Psycho 1960 - Image 1 Analysis

This scene from Psycho follows Marion's brief conversation with Normal, shortly after she sets off to bed, having decided that she is going to take back the money that she has stolen.

This particular image visualises Normal looking through a small hole in a wall that separates Marion’s bedroom to Norman’s office. This connotes the idea of voyeurism – enjoyment of spying on someone – because he takes down a painting (called “the rape of lucrecia” which is a Greek story of a sex crime to watch Marion get undressed and ready for a shower (using this particular painting was not accidental by Hitchcock, he applied this specific painting in this certain way to add to the effect of the scene - the painting links to the feministic approach of this scene). Norman gave Marion the first motel room which he wanted her to stay in for the night, implicates that he planned to spy on her later on in the film.

In terms of mise-on-scene, the image encapsulates that of low-key-lighting with a back-light silhouette; his whole head is a silhouette apart from the right side of his face. The lighting is coming in from the peephole which suggests that Marion is innocent, and Normal isn’t.

This particular image also represents Norman’s Schizophrenia because the way his face is half-light and half-dark, it connotes that he delivers good and evil acts. He represents his good acts through helping Marion out with a place to stay even though his “Mother-side” is angry. However, this image conveys his bad side through his lack of respect for woman’s privacy, relating to misogyny because he has an unnatural hatred towards woman. Marion has never done anything to him and he is unaware of her crime, yet his mother's jealously causes the “Norma” side of his personality to kill her.

Andrew Sarris – leading critic behind the auteur theory – suggests that the best way to approach a film is to identify the director’s artistic style. Which is true, Alfred Hitchcock was known for being a voyeur obsessed by blonde woman. Although Psycho is historically contextual about the Ed Gein case back in 1957, this idea of voyeurism was personal to Hitchcock himself, which was possibly the reason why he included it into this iconic thriller movie, so this film fully reflects the persona of Alfred to which he depicts in his films.