Psycho Blog Assignment

(WARNING: I have no filter on my own personal opinions, if this seems cold, well, I’m sorry.)

Greetings everyone, and welcome to the blog! Today, I’m going to have a powwow over Psycho. Now, the cool part about this particular film is that more than just one enigma is introduced. I shall be discussing the clue game based one and ask myself, “Did the mother kill Miriam?” Now in the famous stabbing in the shower scene, as posted below to refresh our memories, we see Miriam enjoying a nice shower after a hard day’s work of being a grand larcenist. However, after a bunch of switchbacks to the showerhead and her, we see the door open to reveal that there is a figure walking into the room, with particular focus on being that their face is hidden. Miriam, whom is obviously oblivious to the fact there is a dark, ominous figure in her presence, just keeps on going with her shower. Cuing the infamous, “eek eek eek”, and the stab fest begins! With fast transitions and making REAL sure that the face of her killer is not seen, Miriam is sliced up more than the Thanksgiving Turkey. Hitchcock was enough of a gentleman not to show all of the nasty wounds on Janet Leigh’s body that evening. (And just as a side note, Gus Van Sant decided to include the nasties, and if he paid any attention to continuity, the stabs were generally in the neighborhood of a downward motion, and not trying to gut her like a fish) The scene ends with the momma killer leaving and poor Miriam clinging onto to her last hope, she reaches out her arm, and latches onto the curtain and plops over the side of the tub. (I dunno why Hitchcock decided to show her like that over the tub, but ok.)

Then we must discuss the use of a delay in the film as well. We shall be using the scene where Miriam’s sister, Lila, discovers the room where Norman Bates’s  mother was once in. Looking around, she finds a wardrobe, with night gowns that seem a little large for a little old lady to be wearing. (My, grandma, what big hands you have!) There is also a serious and I mean SERIOUS imprint of where someone has been sleeping for a very long time. (My, grandma, what big legs you have!) This is as the Hermeneutic Code would classify it, a partial answer. This takes out the idea that it seriously could be the mother who’s been going blood lustily happy with the knife. Then cue the disclosure. 

Now, as to whether or not this is a readerly or writerly text? The question lies within the context of the film versus the film itself. We must consider the fact that many restrictions were lifted right when Psycho came out, I mean common, and you can’t show the commode?  With that many restrictions lifted, Hitchcock was able to influence us using more liberal methods. By using suspense and leaving the messed up idea of the Oedipiean notion of life in our minds at the end of the film. It leaves us with a bit more of readerly text TODAY. In their day, (60’s) this thing was as writely text as loud as I can beat my drum. People were not accustomed to slasher flicks and probably ask after the film, what would compel a man to go around stabbing folks about.