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.
The idea of the text of this movie also supplying a work of subtle romance is one that I find rather interesting as a reader. However, I would have to argue that the course of action she is taking is slightly put to the extreme in the text of the movie. Although the initial motive is to take the money for a life with a man she has grown to “love”, I cannot help but to wonder if that is the only reason for taking the money. Despite there having been no other reason for the theft, the opening scene of the movie sets up more of a sexual affair than a loving relationship. The two a shown in the throngs of post-intercourse with discussion of his ex-wife, which causes the audience to wonder if this could have been part of the reason for his unsuccessful marriage. However, it can also be argued that she takes the money for the idea of what they might have rather than any truly deep feeling for a man who is constantly telling her to find someone else to fall in love with.
ReplyDeleteAs for the discussion of the delays, I whole-heartedly agree with the significance you present about this scene between the police officer and Marion. Marion’s morality is something that comes into question throughout the movie, especially in the play between the light/dark motif you have mentioned. Because the film puts such emphasis on the mind and the processes within it, the idea of mental instability can be carried on through Marion as well as Norman. The main part of the first half of the movie follows not only a moral development, but also a mental one focused on the character of Marion.
When discussing the type of text Hitchcock uses, I believe that it is very important to see that the text could be of a mixed sort. Your argument for the readerly text is founded, yet I would beg to say that for some of those same reasons Psycho can also bee seen as a writerly text. The film begs the audience to shot forward in their seats and pay attention to detail. These details within the film cause the audience to constantly try and figure out who the murderer is. In this way, the viewer is consciously putting pieces together to figure out the whole story. This can be seen when the audience has that moment of revelation when we learn that Norman no longer has a mother, exposing to the audience that the mother is almost obviously Norman, but it still leaves room for more interpretation as to why or if there is not some third person. With this the film can be seen as a writerly text.