Genre Influence



















In this shot we see what the audience and Lila presumes to be Norman's mother from a POV (point of view) shot from Lila. The foreground of the shot is dominated by an bright over exposed light-bulb. The mother is seated in a chair and centred in the background of the shot. She is strongly lit and is casting a shadow behind her. Also in the background are various items such as barrels of fruit, cartons etc. Showing the audience this is a fruit cellar.

At the same time we hear a minor key/low tone note being played by a stringed instrument. This transitions to a slightly higher notes which is accompanied by more strings creating a feeling of suspense. The diegetic sounds of the door opening and Lila's footsteps can also be heard. As the scene continues we also hear Lila say "Mrs Bates" further convincing the audience to this women being Norma Bates (Norman's mother).

The combinations of these visuals and verbal's help to build a feeling of suspense. Norma is made to be the significant thing in this shot. This is because she is completely isolated and light-up, this alludes to that Norma being here is too easy. The audience may begin to think that something's wrong as Norma has never been presented in this way before. We as an audience are frightened of Norma due to previous scenes pointing towards her being a murderer. However, Lila doesn't know this so she approaches Norma creating a moment of dramatic irony. This dramatic irony builds to the suspense because the audience thinks Lila is in extreme danger but because Lila doesn't know this she continues to approach Lila. The music here adds to this suspense by building up in tone and pace. It tricks the audience into thinking that this music will build up into the repetitive music heard during previous murders.

The dramatic irony in this scene plays a key part in contributing to the tension building. In the first viewing of the film the audience thinks that Norma is the murderer whereas Lila doesn't. Dramatic irony is commonly seen in horror films as it works to build suspense, just as it does here. Dramatic irony is where the audience knows something that a character doesn’t. An example of this in this shot is how Lila is approaching Norma not knowing what the audience thinks, which is that she is a dangerous murderer. However, the use of dramatic irony and the music building up is used to mislead the audience into thinking Norma is the killer. Therefore in the following shot's when Norma is revealed to be dead the audience is extremely shocked as well as Lila. Which is quickly followed by the reveal of Norman dressed as his mother ready to kill Lila.

The themes that are developed here are both common to the horror genre. The themes being don’t trust people easily and things aren't always are as they seem. We thought Lila was in danger from Norman's mother but it is revealed that Norma is long dead and was killed by Norman a long time ago. Therefore when the movie concludes these themes are particularly effective as the audience was extremely shocked by the reveal of someone they trusted to be a crazed murderer.

Hitchcock is successful in his in intentions here because he left the audience in a moment of suspense in this shot. He did this right up until the shock reveal of the skeleton, causing the suspense he previously built up to have a strong impact on the audience. Which brings across his theme, which the audience is shocked into believing, things aren't always as they seem. Secondly, Hitchcock convinced audiences of his theme of don’t trust people easily. He did this when he revealed the true identity of Norma Bates. She had been previously built up to be the murderer which on a first viewing the audience believed. The audience thought this through the previous use of tension and horror showing an outline of a female murdering which the audience assumed was Norman’s mother.  Therefore when she is revealed to be dead all the trust we had left in Norman was completely diminished, because we knew he had been lying about her this entire time. This left the audience feeling betrayed and therefore making them believe in Hitchcock's intention.

The way the audience felt here, in a first viewing of the filming during this scene, is similar to what Lila was feeling. This made her the character we were currently associating ourselves with and were completely on par with excluding the use of dramatic irony. However on a second viewing dramatic irony is used in a different way, this is because the audience would know Norman to be the true killer. This differs from a first time viewer who believes the dramatic irony is being used to set up Norma as the killer. This use of characterisation was part of what made this film very influential on the horror genre. In many horror films that followed they used this concept of having a final girl, hence the name of this trope being the 'Final Girl', to face off against the killer and be the one who the audience identifies with the most. The Final Girl is commonly the last victim to face off against the murderer, usually they are unlike other characters in the film and is a character the audience can often associate with.

The themes established in this scene also were very influential in the horror genre. This is due to them having strong shock value and were able to create a sense of tension or unease easily. These horror films which adapted many tropes of this film including the Final Girl, dramatic irony, common themes etc. all begun to form their own sub-genre of horror called slasher. A famous slasher film, asides from Psycho, is Halloween. In Halloween the Final Girl, Laurie, wanders into a house to check on her friend while she doesn't know of the killer who just killed them. This use of dramatic irony is used to establish tension which is then extended over a long period of time making strong use of the Final Girl. This is because due to the audience associating themselves with the Final Girl the suspense and worry she feels over an extended period of time also works on the audience. Films such as Halloween and many other slashers were extremely successful in their time due to the ways they borrowed these concepts from Psycho. Their success shows evidence of Hitchcock's Psycho being extremely influential on horror

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