Psycho (1960) image analysis 2

This scene from Alfred Hitchcock’s PSYCHO takes place just before Norman is caught and taken into custody. Here we are presented with ‘Norma’ who has intent to kill the character of Lila with a phallic symbol; this connotes the male power of Norman. The large grin on his face as he holds the knife is a direct connotation of sadism as Norman is clearly getting some pleasure from this, this practice was contextually out of the CDI of the film so it shocked the audiences. A few years before the Psycho’s release, Ed Gein was a big serial killer in America, which greatly influenced the character of Norman. Gein was famous for digging up his mother’s corpse which is also what Norman does and we are shown her just before this big reveal. Gein was also famous for cross-dressing like his mother in order to “keep her alive” which again is tributed by Norman’s costume being a dress and a wig. Janet Staiger’s audience studies theory is important for this, because this film was hugely powerful in America, due to the fact it resonated with audiences. They had recently seen the news reports of Ed Gein’s crimes on early TV Sets in 1960; this was due to Gein being the first serial killer extensively broadcasted on television.

For the Cinematography of this scene, Hitchcock has used an expressionist angle in order to make the villain seem more powerful as opposed to the victim. A low angle shot is used by Hitchcock to add to the chilling effect he has on the audience. Similarly we have low key lighting to create that second shadow effect to again show that Norman is suffering from schizophrenia, it builds upon the double identity effect; and by using that motivated lighting we as an audience,  have that extra sense of fear as though Norman is monster like. The mise-en-scene of the scene adds to the eeriness of this penultimate scene, it is set within a very confined area which plays upon the fear of entrapment (claustrophobia).