Psycho: Socio-Cultural Context

Psycho: Socio-Cultural Context

Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho represents the culture of 20th century America. This film serves more as a representation of the progression of cinema as of the 20th century. The new innovations of this era of film included the introduction to sound and even color films. However with these new innovations came repercussions, seen through issues against censorship. Hitchcock daringly fought against these standards through his use of women's lingerie and even using the first American film scene including a flushing toilet. These actions were very bold at the time, causing quite a shock to the initial audience. However, Hitchcock couldn't beat them all, and chose to do the film in black and white for two reasons. One, the budget was aimed to be under $1 million (turned out to cost $800,000), and two, he made the directorial choice because he believed that Psycho in color would be too gory for American cinema at the time.


Hitchcock was a London-born filmmaker, moved to America. "Relying heavily on what he thought of as his intimate knowledge of the British countryside, cityscape, and audience and character psychology, he nevertheless described himself, with great pride, as an American-trained cinematic artist, brought up on the style and production methods of American filmmaking." Hitchcock declares himself as an American filmmaker, although he could be declared a pioneer in stretching the standards for American cinema, with his knowledge of British filmmaking.

Hitchcock's Psycho was seen as an important forerunner to the "slasher" sub-genre of horror. The film's knife-wielding and mentally disturbed killer, twist ending and 'stalking' camera technique proved influential on films to come.

Psycho: Narrative and the Film Extract

Psycho: Narrative and the Film Extract

On release, Hitchcock himself sparked an interesting advertising campaign claiming that Psycho could only be seen from the very beginning of the film.
"We won’t allow you to cheat yourself. You must see PSYCHO from the very beginning. Therefore, do not expect to be admitted into the theatre after the start of each performance of the picture. We say no one — and we mean no one — not even the manager’s brother, the President of the United States, or the Queen of England (God bless her)!"
It's obvious this was to preserve the authenticity of the film's convoluted plot structure. Also it highlights Hitchcock's ability to manipulate the minds of the audience through narrative. The film is constructed in some odd 2-part/3-part narrative. The reason I say this is that Hitchcock purposely sets the beginning of the narrative as setup following Marion Crane. The audience is led to believe that the film would follow Ms. Crane and her trying to escape with the money, our MacGuffin at the moment. Her character is played so well that it is believed that Ms. Crane would be the "Psycho". Up until the pivotal shower scene, is when the plot takes a drastic turn. Ms. Crane being missing becomes the new MacGuffin that propels the plot. Over the course of this act structure we see developing traits in Norman Bates as we follow the string of murders.

The narrative is propelled by plot as each event has a cause-and-effect sequence to it. For example, after the private eye is killed, the curiosity and worry of Ms. Crane's boyfriend and sister cause them to head to the sheriff and later on the motel itself. The MacGuffin also propels the story as we follow the money as it leads to the downfall of Marion Crane. 

Psycho: Historical and Institutional Influences

Historical and Institutional Influences in...

Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho

Alfred Hitchcock "did not merely work within a medium but utterly transformed it." Hitchcock is definitely an  important figure on the evolution of cinema, and there were certain factors that led him to be the auteur we recognize him as. 

For one, early in Hitchcock's exposure to cinema, he developed a fancy towards German expressionism on a trip to Germany. As a producer, Hitchcock has developed and adapted German expressionism into his films such as in The Lodger (1972) with the "fascination with heightened emotional states, the imaginative coordination of set design and camerawork, and an almost musical rhythm to the sequence of shots". A second institutional factor rising during the time of Hitchcock's films was the development of sound in cinema. Hitchcock himself despised using dialogue as a safety-net for producing "good films". "He was not adverse to witty dialogue—his scripts were always remarkably literate—but the dialogue itself served as an accompaniment to visual storytelling and not as a substitution for it."

Hitchcock's Psycho was an accurate depiction of time in the 1950s - early 60s. Although the film's plot was unoriginal (as it was based off of Robert Bloch's novel of the same name), it was based off of the story of Ed Gein from Wisconsin. Psycho also broke all film conventions by displaying Marion having a lunchtime affair in her sexy white undergarments in the first scene and killing her a third of the way into the film. Hitchcock also began terming the plot device known as the 'MacGuffin', the thing or device that motivates the characters, or propels the plot and action. As it's used in Psycho, the MacGuffin would be either the sum of $40,000 stolen by Marion, or further on in the film, the murder of Ms. Crane herself. 

Psycho: Genre and Audience

Alfred Hitchcock's famous Psycho (1960) was a great representation of the film's genre and Hitchcock's style. Psycho was Hitchcock's suspense/horror creation, further noted as a potential psychological thriller. Evidence of this sub-genre exists within the presence of a mentally unstable main character. The abundance of shadows and darkness within the scenes portray a heavy horror theme throughout the film. This low lighting creates fear and anxiety within the viewer. As someone once said, "What we fear most is the unknown"

Other works that influenced or connected to Hitchcock's Psycho could include Les Diaboliques (1955) This was another suspense thriller movie that was initially offered to Hitchcock, but ended up in the hands of Henri-Georges Clouzot. It's basically the story of an abused wife who kills her husband, only to be haunted by his reincarnation. This psychological thriller seemed to have many aspects that were incorporated into Hitchcock's Psycho. Hitchcock even decided to shoot the film in black and white, not only to maintain his own self-sufficient budget, but also seen as homage to other pre-Psycho thriller films such as Les Diaboliques, The Night of the Hunter, and Touch of Evil

Hitchcock was the director of this film. However, although Hitchcock was signed with Paramount Studios, Paramount didn't like anything about the story and said that the novel was "too repulsive" and "impossible for films". Hitchcock resorted to funding the movie through his own "Shamley Productions". Hitchcock made this because his previous production was scrapped due to a main actress having to take a maternity leave.

From Silents to Studio' Golden Years

Part 1: Explore how the inclusion of sound in the movie pictures impacted the Movie Industry. Detail how it happened, who was effected, what was lost. 

Sound in the movie industry was definitely revolutionary as it was introduced. Probably could be compared to the 3D of its time. Everybody out there was making sound films. Because of this, the quality of good films began to drop. For example, when only silent films were around, cameras were more mobile and could be carried around more easily. However when sound was introduced, cameras had to be put in refrigerator-like boxes to avoid capturing the sound of film clicking. These boxes hindered the ability to have movies be as mobile as they used to. Many filmmakers decided that the trade-off of sound for film quality was well worth it, but looking back from now, there was definitely need for change. 

Part 2: The 20 years between 1930 and 1950 are generally recognized as the studio years. Describe what the pros and cons were of this factory system.

Studios were large film making organizations dedicated to creating the top films of the era. Among these studios were MGM, Warner Brothers, Paramount, etc. Pros were that the newly incorporated studio system was able to utilize an organized and constant release of new films. However, the studio system wasn't as great as you could imagine. Actors had to work under contract for these studios and were forbidden to work with any other studio. This limited the potential for actors to explore there talents and try a vast range of roles in films.

Writing About Film

1. What are the 5 kinds of film writing described in the article and what are the key details of each?

 In this article, 5 different types of film writing are described. Formal Analysis is a form of film writing where the writer analyzes different components of the film and how they come together and create a central idea or contribute to the film as a whole. Film History writing focuses on the history of a film and its influence on and from history itself. Ideological Papers analyze films that pertain to a central belief or set of beliefs, and how the film goes about portraying these messages. Cultural Studies/National Cinemas discuss the differences between the films of a different culture and how certain trends represent or portray their country or culture in film. Discussion of the Auteur criticizes the ability of how a single person (most often the director) can incorporate his/her own unique vision into a film and cause the finished product to be recognized as a film of a certain auteur's perspective.

2. What does “Annotating a Film Sequence” involve and what are it’s benefits?

Annotating a Film Sequence is when one takes a certain scene from a film and breaks down its components and identify the effect of each component of the film. It also helps explain how each effect contributes to the film as a whole. One would start by taking the scene and labeling each individual shot. Labeling each shot helps keep track of the complex shot sequences, and when reviewed, will uncover possible patterns or certain editing decisions.

3. What does the author imply when she says to “Think Beyond the Frame?”

To "Think Beyond the Frame" is not to think solely about the film, but instead, about what happens behind the scenes and notice the effort and reason into placing certain content within the film to make it its own. Identifying the director and noticing patterns or trends in his work can contribute to a nice film writing assignment. Production history of the film can help one realize what potential a film has given its certain conditions (budget, casting, writing, etc.) If one reads what critics and scholars have to say about the film, it will become easier to make observations because one could narrow down their observation around what the critics or scholars have appreciated or disliked. A film's genre plays a role in helping one identify limitations of the genre, and how certain filmmakers decide to enforce, or stretch these limitations. Lastly, cultural phenomenon can be seen in certain films which helps add to a message or thesis one might have in a piece of film writing.