Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho: The Bloodthirsty Beginning
Psycho: The Bloodthirsty Beginning
I will be analyzing the shower scene from the Alfred Hitchcock film Psycho (1960). This scene is the first scene that causes the audience to realize that something horribly, horribly wrong is going on at the Bates’ Motel. Hitchcock crafts this scene very meticulously, using body language, music, sound effects and more to shock the audience. Challenging the censors is this movie’s bread and butter, as it displayed gruesome violence that audiences of 1960 had never seen before.
The scene begins with Marion Crane stepping into the shower and lathering herself with soap. This already starts to make the viewer feel uncomfortable. Although there is no nudity being displayed, the shower is a place that is supposed to be private and free of prying eyes. However, the audience is made to look on as Marion cleanses herself, …show more content…
This is perhaps the reason why the film does not hold up as well with modern audiences, yet was so greatly received in 1960. It’s important to keep in mind that while it seems cliched now, this is the film that created the trope of the screeching, discordant violin paired with a climactic murder. Audiences at the time had most likely never seen something akin to this, so they felt as they were meant to feel: shocked, horrified, uncomfortable. Even those that were familiar with Hitchcock’s prior films, most of which were also thrillers, were caught off guard by this movie. Comparatively, if you had shown this same scene to today’s audiences, you may receive bored yawns in response. It is the cause of the myriad scenes we have seen that were in fact based upon this one, paired with the fact that it takes more than brief flashes of a kitchen knife to frighten modern audiences. The use of violence in film has evolved greatly since 1960. However, back then Psycho’s shower scene was truly a frightening thing to
I will be analyzing the shower scene from the Alfred Hitchcock film Psycho (1960). This scene is the first scene that causes the audience to realize that something horribly, horribly wrong is going on at the Bates’ Motel. Hitchcock crafts this scene very meticulously, using body language, music, sound effects and more to shock the audience. Challenging the censors is this movie’s bread and butter, as it displayed gruesome violence that audiences of 1960 had never seen before.
The scene begins with Marion Crane stepping into the shower and lathering herself with soap. This already starts to make the viewer feel uncomfortable. Although there is no nudity being displayed, the shower is a place that is supposed to be private and free of prying eyes. However, the audience is made to look on as Marion cleanses herself, …show more content…
This is perhaps the reason why the film does not hold up as well with modern audiences, yet was so greatly received in 1960. It’s important to keep in mind that while it seems cliched now, this is the film that created the trope of the screeching, discordant violin paired with a climactic murder. Audiences at the time had most likely never seen something akin to this, so they felt as they were meant to feel: shocked, horrified, uncomfortable. Even those that were familiar with Hitchcock’s prior films, most of which were also thrillers, were caught off guard by this movie. Comparatively, if you had shown this same scene to today’s audiences, you may receive bored yawns in response. It is the cause of the myriad scenes we have seen that were in fact based upon this one, paired with the fact that it takes more than brief flashes of a kitchen knife to frighten modern audiences. The use of violence in film has evolved greatly since 1960. However, back then Psycho’s shower scene was truly a frightening thing to