This film really cau
ght me off guard. To be completely honest, I had initially only thought of Hitchcock films as cheesy horror films from my parents’ childhood…something that I really did not want to waste my time on. I had seen pieces of Hitchcock’s Vertigo (1958) and I had seen Hitchcock’s Rear Window (1954) in its entirety, but I had always thought of Psycho as the cheesiest Hitchcock horror film. However, after viewing Psycho, my mind has been changed. Hitchcock was able to create dramatic and intense moments that the viewer could relate to. For me personally, the most influential moments in this film were the moments when Marion was going through dialogue and different situations in her head; most of these moments taking place while leaving town. I was able to connect with the character, because had I been leaving town, I would have been going through those same circumstances in my own mind. Rather than creating a new scene that displayed the actual situation going on back at the town while Marion was leaving, the scene was restricted to a shot of Marion’s anxious face and different desperate facial expressions while driving her car. This created a more realistic display of what it might feel like or what one might be thinking if they were leaving town.
ght me off guard. To be completely honest, I had initially only thought of Hitchcock films as cheesy horror films from my parents’ childhood…something that I really did not want to waste my time on. I had seen pieces of Hitchcock’s Vertigo (1958) and I had seen Hitchcock’s Rear Window (1954) in its entirety, but I had always thought of Psycho as the cheesiest Hitchcock horror film. However, after viewing Psycho, my mind has been changed. Hitchcock was able to create dramatic and intense moments that the viewer could relate to. For me personally, the most influential moments in this film were the moments when Marion was going through dialogue and different situations in her head; most of these moments taking place while leaving town. I was able to connect with the character, because had I been leaving town, I would have been going through those same circumstances in my own mind. Rather than creating a new scene that displayed the actual situation going on back at the town while Marion was leaving, the scene was restricted to a shot of Marion’s anxious face and different desperate facial expressions while driving her car. This created a more realistic display of what it might feel like or what one might be thinking if they were leaving town. 
1 comment:
I think you're right on about the value of seeing Marion's face as she thinks through the possible consequences of her deeds. Identification seems to be the whole point here--we are to identify with Marion, the thief, just as, later, our identification is shifted from Marion to Norman (a much more difficult challenge, which Hitchcock nevertheless pulls off quite successfully, I believe). Janet Leigh was chosen for the role partly on the basis of her ability to pull off these car scenes--it takes a special actor to be able to sustain these scenes that consist of little else than a head shot of a solitary woman in a darkened car. I think her eyes are the key...
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