Psycho The Violence And The

Essay, Research Paper

Violence and sexuality are usually the theme for action movies. In Hitchcock’s Psycho, violence is brought out as a substitute for sexuality. Norman Bates uses violence to release his sexual frustration. Two clues in the movie to support such an idea are: taxidermy and the shower murder.

To most people, taxidermy is a hobby; in Norman s case, stuffing birds can be viewed as a sign of violence and sexuality. Hobbies are usually regarded as innocent activities of casual interest, designed to help pass the time. Stuffing birds in a way is a cruel treatment to animals for it involves killing and suffering. The Oxford English Dictionary defines taxidermy as “the act of preparing and preserving the skins of animals, and stuffing and mounting them so as to present the appearance, attitude, etc. of the living animal.” Norman enjoys doing such thing in order to keep the creatures in his possession. People who like stuffing birds are not all necessary violent, or have the tendency that Norman does. Norman grows up in a single parent family His mother is a controlling and demanding woman who takes away his chance of socializing and disconnects him from society. Thus, we can imagine how little association Norman has had with women. Moreover, the mother s overprotection causes a permanent breakdown of masculinity for Norman. Norman s masculinity is replaced by a horrendous and power-obsessed femininity. Norman doesn t appreciate the way his mother treats him. The viewer sees his dissatisfaction from the argument Norman has with his mother when he invites Marion to the house for dinner. It is not the mother herself fighting with Norman. It is Norman impersonating the mother and imagining the way his mother would be treats him in such a case. Needless to say, Norman has built up his anger towards the mother over the years. His desire for a woman and his discontentedness towards his mother have to be released in some way. He chooses to stuff birds to express his dissatisfaction with his social life.

Yet, its significance that Norman chooses to “stuff” and keep the “dead” birds rather than have the live birds of his own. Norman is longing for independence from his mother and the freedom of running away from the mother s possession. In other words, Norman is looking forward to being himself and making decisions for his own life. He needs the freedom and is jealous of anyone who has such freedom. Hitchcock in the film uses birds to deliver the freedom message and indicates that birds become the first victim of his jealousy. He chooses to take away the birds freedom by taking away their lives rather than keeping live birds in the cage. This implies his hidden violence in taxidermy. Stuffing birds becomes his so-called “hobby” which indeed is a method of frustration release.

The way Norman views birds is different than the way the rest of us. To Norman, birds are signs of women. He tells Marion, “I think only birds look well stuffed because they’re kind of passive to begin with.” In a male dominated society, women are sometimes considered as soft, tender, and the delicate human beings. In Norman s world, women as well as birds could be described as “passive” objects. The resemblance between birds and women tells us the way Norman s ideal woman is viewed in his social life. The connection between women and “stuffed birds” is clear in the film. Norman describes his mother as being “as harmless as one of those stuffed birds.” When he has finished stabbing Marion in the shower, she slumps out of the shower and we see one of her unblinking eyes which makes her look like a bird. Norman makes it obvious to us that women are constructed as “stuffed,” passive creatures in his eyes. Since stuffing birds is a tool Norman uses to release his dissatisfaction in his social life, and birds have taken the place of women, it literally described how Norman displays the sex act through his behavior of stuffing birds.

The shower murder is the primary sexual act displayed in the film. There are two significant questions in this well-known scene: what are Norman s murder motivations and why is the murder projected onto the mother side of Norman? Basically, the questions can be analyzed from the perspectives of Norman and the mother side of Norman. That means what Norman and the mother thinks of Marion and what threats does Marion pose to both sides of Norman are critical in order to explain Norman s violence substitute for sexuality. It can be argued that Norman murders Marion out of jealousy and because of the instability his masculinity. His sexual inability which hosted by the violent mother side makes him a murderer instead of a rapist. The mother side of Norman also fears her power over Norman will eventually be take over by the existence of Marion.

To Norman, Marion has two qualities that he does not have: freedom and wholeness. Marion is a woman who has the freedom to determine her own life and can run away from her trouble. Marion gives him ideas about going out and socializing with friends and sending the mother to an institution. These messages send him the notion of the freedom Norman is incapable of acquiring and causes Norman to become nervous and jealous of Marion. His jealousy of Marion in a way is just like his jealousy of birds. Such jealousy makes Norman kill birds. Now we can use the same theory to explain one of the reasons why Norman