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    Psycho

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    Grace Sansbury Chance
    The document discusses the influence of the character of Mrs. Bates, Norman Bates' mother, from the film Psycho. It explores how, though she only appears as a corpse, Mrs. Bates drives the plot and Norman's murderous split personality. The document also examines how the theme of the domineering and death-bringing mother figure influenced later horror films, seen in characters like Jason Voorhees' mother in Friday the 13th and the family in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. Finally, the document compares Mrs. Bates to the character of Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard and how both works explore the horrors of gender identity and the relationship with the mother's body.

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    Psycho

    Uploaded by

    Grace Sansbury Chance
    25 views11 pages
    The document discusses the influence of the character of Mrs. Bates, Norman Bates' mother, from the film Psycho. It explores how, though she only appears as a corpse, Mrs. Bates drives the plot and Norman's murderous split personality. The document also examines how the theme of the domineering and death-bringing mother figure influenced later horror films, seen in characters like Jason Voorhees' mother in Friday the 13th and the family in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. Finally, the document compares Mrs. Bates to the character of Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard and how both works explore the horrors of gender identity and the relationship with the mother's body.

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    The document discusses the influence of the character of Mrs. Bates, Norman Bates' mother, from the film Psycho. It explores how, though she only appears as a corpse, Mrs. Bates drives the plot and Norman's murderous split personality. The document also examines how the theme of the domineering and death-bringing mother figure influenced later horror films, seen in characters like Jason Voorhees' mother in Friday the 13th and the family in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. Finally, the document compares Mrs. Bates to the character of Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard and how both works explore the horrors of gender identity and the relationship with the mother's body.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    25 views11 pages

    Psycho

    Uploaded by

    Grace Sansbury Chance
    The document discusses the influence of the character of Mrs. Bates, Norman Bates' mother, from the film Psycho. It explores how, though she only appears as a corpse, Mrs. Bates drives the plot and Norman's murderous split personality. The document also examines how the theme of the domineering and death-bringing mother figure influenced later horror films, seen in characters like Jason Voorhees' mother in Friday the 13th and the family in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. Finally, the document compares Mrs. Bates to the character of Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard and how both works explore the horrors of gender identity and the relationship with the mother's body.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    of 11

    THE MOTHER

    Introduction
    ◦ Mrs. Bates in the film
    ◦ Death mother
    ◦ Norma Bates and Norma Desmond
    ◦ The Influence of ‘Mother’
    ◦ Friday the 13th
    ◦ The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
    The Mother/Mrs. Bates in film
    She is the deceased mother and victim of serial killer Norman Bates,
    who had developed a murderous split personality based on her.
    Although she is an important character and driving the plot, Mrs. Bates
    only appears as an corpse in the film. It is suggested through the film
    and other media that she raised Norman with cruelty after the death of
    her husband, forbidding him from having a life away from her and that
    sexual intercourse is sinful and that all women, except for herself are
    whores. She can be seen as a third macguffin as she always becomes
    the apical of the plot as each character wants to talk to her like
    After murdering his mother and her lover, Norman is so distressed he Figure 1: The Mother
    takes her body and mummifies it and develops this new persona of ‘They are probably looking at
    ‘mother’. me...let them. Let them see
    When Norman is faced with his greatest fear, the ‘mother’ persona what kind of person I am I never
    takes full control of his mind in an attempt to shield Norman from the hurt a fly, I hope they're
    watching, they'll see.. They'll see
    horrors of the “mad house.” Even after being discovered, “Norma”
    and they'll know "Because she
    attempts to manipulate the situation, by portraying herself as a couldn't hurt a fly“’ – Mother
    harmless individual who couldn’t hurt a fly. (Psycho 1960)
    Death Mother
    At the end of the film, it is suggested through
    surrealism film techniques, that Norman has now
    become possessed by ‘the mother’, when the
    mother’s skull-face appears over his face and
    then dissolves into the end scene where they pull
    Crane’s car out of the swamp. This technique
    gives the effect that we have entered the world
    of death, one that is tinted with and indissociable
    from the images and associations with the
    mother, which inverts the mother as someone
    who brings forth death and not life.
    Figure 2: Norman being possessed by Mother
    This concept emerges from the diegetic world of the film. She emerges from a fusion of narrative
    concerns. As we never see The mother/Mrs. Bates, her character is based on her distance in the film
    as she remains mysterious and unseen till the end of the film but we do hear about her from
    Norman, and later the chief of police, meaning all her characteristics are based on what we are
    told. These characteristics then get muddled as well, because these two characters each tell us
    different things about her and later finding out that Norman killed her also does this.
    Norma Bates and Norma Desmond
    Psycho is expands on similar themes of an overpowering female
    presence in the musical version of Sunset Boulevard. In Sunset
    Boulevard follows a fictional movie star, Norma Desmond and
    explores her relationship with Joe Gillis, who she hires to polish up
    her comeback Screenplay. Norma, in fierce make-up and a dress
    that exaggerate her femininity alternately seduces and repels Joe.
    What links Sunset Boulevard to Psycho are the associations of
    Norma and death and the level of aesthetic they achieved by the
    end of the film.
    Psycho and Sunset Boulevard both reveal that a particular
    relationship exists between works that seek to thematize the terrors
    Figure 3: Norma Desmond
    of gendered identity and sexual desire, specifically the relationship
    to the mother’s body and female sexuality, while also seeking an
    especially calibrated, considered appealing effect.
    The death-mother may suggest a great deal about the dread of
    the mother in culture and the prejudice dimensions of this dread.
    The Influence of the ’Mother’
    ◦ The ominous mother motif in Psycho has become a trend in contemporary horror films
    and it started with Psycho.
    ◦ Many famous horror icons have motivation for doing the psychopathic deeds they
    commit due to the connection to the mother or family, in turn causing them to murder.
    Just like Normans connection and cause for killing being his mother.

    “The maternal figure may be considered as the monstrous feminine. As Creed argues,
    when a woman is constructed as monstrous, it is almost always in reference to her
    capacity to reproduce and to mother.”
    (Quilis 2010)
    The Influence of the ’Mother: Friday the 13th
    ◦ A variation of the theme of the ‘Mother’ has had
    influence in the Friday the 13th series.
    ◦ Jason Voorhees main motivation for killing is due to the
    influence of his mother who drives him to seek revenge for
    her death.
    ◦ In the film in the franchise the influence from Psycho is
    more apparent with Pamela Voorhees, the mother, being Figure 4: Jason
    Voorhees
    the main killer, with the son, that we thing is dead
    encouraging her to kill.
    ◦ In fact Jason has the remains of his mother as seen in part Figure 5: Norma’s Corpse
    2 as a shrine similar to Norman bates.
    ◦ ”Friday the 13th and Psycho were similar in quite a bit of
    ways. The main way being the relationship and obsession
    Jason Voorhees had with his mother Pamela Voorhees. It
    may not be quite the same obsession Norman Bates had
    with his mother, but it had a very big influence on
    the Friday the 13th saga.” (Macabre 2016) Figure 6: Pamela’s
    Corpse
    The Influence of the ’Mother’:
    The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
    ◦ Both Psycho and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre were both loosely inspired
    by Ed Gein the Butcher of Plainfield so there is no surprise they have some
    themes in common.
    ◦ In The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, there is a very prevalent theme of family
    and the mother. Leatherface in several scenes is dressed as his mother,
    and a cut scene where he applies make up to his mask.
    ◦ The Sawyer family also keep the decomposing bodies of their loved ones
    similar to Norman and his Mother and bring them to diner as if they are still
    alive just like Bates talks to and perceives his mother as still alive. Figure 7: Leatherface

    “The abjection or interstitially of Leatherface (in relation to gender) is directly


    related to that of Norman Bates in Psycho.”
    (Quilis 2010)
    In conclusion, the death mother has bought about the concept that the mother
    character doesn’t just have to bring life, it can also bring death. And that the mother has
    gone on to influence other similar horror films.
    Illustration Bibliography
    Figure 1: The Mother (1960). [Image] Available at:
    https://i.pinimg.com/originals/42/22/09/422209c4ddc3be8e8fe88e5b9bce809d.jpg [Accessed
    24 Jan. 2019].
    Figure 2: Norman being possessed by mother. (2019). [image] Available at: https://cdn-
    images-1.medium.com/max/1600/1*50HyYyepLl4XRl8QVROP0w.png [Accessed 24 Jan. 2019].
    Figure 3: Norma Desmond. (2019). [image] Available at:
    https://www.weekendnotes.co.uk/im/005/06/sunset-boulevard-andrew-lloyd-webber-
    musicals-in-s.jpg [Accessed 24 Jan. 2019].
    Figure 4:: Jason Voorhees. (2019). [image] Available at:
    http://spaceamigos.com/?qa=image&qa_blobid=15171893308661524375&qa_size=400
    [Accessed 24 Jan. 2019]
    Figure 5: Norma’s Corpse (1960). [Image] Available at:
    https://i.pinimg.com/originals/42/22/09/422209c4ddc3be8e8fe88e5b9bce809d.jpg [Accessed
    24 Jan. 2019]
    Figure 6: Pamela's Corpse. (2019). [image] Available at:
    https://i.ytimg.com/vi/ODAgUY4ugMo/maxresdefault.jpg [Accessed 24 Jan. 2019].
    Figure 7: Leatherface. (2019). [image] Available at:
    https://medias.spotern.com/spots/w640/165415-1539375174.jpg [Accessed 24 Jan. 2019].
    Bibliography
    Bloch, R. (1994). Robert Bloch -- Essays -- Off Their Rocker. [online] Mgpfeff.home.sprynet.com. Available
    at: http://mgpfeff.home.sprynet.com/price_rocker.html [Accessed 24 Jan. 2019].
    Greven, D. (2017). The role of the death-mother in film | OUPblog. [online] OUPblog. Available at:
    https://blog.oup.com/2017/03/women-in-film-death/ [Accessed 24 Jan. 2019].
    Jr., P. (2016). A Defense Of Mrs. Bates. [online] Birth.Movies.Death. Available at:
    https://birthmoviesdeath.com/2016/07/29/a-defense-of-mrs.-bates [Accessed 24 Jan. 2019].
    Pfeiffer, L. (2014). Psycho | film by Hitchcock [1960]. [online] Encyclopedia Britannica. Available at:
    https://www.britannica.com/topic/Psycho-film-1960 [Accessed 24 Jan. 2019].
    Twahir, A. (2018). Psycho (1960) | The Medium. [online] The Medium. Available at:
    https://themedium.ca/arts/psycho-1960/ [Accessed 24 Jan. 2019].
    Macabre. (2016). SLASHER WEEK: HORROR FILMS INFLUENCED FROM ALFRED HITCHCOCK’S
    ‘PSYCHO’. Available: https://monstersofmidian.wordpress.com/2016/05/23/slasher-week-horror-films-
    inspired-by-alfred-hitchcocks-psycho/ . Last accessed 24/1/2019.
    Francesc Quilis. (2010). 'Psycho': The Mother of All Horrors. Available:
    https://www.popmatters.com/126709-psycho-the-mother-of-all-horrors-
    2496182685.html?rebelltitem=1#rebelltitem1 . Last accessed 24/1/2019.

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