In this scene from PSYCHO, we see horror stereotypes being formed. Marion (Janet Leigh) is the first
female victim in cinema. We know this through convention of her character.
First off is her blonde hair. Blondes are “stereotypical” bimbo who aren’t
smart, this makes them easier to fool and easier to pick off. Also earlier on
in the film she is seen having sexual relations with a man outside out
marriage, which is a sin. This makes her again a target because she is doing
things that are supposedly wrong.
The weather outside is raining,
which is a Pathetic fallacy where
the rain is reflecting the emotion of Marion, which is sadness and guilt over
her actions to steal the forty thousand dollars. We see these through the use
close ups of Marion faces. These shots allow us to get us close with the
character and make the scene very emotional driven.
The way this scene is filmed gives
an illustration of Mulvey’s “Male gaze” (visual pleasure and narrative cinema”).
We get to voyeuristically watch a female character, even seeing into thoughts. This
gives pleasure to the male-dominated cultural dominant ideology of the time, as
we almost “spy” on this beautiful woman, also supports Andrew Sarris “Auteur theory”. This is where we see Hitchcock’s’
soul being put into his films. Hitchcock seemed to have a great pleasure in
casting blonde haired women, and seemed to have this great pleasure over
controlling these beautiful women. This can also be seen in THE BIRDS. In which
Hitchcock put breadcrumbs in Tippi Hedren hair causing the birds to peck harder
and caused her to bleed on set. This represent Hitchcock strange ideology
towards women.
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