How can anyone know the level of madness inside an individual? What can make you a crazy person? Is it possible to lose your own personality and become another person?
Norman Bates, antagonist of the black and white film “Psycho”, is a young man who seems to have more than one personality. Obsessed with an older woman, his own mother, Norman bates becomes completely dominated by the super- ego of his unconscious.
He looks like a normal, innocent and friendly man, but inside him, still lives the essence of his mother.
Is his madness fault of his controller voice?
Norman appeared to turned mad right before he lost his mother. His madness begun at his childhood, and grow as he does. Isolated from any social interaction, Norman Bates fall in love with his own mother. Everything used to appear normal from Bates until he felt jealous of his mother and decide to kill, both; his mother lover and his own mother. It was fault of this abnormal isolated and controlled childhood that Normal Bates develop this madness.
What I personally love of this character, is his wonderful double personality. He doesn’t needs anyone, he have two opposite personalities, He can be serious and cold, like he did when he was questioned by the detective , romantic, as he interact with Miss. Crane, and cruel as he did when he killed his victims. |
What actions advices us about Normal Bates madness? In the film the first detectable scene are the shots taken at his office. When Norman talks about how difficult it is to take care of his mother, and right after that he defends her as if Miss. Crane was verbally attacking him.
“We All Go a Little Mad Sometimes, Haven't you?" – Norman Bates
Later in the film Norman’s madness is detectable easier and deeper. | |
Then another scene that expose madness, right after the murder he goes into the house and change personality again.
Besides being scared by finding Marion dead, he starts to clean evidence in a normal way, as if he have do it before.
The last scene and the most obvious is when at the end his double personality decides to reveal his own secrets. He, as his mother, tell the true to the detectives.
Compared to a Dadaist film; “Un chien andalou”, “Psycho”’ emphasizes elements such as death and women. Death is represented with many subliminal messages, for example the black color in Marion’s underwear, the smile of Norman Bates at the end of the movie and the corpse of Norman’s mother. In “Un chien andalou” we also find a lot of elements that advise death; dead bodies, skull shapes and dead animals. |