Blog Assignment #1 - Enigma and Delay in Psycho

For as much as Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho is a mysterious psychological thriller, one could also make an argument that, in the first half of the movie at least, it's also a love story.

Marion Crane, in an attempt to be with the man she loves, takes a bit of ignorant advice from a real estate tycoon who quips that "all of life's happiness can be bought away." After stealing his $40,000 she resolves to set out to her lover's hometown in California where they can be together. Hitchcock makes the audience wonder what sacrifices must Marion endure, and, to what extent is she willing to go to make her dream happen?

The first real delay introduced by Hitchcock is that of the police officer who finds Marion's car pulled over on the side of the road and is slow and deliberate in his questioning of her. This scene is crucial for a few reasons. 1) The scene proceeds in such a way that the audience sympathizes with Marion, hoping that she'll be able to escape the questioning without conflict. This sub-conscious "rooting" for the protagonist makes the audience begin to question their own morality. After all, this is a woman who stole a small fortune from someone she hardly knows and is now running away. 2) Hitchcock uses the light/dark motif to illustrate to the audience that Marion, a seemingly good woman is slowly fading into darkness as a result of her decisions. In the previous scene we see her at peace driving in the darkness and her eyes in an almost empty lull as she drives through the night. When she is awoken by the police officer, she is forced to squint and almost rejects the daylight as it shines through over the temporary antagonist's body.

I'm of the opinion that Psycho is really more of a readerly text that it is a writerly one. Hitchcock spends the entirety of the movie both insinuating and blatantly describing the motives of his characters. He has the audience trusting him and is playing with them as their he were the puppet master. Because of this, the audience isn't responsible for thinking for themselves, instead, they are eagerly on the edge of their seats wanting to know what's going to happen next. Sure, they are free to make assumptions and predict what may happen, but because the movie is one that gabs your attention and Hitchcock pays great attention to details, one knows they might miss something should they get lost in their own thoughts. If that contention isn't enough then I offer up the psychiatrist's explanation at the end of the movie as a way of cementing the facts of the movie and leaving little to no room for interpretation by the audience.

Reviewing the reviewer: Time Magazine on Full Metal Jacket

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,964819,00.html

Richard Corliss of Time Magazine simultaneously provides a synopsis of Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket while drawing attention to both thematic and visual elements the casual movie watcher may not initially consider.

In the midst of giving a general plot outline of Act I, Corliss characterizes a few of the central players in Privates Joker ("The recruit who dares to hang some John Wayne sarcasm on the drill instructor") and Gomer Pyle ("...a fat bumpkin who's dim-witted sanctity begs to be beaten into lean meat") and notes a common perception of the military in that the young recruits "will be stripped of their freedom, their pride, and their names."

Corliss also notes that in the opening act, Kubrick makes a concentrated effort with the camera to capture the entire boot camp experience. He follows the soldiers throughout the entirety of their day and, most notably, "abruptly cuts to close-ups, to study their pain head on."

Our Time reviewer also takes notice of the marked absence of color in Act II characterizing it as a "desaturated green-gray of a war zone." Noting the only exception being during times of violence as "gunfire makes a gutted warehouse flare into brilliant orange."

Corliss does nothing to spoil Act III, instead choosing to pose a few questions regarding no-win dilemmas that should serve well in pushing those sitting on the fence over to the side with seats, popcorn, and a fast forward button for squeamish viewers.

Overall, Richard Corliss does an exceptional job of illustrating the attention to detail that Stanley Kubrick is renown for. In addition, Corliss ensures the reader will come away from the review intrigued by the plot of the film without giving away concrete details while demonstrating visual literacy in offering a taste into the conflicts that are sure to captivate the more thoughtful movie watching audience.