Blog #4 - Identification in Psycho

Chelsea Bristow

In movies, we frequently identify with the main character. However, what do we do when our main character is no longer available? According to Robin Wood’s article, “Psycho,” “Everything is one to encourage the spectator to identify with Marion…Needing a new center, we attach ourselves to Norman Bates…” (143-147).  In the movie Psycho, we naturally identify with the main character, Marion, but after she’s killed, we’re forced to identify with Norman Bates.

We identify with Marion from the beginning of the film. Wood says, “In the dispute between the lovers we naturally side with [Marion]…” (143). We side with Marion because we want her and Sam to be together, despite the financial obstacles. This is the same reason we continue to identify with her when she steals the money. Marion steals the money for Sam, so he can pay his debts and his ex wife’s alimony, allowing them to be together. As she drives away we the money, we continue to identify with her and “share her hopelessness and her weariness” (Wood 145). She imagines conversations with various other characters, making the audience feel her guilt and anxiety. Our identification with Marion ends with her death. We also identify with Marion during the shower scene in which she dies. Before this scene, Marion decides to return the money she stole. As she showers, she smiles, as if relieved by her decision, and we feel relieved with her. Then, there’s a point of view shot of the shower head, so it’s as if we’re taking a shower.

“...when it is over, and [Marion] is dead, we are left shocked, with nothing to cling to, the apparent center of the film entirely dissolved” (Wood 147). Marion’s death leaves us confused and lost, without a character to connect with. This is why we gladly attach ourselves to Norman Bates, “the only other character (at this point) available” (Wood 147). As Norman is cleaning up the murder scene, we further identify with him, feeling sorry for him as he cleans up his mother’s mess. Wood argues, “As he cleans up after his mother’s hideous crime, the camera becomes subjective; they are our hands mopping away the blood” (147). In a sense, we become Norman, trying to get rid of the evidence left behind by a crazy mother.