Ø Lines in Paramount Logo = Knife Slashes

Psycho

Dir. Alfred Hitchcock, 1960

 Lines in Paramount Logo = knife slashes  Opening Scene = Bird’s eye view  Phoenix, AZ= phoenix (bird)rises from ashes  Friday, 2:43 p.m. – allusion to the crucifixion  Spinning fan blades – foreshadowing knife motions  Marion “Crane” = Bird  Sam= boyfriend (secrets, broke, alimony)  Marion= white undergarments, clothes, purse (good person, pure)  Marion=secret (wants love, marriage, stolen money)  Secretary=secret (pill popper)  Mr. Cassidy= secret (tax evader, creeper)  Marion’s Boss= secret (alcoholic, alcohol hidden in desk)  Marion= steals money, develops a shadow (split personality)  Pictures in office= desert (no love life, no money), vast forest with lakes (love, money)  Marion’s undergarments= black (after taking the money)  Marion’s bedroom= family pictures (everyone is “watching” her, peeping toms)  Black purse= hides crime, stolen money  Marion’s car= black (voices all in her head, psycho)  Marion’s car= rear view mirror (police, paranoia)  California Charlie’s Car Dealership= building (black & white), bathroom (dirty things, money, wash hands of crime, mirror[split personality])  California Charlie’s= address [4270] #13 (bad luck)  California Charlie’s= police (always watching, peeping tom)  Marion’s Car/Rain and Wipers= rain “shower,” wiper (blade, slashing) = foreshadowing  Bates Motel=Mother’s silhouette (black/evil?/alive)  Marion’s newspaper= everything is going to be “okay”  Newspaper= Los Angeles Times (Angels, watching over, warning?)  Norman Bates= will not say “bathroom” (dirty things, nasty)  Marion’s motel room= birds (pictures, watching, eyes), open window (cage is open, last chance for escape)  Marion & money= wraps money up in newspaper (foreshadowing)  Mother Bates’ Voice= anger (food) protecting her “little boy”  Norman= momma’s boy, cannot commit to Marion  Norman’s reflection= 3 Norman’s (multiple personality disorders)  Motel Parlor=Stuffed Birds (Hawks, Owls, Ravens, “watchers of the night”)  Birds=always watching (peeping tom’s)  Picture=Susanna & The Elders (Biblical story, watching, peeping tom’s)  Norman=”We all have our private traps” (trapped like birds)  Norman= “we scratch and claw and cluck our tongues” (birds)  Marion=eating bread (bird)  Traps=money ($40,000), motel  Norman’s Message= “We all go a little mad sometimes.”  Marion’s Room=Trap, shower (cage)  Bird Imagery=Shower (cage), Marion (“Crane”), shower (bird bath)  Marion’s Murder= Bird attack (Mrs. Bates/Mother bird/hawk, owl, raven, birds of the night)  Marion’s Murder= Knife (bird’s beak), screeching violins (attacking birds), Marion’s hands(bird claws)  Shower=spinning water (vertigo/psychosis), spinning camera (Marion’s eye/bird’s eye)vertigo/psychosis  Dead Crane= Norman knocks picture to floor  Norman’s hands = claw-like, washes blood  77 cameras used in shower scene (2 whole weeks to film)  Marion’s Car = Coffin, blue like death  Marion’s Car= trunk’s interior pattern (cage)  Marion’s Car= Tag (NFB 418)=(do not mess with “N”orman “F”reaking “B”ates!, 4+1+8=13= it’s bad luck)  Norman= “Birdman” eating candy corn  Sam’s Hardware = rakes, knives, axes (slashing, bird imagery [claws and beaks])  Sister Lila = Marion reborn (phoenix rising from the ashes)  Arbogast = Private I. (eye)  Bates Motel = “hiding from world” (we hide our secrets from the world)  Arbogast= mirror (you had better watch your back!) (a warning)  Norman (low angle camera shot) = Birdman (beak) (eating candy “corn”)  Arbogast= phone booth (chicken wire, birds)  Motel Office= Arbogast (open safe=you are not safe, the secret is out)  Bates House= Cupid statue, flowers in vase (symbols of love)  Stairs=bird’s “eye” point-of-view (Arbogast is prey)  Mrs. Bates= knife (beak) slashes Arbogast’s “private eye” (prying eye, nosey)  Sam’s Store= Reflections and silhouettes (Lila, doubles, split personality)  Lila= swallowed by shadows and rakes (a warning, Lila is in danger)  Sam & Lila= split personalities (not married, pretending to be married)  Bates Motel=Behind motel (old car, old crates, mop from shower murder=hidden secrets=you can never escape your past)  Bates House=Mother’s Room (Sink=dirty things, Cupid on bed, cupid statues, vase/full of flowers, “Mother’s Loving Hands” statue= all symbols of mother’s “undying” love)  Lila=3 mirrors, 3 way reflection=multiple personalities (who is that 3rd woman?)  Norman’s Room=Boy’s toys everywhere (Norman has not grown up)  Book= Victorian age “grown-up” book (lust)  Album on Victrola= “Eroica” (Beethoven symphony=about lust)  Lila= Trapped in stairwell (caged/trapped crane [bird])  Basement= Where we hide our darkest, deepest secrets  Basement= “heart” of the house/family  Basement= multiple doors/multiple chambers of the “heart”  Basement= Lila has entered hell  Courthouse= protection??? (flag, police, psychiatrist, lawyers, judge, courts)  Courthouse Fan= Off, blades stopped=killing has stopped  Blanket= Warmth and love for Norman, security blanket  The Fly= symbol of death, pestilence, disease of the mind (psychosis)  Eyes= mother speaks/ “I bet they’re watching me right now!,” prying eyes  Mother’s skull in Norman’s face= Possession, face of death, mother is Norman’s soul  Marion’s Car= pulled from the swamp (rebirth from the ashes of hell, phoenix)