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Rosa Johnson

Barbara Seidman

May 27th, 2015

Introduction to Film

Normalizing Psychos Norman Bates

Norman Bates is seen as a monster to society due to his unexplainable evilness that is

hidden by normality. Norman embodies everything that Freud meant by the return of the

oppressed, when he channels his mother in order to achieve murder. Film Analyst Robin Wood

says that, the true subject of the horror genre is all that our civilization represses or oppresses,

(Schneider, 1999). Norman does not fit in with society through his uncategorized gender, lack of

social life, strong emotional attachment to his mother, his mental insanity and by living in

isolation making him viewed as monstrous. The uncanny experience is the viewer of the

audiences confrontation with something that is repressed within their own existence. This

conflict has loomed in front of the audience and the characters and once they recognize

underneath the surfaces of the everyday and ordinary life looms rage, hatred, and violence. Freud

defines uncanny as something that arouses dread and horror...certain things which lie within

the class of what is frightening, (Schneider, 1999). Hitchcock applies the uncanny to the

characteristics of the monsters in his film in order to make it into the horror genre. Most films

offer viewers an escape from the tedium of everyday life, but Hitchcock skews this comfort zone

of film and makes it so the audience leaves with more fears of the world (Schneider, 1999).

Alfred Hitchcock utilized the film medium in order to comment on the structure of the

conformist society of 1950s. Norman Bates is the product of the conservative era and uses the

American life as a mask to hide his true and torturous identity. Norman feeds off of the
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tormented conditions of the people, since he is seen as so ordinary; he uses his dull presence and

personality to his advantage. Normans appearance can be described as an average Joe; he does

not have any specific characteristics and could easily blend in with the crowd. People do not

expect Norman to be the monster that he is and so they confide in him until he uses it for his

benefit. Alfred Hitchcocks negative perspective on American conventionality is portrayed in his

film Psycho and he uses the characters and cinematography as a way to deconstruct the surface

of American normality.

Norman is boringly ordinary, he is able to use conventional terms for his actions in order

to normalize his crimes. While he is talking to Marion in the office, they seem to be having a

casual conversation but Norman has an entirely different and deeper meaning to what he is

saying. Hitchcock even plays off of the pun of Normans name relating it closely to the word

Normal. Norman over explains his destructive mother-son relationship in an attempt to justify

his obsessive and protective bond that he has with his mother in order to normalize it. Characters

are interpreted as monstrous when they do not follow a moral code and go against the norm that

is socially acceptable. Hitchcock sought to shake viewers beyond ordinary, mundane existence

(Biesen, 2014). He used thrilling noir cinematic escapism in order to reflect the cultural tensions

and transformations in American society. Hitchcock also plays off of the audiences inner

monster, he believed that viewers saw films to experience thrills and seek the excitement of

emotional disturbances. Normans oedipal complex is meant to make others uncomfortable. By

openly discussing his infatuation with his mother it shows how Norman goes against societys

norms on a mother-son relationship. Since Norman does not follow any moral code it causes a

sense of uneasiness in the audience and the characters who encounter him.
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The audiences perception of the films plot is adapted from the form of narration. In

Film Art: An introduction the author discusses how restricted narration can lead to suspense and

perk the viewers curiosity (2012). By figuring out the storyline at the same time the characters

are it leads into more investment into the films plot. The reason why Norman Bates seems so

ominous to the characters and to the audience is because we cannot figure him out with the little

information that is told. The anticipation of events that suspense builds in a film adds to how the

audience perceives a character. Filmmakers use mise-en-scene to achieve realism, making actors

more natural and scenes more authentic (Film Art, 2012). Hitchcock utilizes mise-en-scene in

order to make his film feel as if it could happen to anyone making it more horrifying than

something unrealistic.

Hitchcock uses Norman as a monstrous character in order to strike fear into his audience.

Steven Schneider discussed that the individual characteristics add up to monstrosity (1999).

What can horrify us? Typically, a monster. In the horror film, the monster is a dangerous breach

of nature, a violation of our normal sense of whats possible, (Film Art, 2012). The textbook

continues to elaborate that the monster can be unnaturally large, between dead and living, or be a

human who has transformed, and is usually something unknown by science. Putting Norman

Bates into this definition of a monster comes easily. Norman is larger than Marion and able to

use him strength and size to kill and carry her body. He channels his mothers dead soul into his

living body in order to transform into his mother, no longer being the same person that he was

before. The psychologist is unable to explain the real reason behind Normans condition and he

cannot be figured out through scientific means. Film Art continues to elaborate by stating, If the

monster horrifies us because it violates the laws of nature that we know, the [horror] genre is

well suited to suggest limits of human knowledge, (2012). The horror film also relies on a
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feared environment, Hitchcock comments on this clich by filming Psycho in a rural, abandoned

motel with no one around.

The eerie feeling that the set gives the audience plays up Hitchcocks perspective of the

American lifestyle. Hitchcock looks down upon the idea of the American dream where people

have to work for their lifestyle while Marion is gaining success by stealing a large amount of

money. Hitchcock also plays off of the normalcy of the Bates Motel and uses its location as

commentary that murder and crime can happen in the most common of places. Since the

audience can relate to the environment and lifestyle of Norman Bates it causes the fear of

possibility and a sense of reality for the audience. The scariest thing for anyone is being within

the chance that something bad could happen to them. Hitchcock manipulates this fear into the

audience causing a sense of paranoia of people that are unexpected to be monstrous. Norman

hides his true identity making him more dangerous since there is the fear of the unknown. Even

the uncertainty of Normans gender makes him seem all the more insane and out of place in

society since he cannot be categorized or identified as just a man or woman.

Film noir was known for its psychological point of view and elaborate montages

revealing the central character's conflicted subjective inner psyche. Flawed, tormented

noir protagonists grappled with volatile moods, psychological demons, and mental illness,

trapped by traumatic fears, violent obsessions, constrained or imprisoned in claustrophobic

environments or sanitariums, (Biesen, 2014).

Norman Bates exhibits all of these characteristics, but the truth of his intentions is never revealed

making him all-the-more ominous. The harsh reality of mankind is that it is impure and immoral.

Hitchcock plays off of human flaw and projects them onto the screen in order to convey the

plausibility that horror films are not limited to screenplays. Even Marion, who was a victim of a
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horrible and sudden death, was guilty of theft. Hitchcock explores the idea that the no one is

innocent and pure. Even when it seems as if Marion and Norman are getting along, he still kills

her showing that it is unsafe to trust anyone and that there is no such thing as mercy.
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Works Cited

Bordwell, David/ Thompson Kristin. Film Art: An Introduction 10th Edition. N.p.: Gardners,

2012. Print.

Biesen, Sheri Chinen. Americana: The Journal of American Popular Culture (1900-present).

Psychology in American Film Noir and Hitchcock's Gothic Thrillers. Rowan University,

Apr.-May 2014. Web. 27 May 2015.

Schneider, Steven. Other Voices 1.3: Monsters as (Uncanny) Metaphors: Freud, Lakoff, and the

Representation of Monstrosity in Cinematic Horror. N.p., January 1999. Web. 27 May

2015.