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.