. Followed by when Norman peeks through the whole in the wall and is seen spying on her while she is wearing yet again, nothing but her bra and underwear. Lastly, she is shown taking off her robe completely naked as she steps into the shower. Marion is the film’s sexual pleasure for Norman Bates and the viewers watching in the theatre.
(Opening scene of Marion getting dressed in the hotel.
Source: Universal Pictures, 1960, Psycho.)
Linda Williams writes in When The Woman Looks about how a female character’s actions are what ultimately leads her to her own impending doom (Linda Williams, pg. 31). Marion’s actions that lead up to her death include looting $40,000 (which she should have taken to the bank) and fleeing town as a result of her unethical continence. Only when she is settled in at the motel does she wish to return the money, but it is too late.
Peeping Tom is a film discussed in detail by Linda Williams in When The Woman Looks. Mark’s obsession of filming in correspondence with his killing sprees stems from his own sexual abuse as a child from his father (Linda Williams, pg. 26) just as Norman’s mother was verbally abusive to him. As Norman becomes fixated on certain women he feels attracted to does his mother half emerge and begin to kill to ensure no one will ever come between them. Furthermore, just as Mark is reliving his childhood past in a different light, Norman is keeping his mother alive by speaking as she did and dressing as her. This can help provide an explanation that oftentimes a killer’s motives can be broken down and understood by reflecting back on their childhood.
(Norman dressed up as his mother in the cellar. Source: Universal Pictures, 1960, Psycho.)
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