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Narrative devices in Hitchcock’s: Psycho

Psycho is a 1960 American suspense horror film directed by Alfred Hitchcock starring Anthony Perkins, Vera Miles, John Gavin, and Janet Leigh. The film centres on the main character Marion Craine, who ends up stealing $40,000 from a sleazy client of her bosses. She is motivated by wanting responsibly and the unhappiness with her relationship to Sam Loomis, they want to get married but cannot afford to do so. As Marion is leaving town, she is spotted by her boss, he becomes suspicious as she said she was going home to rest. On the road, she pulls over to sleep and is awoken by a policeman who can tell something is wrong. The policeman lets her go, but upon arriving in another town, Marion pulls into a used car dealership and hastily exchanges her car for another one. Alfred Hitchcock has added in these details so we anticipate what’s going to happen next, suspense is built and tension is high. Questions will be raised by this point from the audience. Is she going to get caught? Will the policeman follow her again?

Hitchcock uses omniscient narration in his film. For example, we know she is going to get killed before she does in 'the shower scene'. The camera is placed so we can see behind Marion. The door opens revealing a vague figure; it slowly starts to get closer to Marion. By now the audience's anxiety is high and we anticipate what is going to happen next.  Simultaneously, the camera zooms forward focusing on the mystery figure, forcing us to look at it. Hitchcock uses jump cuts and close-ups in the scene, which implies chaos to the situation. For a moment the audience will wonder will she escape when wrestling for the knife. The editing is also important in this scene, the pace is fast and there are 70 shots in the space of two minutes. As the mystery murder is approaching her in the shower, there is no added music involved like other thriller films. Hitchcock has managed to make the suspense so great that there is no music needed until the figure pulls the shower curtain back. The music could portray her emotions, only when she realises there is someone behind her she panics. It’s a loud screeching sound and repeats like an alarm. This scene also shows Levi Strauss's theory, the Binary Opposites of life and death.

The second killing in this film also builds up suspense and tension. As the character enters the house he slowly walks up the stairs, simultaneously; a door starts to slowly open.  Again this is omniscient narration as we know something is going to happen to that character. The music stays at one pace until movement picks up and suddenly the music changes, giving the audience a fright. We see what is happening from a high angle shot, it is different from the shower scene killing but still effective, as we see the killer the same time as the character does. Hitchcock also uses a high angle shot on the woman walking up to the house, making it look more superior.  When she is in the house looking around the bedroom, suspense is building as we know the killer could jump out at any time. Hitchcock cuts out the suspense and tension by playing with the audience’s feelings. He uses restricted narration so when she looks in the mirror and it appears to be somebody is behind her, we are also given a fright and the tension is cut.

Thrillers usually contain a plot twist to develop an unpredictable, mysterious catch to the film. It is what the audience expect from the film. Thrillers heavily stimulate the viewer's moods, giving them a high level of anticipation, ultra-heightened expectation, uncertainty, surprise, anxiety and/or terror. Hitchcock surprised us when we find out the killer is actually Norman Bates posed as his mother. He did not only think like her but dressed like her, using props like a wig and a dressing gown. Although we never actually saw ‘the mothers’ face, the audience would have never of guessed he was the killer.

We can apply Todorov’s theory of narrative to this film. A state of equilibrium would be Marion steals money from her job at the bank and travels out of Phoenix to visit her boy friend Sam. Along the way she accidently pulls off the highway into a deselect hotel. A disruption to the equilibrium is she gets murdered by who we assume is the mother in the shower. Marion’s sister and the police have found out that she has went missing and attempt to find her, ending up at that hotel. This is recognition that the disorder has occurred. To attempt to repair the damage, they find out the hotels owner’s (Norman bates) mother could be a suspect. They search their house trying to find evidence. They then catch Norman Bates trying to commit another murder but dressed as his mother. By now the audience have realised the mother has been dead for several years. It then returns to a new equilibrium, they arrest Norman Bates and the hotel is safe.

Hitchcock decided to shoot the film in black and white because he knew it would look too gory if shot in colour. Black and white takes away the distraction. The viewer’s eye concentrates on the subject itself. Tones, shapes, light play, shadows, and depth of field all become more apparent when the element of colour is removed. It gives this thriller the classic look.