Rhetorical Analysis on Psycho

Psycho Rhetorical Analysis There are many factors that contribute to making a film as a frightening as Alfred Hitchcock’s classic horror film Psycho, without all of the typical gruesome scenes moviegoers are used to seeing. The timeless movie Psycho is a 1960 American psychological thriller about the encounter between Marion Crane, a secretary hiding out after stealing a large amount of money, and the schizophrenic motel owner Norman Bates, both of whom must deal with the guilt and surveillance as consequences of their actions in the film. Hitchcock establishes his message by going beyond the parameters of a conventional horror film, leaving the audience shocked with his twisted mysterious plot. The audience was not only able to feel the guilt of the protagonists through close-ups of the camera, but also feel the surveillance aspect shown through the lens focusing at a distance from the scene. These deliberate and specific camera angles set the feeling of being watched, as many experience as a result of guilt in the conscience. Repeated uses of motifs, such mirrors, birds, and eyes, in addition to the camera’s focuses and the music played in the background, helped Hitchcock portray the themes of voyeurism and how surveillance and guilt come hand in hand.
Without Marion and Norman’s feelings of getting caught, their guilt probably wouldn’t be so powerful in their minds. Anyone can be a witness to a crime, just like an audience watching a film, which makes their consciences that much more terrified.
Hitchcock uses the very first scene to convey his strong surveillance and guilt message that pans out throughout the film using camerawork and text on the screen. The first shot pans across many skyscraper buildings and finally descends and starts to go deeper into one of many windows in a “cheaper, high-rise hotel building” (Johns). There, the camera pauses at the half-open window and then voyeuristically intrudes into the darkness of the room. This effective