In contemporary society, masculinity is
defined by economic independence, physical strength, and boldness, while
femininity is defined as the adaptation to male power. However, in Alfred
Hitchcock’s 1960 film “Psycho” he does not conform to the idea of masculinity
and femininity as societal euphemisms for male dominance and female
subordination. In fact, he expresses a role reversal where both sexes have
acted outside of their gender assignment by adopting each other’s attributes.
Nevertheless, to explain this more Hitchcock illustrates the men in this film
of having a passive character while women have become aggressive.
The audience is aware of the gender
role reversal in Psycho notably in the scene where Marion’s sister Lila goes to
explore the house and find Mrs. Bates, while Sam attempts to divert Norman’s
attention. First, it should be noted that before Lila begins her search, the
two find a paper with Marion’s handwriting on it by the toilet. Sam in return
fills the norm of what is expected from a man by saying, “I don’t like you going
into that house alone”. Hitchcock shows that Sam’s makes an effort to live up
to the societal norm of a man being the protector of a woman; yet Sam sounds
complacent when he says he will go and find Bates to keep him occupied. Sam’s
gender performance in this scene shows that he is weak. He rathers Lila to do
the searching which is identified as the masculine role, and he takes the
easier submissive role of just interrogating. A question arises; why not use
Lila as the decoy instead? She is a woman that could have used her feminine
wiles in a heterosexual world to have Norman answer her questions. Furthermore,
Hitchcock is conveying women in a different light where they shed their
passiveness by assuming the aggressor role.
Hitchcock’s expression of Sam usurping the
subordinate role is compensated with his hypermasculinity in the conversation
scene he has with Norman. Upon entering the room Sam is portrayed to the
audience as nervous by the tension in his body language, and reluctance to
approach Norman too close. After all, he is aware that Norman is potentially
dangerous, but he does not know how. He attempts to badger the information out
of him, and it is here, where it is suggested that Norman thinks Sam is
cognizant to his secret, (though in actuality he is not), when he says, “ Buy a
new one, in a new town, where you wont have to hide your mother”. Evidently,
Norman thinks Sam is on to him and he begins to stutter in his speech, as well
as tensing up in his own body language. In this scene, Sam at a glance seems to
have regained his masculinity because he is emphatic in his reasoning with
Norman, which ultimately renders Norman in the female position as he becomes bothered
and effeminate by Sam’s approach. However, Sam is still considered a failure in
his gender role because he obtains the passive job yet still does not possess
enough wit to pry information out of Norman.
In regards to Norman and femininity
Hitchcock shows Norman having two personalities inside of him, his regular
self, and his adoption of “mother’s” personality. It should be noted that
Hitchcock’s presentation of Norman in the film is not merely a person who has
two sides to him but it goes deeper to them as two beings sharing one body.
Norman’s character is expressed a commonplace misogyny. For example, if one is
to refer to his regular self as Norman then the audience is aware of his
passiveness throughout the film. Yet his personality of mother is projected as
the person responsible of murdering the other characters in the film. In this
sense, mother conforms to Hitchcock’s expression of gender role reversal in the
film. Mother has masculine attributes where she is the aggressor holding no
remorse after she kills the people. The audience may question that the true
nature of Norman having a dual personality is to sugarcoat the true motif that
he has not gotten over his Oedipal complex. Author Vivian Sobchack in her
article, ”Bringing It All Back Home: Family Economy and Generic Exchange ”
writes, “The repressed in the genre is no longer the double threat found in the
traditional horror film: an excessive will to power and knowledge as well as
unbridled sexual desire. Rather, the repressed is patriarchal hatred, fear, and
self loathing” (152). This answers the question to Norman’s misplace misogyny.
He is ashamed of his sexual desires and projects his self-loathing on to the
women he murders. He blames mother, another woman, and this represents
Hitchcock’s idea of gender role reversal with women ultimately being assertive
and men as passive.
In essence, Alfred Hitchcock’s film
“Psycho” ultimately shows gender instability within the portrayal of female and
male characters. Males such as Norman when he is not caught up with mother, and
Sam demonstrates that they do not perform in the conventional sense of their
assigned gender. Hitchcock allows women, who are commonly victimized in Horror
as the victor of the screen. It is because of Lila the truth is unearthed and
the audience learns that Norman has a dual personality. His second personality,
mother, emphasizes that gender is socially constructed because everything that
one would expect from male is performed through a female.
Works Cited
Psycho. Dir. Alfred Hitchcock. 1960.
Sobchack, Vivian. "Bringing It All Back Home: Family
Economy and Generic Exchange." 143-63.
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