Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho
When Hitchcock made Psycho in 1959 and early 1960, it was a hard sell to begin with considering the subject matter and that no studio wanted to pick it up, so Hitch had to put up his own money and on the off season from “ Alfred Hitchcock Presents”, he filmed the film. However, the subject matter was just the beginning of the tricks that Hitchcock had up his sleeves for the film and his viewing public. By the time Psycho rolled around, Hitchcock had already made a name for himself as a filmmaker and as the master of suspense and the public already knew that he had a leading lady type, if you will called the Hitchcock blonde. Typically Tall, sleek, slender, very good looking and obviously blond, from Eva Marie Saint (North by Northwest) to
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He uses the poster to perceive the audience into thinking that the film is perhaps a romantic film, dealing with Janet Leigh’s character being torn between Perkins and Gavin and presumably the two men having to battle it out for her affections. Hitch even goes the extra mile by showing Gavin with his shirt off, and his well defined six pack and Perkins with his shirt on and looking rather plain. In fact, only Perkins’ face is featured on the poster. Perkins’ young boyish looking face that was his trademark as a …show more content…
Never in the entire film is Bates’ desperate. He has the upper hand the entire film. Well I should say that Mother Bates has the upper hand the entire film, and Norman is in fact desperate to shake the persona of his mother. But really in fact he created the persona of his mother to deal with the fact that he murdered her, so is not desperate to get rid of her at all. He is in control of the situation at all times.
Hitchcock is reflecting all of this in his poster. On first look, it looks like a simple love triangle that has to deal with the quiet guy and the ripped guy fighting for the affection of the buxom blonde, but in fact is telling the story of how one innocent looking man is actually preying on those who are in desperate situations. Essentially, Hitchcock made the film poster into almost Norman Bates himself, making it on first glance looking like a harmless romantic film, that people trusted and felt safe with, but instead it has more sinister intentions and no one should feel safe with it at
He uses the poster to perceive the audience into thinking that the film is perhaps a romantic film, dealing with Janet Leigh’s character being torn between Perkins and Gavin and presumably the two men having to battle it out for her affections. Hitch even goes the extra mile by showing Gavin with his shirt off, and his well defined six pack and Perkins with his shirt on and looking rather plain. In fact, only Perkins’ face is featured on the poster. Perkins’ young boyish looking face that was his trademark as a …show more content…
Never in the entire film is Bates’ desperate. He has the upper hand the entire film. Well I should say that Mother Bates has the upper hand the entire film, and Norman is in fact desperate to shake the persona of his mother. But really in fact he created the persona of his mother to deal with the fact that he murdered her, so is not desperate to get rid of her at all. He is in control of the situation at all times.
Hitchcock is reflecting all of this in his poster. On first look, it looks like a simple love triangle that has to deal with the quiet guy and the ripped guy fighting for the affection of the buxom blonde, but in fact is telling the story of how one innocent looking man is actually preying on those who are in desperate situations. Essentially, Hitchcock made the film poster into almost Norman Bates himself, making it on first glance looking like a harmless romantic film, that people trusted and felt safe with, but instead it has more sinister intentions and no one should feel safe with it at