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2 In Blochs novels
Character overview
Both the novel and Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 lm adaptation explain that Bates suered severe emotional abuse as
a child at the hands of his mother, Norma, who preached
to him that sexual intercourse is sinful and that all women
(except herself) are whores. After Bates father died,
Bates and his mother lived alone together until Bates
reached adolescence, when his mother took a lover, Joe
Considine (named Chet Rudolph in Psycho IV: The Beginning). Driven over the edge with jealousy, Bates
murdered both of them with strychnine. After committing the murders, Bates forged a suicide note to make
it look as if Norma had killed her lover and then herself. After a brief hospitalization for shock, he developed
dissociative identity disorder, assuming her personality to
repress his awareness of her death and to escape the feelings of guilt for murdering her. He inherited his mothers
house where he kept her corpse and the family motel in Fairview, California.
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strange appearances and messages from Mother, and
Bates slowly loses his grip on sanity. The mysterious appearances and messages turn out to be a plot by Lila Crane
to drive him insane again in order to get him recommitted.
The actual murders turn out to be the work of his aunt
Normas sister, Emma Spool who shares the familys history of mental illness and claims to be Normans
real mother. Before Bates discovers this, however, Mary
Loomis is shot dead by the police during a confrontation
with Bates, and Spool murders Lila. When Spool tells
Bates that she is his mother, he kills her and embalms
her body while assuming the Mother personality once
again.[5]
In Psycho III, Bates continues to struggle, unsuccessfully,
against Mother"'s dominion. He also nds another love
interest named Maureen Coyle, who eventually dies at
Mother"'s hand. In the lm Mrs. Spools body is rst
discovered by sleazy musician Duane Duke, whom Bates
kills when Duke tries to use the discovery to blackmail
Bates. Tracy Venable, a reporter interested in Bates case,
nds out the truth about Spool. Mother orders Bates to
kill Venable, but in the end he attacks Mother"'s corpse
violently, attempting to break free of her control, as well
as getting revenge at Mother for killing Maureen. He is
again institutionalized. During the last few minutes of the
movie, Venable tells Bates that Emma Spool was his aunt,
not his mother, and had killed his father. Apparently, she
had fallen for Bates father and, when Norma Bates had
given birth to Norman, kidnapped the child, believing he
was her son.[6]
PORTRAYALS
4 Characterization
The character Norman Bates in Psycho was loosely based
on two people. First was the real-life murderer Ed Gein,
about whom Bloch later wrote a ctionalized account,
The Shambles of Ed Gein, in 1962. (The story can be
found in Crimes and Punishments: The Lost Bloch, Volume 3). Second, it has been indicated by several people, including Noel Carter (wife of Lin Carter) and Chris
Steinbrunner, as well as allegedly by Bloch himself, that
Norman Bates was partly based on Calvin Beck, publisher
of Castle of Frankenstein.[9]
Comic books
Reception
References
Psycho II
Psycho III
[7] Mick Garris (Director) (1990-11-10). Psycho IV: The Beginning (DVD). United States: Universal Television.
[8] Bates Motel
[9] http://www.bmonster.com/horror29.html
[10] Leigh, Janet. Psycho : Behind the Scenes of the Classic
Thriller. Harmony Press, 1995. ISBN 0-517-70112-X.
[11] http://snltranscripts.jt.org/75/75pbatesmotel.phtml
[12] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=705jPpxq1JQ
[13] The Silence of the Hams
[14] Movie Maniac Comic Books
[15] AFIs 100 YEARS...100 HEROES & VILLAINS
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