Socio-Cultural Influences in Psycho

1. What do the film's themes say about the culture it's part of?

Some of the themes that occur in this film include corruptibility, confused identities, voyeurism, human vulnerabilities and victimization, the deadly effects of money, Oedipal murder, and dark past histories are realistically revealed. This gives a negative view on the culture as well as people who follow this culture. According to it's theme of victimization, anyone can be a victim to a horrific murder especially a thief, or any person who commits a crime.One other important theme that expresses the culture is dark past histories are realistically revealed, this could possibly mean that is some of us, which are more then we think, have dark pasts that effect us in the future and when revealed, it dangerous and  gruesome. 

2. What is the film's geographical and historical context?
. Like all Hitchcock's movies he did not follow the  outdoor filming stereotype during this time, instead he did the exact opposite and stayed with small sets, such as his film Lifeboat. Furthermore the plot  of Hitchcock's films also has some similarities. In a lot of his films we see women being violently murdered, such as, Frenzy, Rear Window,The Birds etc.Many feminist critics found this startling. Lastly some visual elements that Hitchcock focused on was communicating to the audience with visuals and camera shots unlike most films during this time that relied on dialogue 

3. What big questions does the film address?

The question that the film addresses is that good people, such as Marion can have bad things happen to them, especially if they have committed a crime. This karma can be true and can also be a harsh reality. Lastly the film answers the question on weather or not America can handle the dark side of reality.

4. How does the film add to the ongoing discourse?

b. One of the more significant reasons Psycho had become apart if film history and of the continuing controversy was due to the it's new portrayal of sex and violence. This was unorthodox at the time, especially after a time of Production codes, which dictated what should and should not be censored during the 1960's. For this reason the movie gained to much controversy, even from the opening seen we see Sam and Marion in the same bed, with Marion in a bra.This was never seen before not only was a couple shown in the same bed, but Marion was exposing herself much more then a women would normally in a film that had gone through Production Code. Furthermore the film broke other guidelines in film such as a toilet flushing, showing a man's butt, etc. As far as violence there were several changes, such as shots were removed including the murder or Arbogast and a shot of the mother's dead corpse. In addition the shower scene was suppose to have minor changed because of the gore and violence, however this never happened and in the end was exactly the same.Alt the although  the unseen exposure to murder,blood and sex, the film itself was the best and the most popular thriller at this time. The critic Robert Ebert explains.It wasn't a message that stirred the audiences, nor was it a great performance...they were aroused by pure film."

5. Where does it fall in the evolution of the genre? Primitive/Classic/Revisionist/Parody

In the evolution of genre,the film Psycho would fall under the Classic. This was a film that had a ripple effect and theretofore influenced many films after, hence it's a classic, or the original that other film makers take from.Psycho explored topics that were never put in a film, and it later shaped how we saw film as an audience, as a result sparked one of the biggest developments in film. One other large in knowing that the film is a classic, is that we can still refer to it 50 years later, as all the time as gone by, 50 years, we still are talking and learning from this one film.  Psycho was one of the biggest movies of its time and continues to still make a large impact in learning about film. This film is a perfect fit for the classic genre. 

6. What is the film’s socio-cultural context?

a. as a work from a specific country?

 David Thomson author of  "The Moment of `Psycho': How Alfred Hitchcock Taught America to Love Murder," explains how "It's the beginnings of a flood of violence. Violence becomes more acceptable in film. It's a whole new attitude to the criminal personality. It becomes more interesting in a way that had never really operated before." . After the film America had loved the thrill of it, and did not find a problem as censorship completely diminished when violence and murder were introduced.

b. As a work from a specific culture?

It was the film itself that had made it one of the best films in history, like one famous critic said " What makes "Psycho" immortal, when so many films are already half-forgotten as we leave the theater, is that it connects directly with our fears: Our fears that we might impulsively commit a crime, our fears of the police, our fears of becoming the victim of a madman, and of course our fears of disappointing our mothers." 
 c. As a work representing a specific part of its society?
This film represented a new unexplored part of society that no other film every portrayed. It showed the part of society that was violent and was greedy. In the film we find taboos and unorthodox scenes and situation from something simple as flushing the toilet to the nudity of a women to the murder of a women, all this a reality of society revealed within the film to the public. 

d.Hitchcock did not try to target any type of audience, the crowd simply liked his films for the art of it, not because of their age,gender,or any specific type of pubic. He is compared to Shakespeare with his "targeting", if he were to attract any mass pubic, it was because he was successful.  

e. As a work made for a specific reason? The film was made because Hitchcock wanted to express is own artistic needs without cooperation like Paramount rejecting his ideas because they were to gruesome. Hitchcock wanted a film that belonged to the film makers.

Psycho: Narrative and the Film Extract

1. How is this film constructed according to how its story being told?

The film is constructed through the main character she, Marion she is first introduced with her secret lover Sam. As they converse it reveled that money is an issue because Sam working off debts to both his x-wife and his deceased father. As a result of this we see Marion stealing from a rich pretentious customer from her job. As the audience follows her we see that she has packed her bags and is leaving with the money. She becomes very suspicious as she encounters a  police officer and exchanges her car. As the film continues to follow Marion's journey she arrives at the Bates Hotel. Ever scene included Marion up until she was murdered, from then on the story follows her sister and Sam when they are investigating how and where Marion is gone, here we see dramatic irony up until the end of the film.   

2. Is the narrative organized by plot or time sequence, or some other way?

The film is organized by plot with every action followed by a an effect which leads to another action.There are no flashbacks or do we see any thing from Marion's past. The film focuses on everything that is happening "now" in the film. There is one scene in the film were we see Marion, and parallel action about how the people are reacting behavior as well as her absence, the sells men says " Heck officer that was the first time I've ever seen costumer high pressure the sells men" and then her boss saying "Is Marion in yet?", and "For haven's sake a girl works for you for 10 years, you trust her" and lastly the man she stole the money from said,"I'll get it back and if anything is missing I'll replace it will her fine soft flesh", these quotes are also told in order of sequence.The film continue to be shown in  consecutive order.

3. Does the film use other principles than narrative sequence as a structure?

The film first opens with a couple in a hotel room, in this scene a problem is introduced. The couple converse about not having enough time to see each other, it then becomes clear that they are unmarried and meeting in secret. A bigger problem is expressed when Sam, Marion's lover, says " I sweat to pay off my father's debts... and he's in his grave... I sweat to pay my ex-wife other side of the world somewhere.  alimony, and she's living on the ". A motive is now introduced to Marion and Sam for needing more money for a happier life.Marion later says You couldn't be a criminal if you committed a major crime.Sam responds with I wish I were. Not an active criminal but... a nice guy with the conscience of a criminal.This foreshadows Marion's actions because later we see in the film Marion stealing money.She is not necessarily a bad person because her motives in stealing money from her job are with good intention, so this is exactly what Marion becomes "nice women with the conscience of a criminal". One other significant scene is when Marion first talks with Norman, they sit in a room were Norman's collections of stuffed birds surrounds them, this conversation reveals to the audience how creepy Norman is when it comes to his mother and birds.Norman says And I guess I'd just rather stuff birds because... well, I hate the look of beasts when they're stuffed, foxes and chimps and all..., This "stuffing birds" is a British slang for sex and a bird meaning a desirable women, this conveying in the film suppressed sexual desires due to his mother controlling him. When Marion suggest that Norman put his mother in a mental institution he becomes very defensive, he says "Well? You meant well? People always mean well, they cluck their thick tongues and shake their heads and suggest so very delicately that......it isn't as if she were a maniac, a raving thing... it's just that...  sometimes she goes a little mad. We all go a little mad sometimes. Haven't  you?" . At this point it's obvious to the audience that Norman's character is insane and the audience can assume that later on in the film something will happen to Marion based on this conversation.

4. What is the nature of our engagement with the story or characters?

In the beginning of the film we able to understand why Marion steels money from her job, but still does not justify her actions, and not much sympathy is felt until her actual murder.However Norman Bates character is well developed when the first time the audience meets him to all the way at the end of the.When Norman first sits down with Marion he comes off as very wired, but polite. In addition Norman's soft-spoken and timid personalty makes seem harmless, as Marion asks "Do you go out with friends", he responds with "A boy's best friend is his mother", he also goes on to explain how his father died and his mother had to take care of him and since she is now ill he has the responsibility to take care of his mother.Here we find the audience finds compassion for Norman, he hasn't had normal or healthy life due to his past circumstances and from the illness of his mother.The audiences impressions of him later turns creepy and Norman's words begin to have double meaning.Norman says"Were all in our private traps, calmed in them and none of us can never get out, we scratch and claw, but only at the air, only at each other, .. we never budge an inch". This sounds very similar to how Norman murder's Marion. Marion walks into the hotel, a trap, and she is murdered in the shower, as she is stabbed she yells and claws at the air but can not run away or get out.

5. Discuss the casting and the nature of the relationships explored in the film's narrative and themes.
The casting of the film had a major role on how it developed the story.The original Norman Bates from the novel was suppose to be a man who was over-weight, long untamed hair and overall  not put together and ungroomed. However this would have been extremely obvious when this character would have been first introduced, the audience would be able to acknowledge right away that he was the real murderer and it would have quite evident by his appearance he was crazy. This would have not given the surprising and startling amazing ending that the film had. This was a major factor in also captivating the audience, as we are lead to believe one person is guilty, it are even more stunned when we discover that we were wrong the entire time of watching the film. One of the themes in this film includes a very harsh perception of karma during the conversation with Norman and Marion, Norman mentions that people always walk into traps, Marion response with "Sometimes we deliberately step in those traps". This explaining that Marion had deserved what happen to her because she had "deliberately" stole money and tried to get away with it.

Historical and Institutional Influences

Historical and Institutional Influences

1.In the pre-production on Psycho their were many institutional factors that proved to be very important in Hitchcock's film, Psycho. Prior to the film Hitchcock was working with Paramount and he was guaranteed for another film, at this time this expected film was suppose to be No Bail for the Judge, which was about a lawyer defending her father who was accused of murdering a prostitute.However unexpectedly the main actor left on maternity leave, as a result Hitchcock conceived the idea for his proceeding film based on a novel that shown by his assistant this ideas was the start of his film Psycho.When he had presented this idea of Psycho to Paramount they immediately rejected it and said it was to "repulsive".Paramount did not play there usual role as producer because the did not like "anything about it".This was a major obstacle with Hitchcock having to finance his own film through his Shamley Productions and he did all his filming at Universal Studios. This was more of a positive outcome in the long run, Hitchcock was able to freely express himself without the restrictions of harsh movie producers, if he had to change his preconception of his film Psycho, too fit the standards of Paramount or any other production company, the film would not have the success it has today. He had said to his script writer/ director,Francois Truffaut, that Psycho "belongs to filmmakers, to you and me". 

2.a The film was based on a screen play made by Joseph Stefano who based it on the novel Psycho which was written by Robert Bloch in 1959. The document, or novel at this time was not popular until Hitchcock adapted it into a film. The novel was also influenced by Ed Gein, who was a murder and a grave robber that lived close to Bloch in Wisconsin and Norman Bates, also influenced by a murder in a rural area. In addition Bloch had also wrote two squeals to Psycho, Psycho House and Psycho 2. However when pursuing to make another film from Psycho 2 , Universal Studios rejected it because they did not want to produce a splatter film.  
b. One of the more significant reasons Psycho had become apart if film history was due to the it's new portrayal of sex and violence. This was unorthodox at the time, especially after a time of Production codes, which dictated what should and should not be censored during the 1960's. For this reason the movie gained to much controversy, even from the opening seen we see Sam and Marion in the same bed, with Marion in a bra.This was never seen before not only was a couple shown in the same bed, but Marion was exposing herself much more then a women would normally in a film that had gone through Production Code. Furthermore the film broke other guidelines in film such as a toilet flushing, showing a man's butt, etc. As far as violence there were several changes, such as shots were removed including the murder or Arbogast and a shot of the mother's dead corpse. In addition the shower scene was suppose to have minor changed because of the gore and violence, however this never happened and in the end was exactly the same.Alt the although  the unseen exposure to murder,blood and sex, the film itself was the best and the most popular thriller at this time. The critic Robert Ebert explains.It wasn't a message that stirred the audiences, nor was it a great performance...they were aroused by pure film."
c. During the studio years between 1930-1950, there were several production companies that dominated the film industries. This included MGM, 20th Century Fox, PKO, Warner Brothers, Paramount, Universal and Columbia. After the film Psycho, Hitchcock had not used the studio system and broke the usual production process of using these main production companies.This had allowed him the most freedom of expression without having any production company try to control the any significant parts of the film. Hitchcock also proved that these production companies were not needed to make a phenomenal film. It was the film itself that had made it one of the best films in history, like one famous critic said " What makes "Psycho" immortal, when so many films are already half-forgotten as we leave the theater, is that it connects directly with our fears: Our fears that we might impulsively commit a crime, our fears of the police, our fears of becoming the victim of a madman, and of course our fears of disappointing our mothers."

Hitchcock-Psycho: Genre and Audience

Hitchcock: Psycho

1) Alfred Hitchcock with the making of the film Psycho (1960), was not only named to be one of the greatest films ever made, but it also sparked new light into a new tradition of film. With his film, Psycho he helped to developed an entire new genre of the time, this being a modern horror.  
2) Psycho was named "the first psychoanalytical thriller", this is a very different tittle then any other film during this time, this all due to its unique elements contributing to this new type of film. The films use several motifs, such as shadows, mirrors, etc. In addition light and darkness also play a huge role, for example the first shot in the film is a sunny landscape, next we see Sam and Marion, two bright figures in a dark hotel room.One other example includes when Marion fees Phoenix and as she drives, she the scene is filled with darkness. Since lighting is one the main elements in determining a genre, the constant shadowy characters and and scenes, further pushed the "horror/thriller" 

3.The film actually alludes to several other works,this includes Marion, who's character was influenced by Persephone, in Greek mythology. This is seen in the flower wall paper room, this representing Persephone's flowers, but they are only reflected in mirrors. Furthermore the section of the film when we see Marion's eye still open after she is killed was taken from La Dolce Vita when the sea creature's eye is left open in the end of this film.
4.  Hitchcock's production assistant had first showed the novel Psycho to him, and this is how he discovered his influence in the this film. He then bought the rights to the novel and bought any copies so it would not spoil the end of the film for the audience. 
5.The screenplay was made by Joseph Stefano who based it on the 1959 novel Psycho who was written by Robert Bloch. This novel was also influenced by Ed Gein, who was a murderer and grave robber that lived close to Bloch in Wisconsin. In addition Norman Bates was also a murderer in a rural area. 
6. Like all Hitchcock's movies he did not follow the  outdoor filming stereotype during this time, instead he did the exact opposite and stayed with small sets, such as his film Lifeboat. Furthermore the plot  of Hitchcock's films also has some similarities. In a lot of his films we see women being violently murdered, such as, Frenzy, Rear Window,The Birds etc.Many feminist critics found this startling. Lastly some visual elements that Hitchcock focused on was communicating to the audience with visuals and camera shots unlike most films during this time that relied on dialogue 
7. The theme of Psycho like most of Hitchcock's film was the final hopelessness and corruption, however in this film the protagonist did not display any sort of innocence as his usual female characters do.
8. Hitchcock did not try to target any type of audience, the crowd simply liked his films for the art of it, not because of their age,gender,or any specific type of pubic. He is compared to Shakespeare with his "targeting", if he were to attract any mass pubic, it was because he was successful. 

From Silents to Studios Post

From Silents to Studios Post

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. 
During the 1920's many film makers and corporations had not disagreed with the idea of using sound within a film. However, the first to experiment with this new element was the Warner Brothers in 1927 with their film  The Jazz Singer. The film used 354 words in total with also incorporating background music.  This had become a phenomenon, the public was excited to see this new development. People stood in lines all day to watch the film. This sparked a flame that changed film forever. Following this film came The Singing Fool, which also gained immediate success as well as money. From this point, major students who were at first reluctant, now began to build sound stages. After this advancement within couple years most movies were now "talkies". Despite this development in sound, it also had negative points, many actors who left the entertainment business and many musicians who were used for background music for a film were no longer needed. This also effected how the movie was shot, scenes with dialogue would have to be a very long boring shot because there was one microphone in which the actors had to in range of. The cameras were now also immobile because cameras had to be enclosed so sound from it would not be picked up from the microphone. 

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.
During the time period, 1930's to 1950's there were many pros. This included that film became more popular as well as it being invested in. Before films were watched on a bench that usually sat about 20 to 30 people, however this changed to large and more comfortable theaters, and theaters such as these began to spread all over and the number of over all theaters increased rapidly. In addition all of society could afford to see a movie. This entertainment and past time could be shared and enjoyed with not just by the wealthy, but by everyone. On the other hand there were also unfortunately cons during this time as well such as the oligopoly. Since the New York CEOs had controlled all major business decisions, they had shed control of the MPPC which caused powerful studios to have most of the power. Lastly block booking was also utilized, this continued to give power to major cooperation because they would tamper with the viewers chose in watching a film.

Writing About A Film

Writing About A Film

     1) The first type of film writing described in this article is Formal analysis. Film analysis first divides the film and describes how certain sections present the movie as a whole. This type of writing focuses on specific segments of the movie in order to fully understand the entire film.


The second type of writing is cultural studies or natural cinemas, this analyze films that reflect certain cultures or nations, since cultures and ideas differ from all around the world, so do the films and how they portray a story.

The third type of film writing is film history. Film history is a type of writing in which discuss how history is influenced in the film, film history also includes the history of the actual film such as the productions and the releases.

The fourth is discussion of the auteur, this discuses how the final product came to be from the viewpoint of one person, usually the director, however its significant to note that there are several people who help to create a film and incorporate their ideas and work as well.

2) Annotating a Film Sequence is a form of note taking that involves labeling each shot in the sequence. This allows to keep track of such excessive and complicated shots. There are many benefits to annotating a film sequence.This will help to recognize any patterns in shots such as camera movements or editing decisions. In addition this could help with learning how the director made the film and what impact it had on the audience. This specific attention into cinematography will help to understand the overall film.

3) When the author mentions to "Think Beyond the Frame" she is referring too not only examine what is in front of us, "the frame", but to expand our thinking to what it is beyond just the actual work. This would include an assortment of topics about the film like how it was made or the historical and cultural context. In addition it is important to ask other questions such as how a genre helps to develop knowledge, this will allow you to have more appreciations for film accomplishments, furthermore knowing the production history will also aid you in into understanding the choices of the director, lastly another good thing to learn would be how film reflects cultural phenomenons, this will help to focus on similarities and differences due to culture in film. Thinking beyond the Frame such as this will help to make a well round and deep film analysis.