Kevin Winslow
The Mystery
Blog Post #2
"Genres are not just post facto categories, then, but part of the constant category-splitting/category-creating dialectic that constitutes the history of types and terminology. Instead of imaging this process in terms of static classification, we might want to see it, in terms of a regular alternation between an expansive principle-the creation of a new cycle-and a principle of contraction- the consolidation of a genre." - Rick Altman
Film genres aren't a completely static thing, they are an ever changing landscape which elements from other genres overlap. Though a film like Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho is primarily a horror film it borrows elements from other types of movies to create it's own niche sub-genre.
The year Psycho released(1960) horror films were then fundamentally changed in their approach. Although similar techniques were used to display horror elements to an audience, different kinds of horror started to appear. Before films like Psycho most horror films had some sort of monster or alien that would terrorize certain individuals. Psycho changed this by placing the monster within the mind of a mostly normal human being, at least seeming normal initially.
Psycho starts to make the transition into a horror film about forty minutes into the movie with the office scene with Marion Crane and Norman Bates. Only a few minutes later the character the viewer has been following and identifying with is murdered and the whole dynamic of the film changes. Prior to this however the audience has been watching a different kind of film, something that isn't necessarily exclusively part of the horror genre.
The reason Marion even ended up at the motel she was murdered at in the first place was because she was fleeing from the consequences of her recent actions. Marion Crane stole $40,000 from her place of work in order to ease the economic burden her lover (Sam Loomis) found himself in, since it was impacting their relationship. Marion however did not have the conviction to carry out such a crime in its entirety or carry it out in an effective manner. This was clearly shown by the fact that just before she was murdered she decided that she'd return the money on what would have probably been the following day.
Marion made a sort of impromptu decision without careful planning when carrying out the crime. After taking the money she immediately tried to flee the city, not even stopping when she was seen by her very own boss. She even continued after arising the suspicions of a police office who ended up following her all the way to a car dealership.
The scene at the car dealership clearly shows the poor judgement of Marion and how it will essentially leave a paper-trail to wherever she is planning on going. After recently being questioned by the police officer Marion decided that she wishes to swap out her car for a different one. Marion's actions were clearly suspicious since no usual person would give the kind of demands that she gave along with how she was pressuring the salesman. Throughout the scene there was a clear anxiety on Marion's face and it was compounded further when she had noticed that the police officer from earlier was there watching her.
When she finally leaves the dealership with her new car she imagines the conversations of the people she interacted with within her very own mind. This shows the paranoia she has of the whole situation from her very own perspective.
The first third of the film can't quite be classified as a horror film by itself. Although there is tension and plenty of suspense it lacks certain elements that would give it the horror classification; it's only later in the film that it merges with traditional horror elements. The early portion of the film could probably be classified as a mystery or a crime film rather than a horror film. The stolen money is actually a macguffin in the film as it attempts to mislead the audience of the direction the film is going to take.
Mystery films are typically part of certain crime films as they focus on certain individuals trying to solve a crime using various clues. In Psycho both private investigator Milton Arbogast, Lila Crane and Sam Loomis, try to find the whereabouts of Marion Crane which leads them to an old motel run by the killer Norman Bates. From the perspective of Sam and Lila the horror of the situation is never revealed until the final moments of the film, to them it's mostly still a mystery even though they assume that Marion was murdered for the $40,000. The revelation of the murderer at the end of the film is considered to be a closed mystery film as the guilty party is not reveled until the very end.
For these reasons Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho shouldn't just be classified as a horror film but as a psychological horror mystery film, thus branching beyond the normal boundaries of the horror genre and preventing static classification.
Works Cited
Altman, Rick "Genrification as process". 62-68. Print.
Wood "PSYCHO". 142-151. Print.
No comments:
Post a Comment