Devika
Remedial Blog
~ Spoiler alert for the film Psycho ~
One of the 20th centuries’ most renowned psychological horror films, Psycho, depicts the image of mental illness in an equally thrilling and terrifying manner. The film opens with Marion Crane, a woman on the run with $40,000, embezzled from her employer. While driving, a torrential rain obscures the road ahead of her and forces Marion to spend the night at a desolate motel. The motel is run by Norman Bates, an over-friendly and peculiar, young man who helps her settle in. It is seen that Norman’s mother lives in a house near the motel and is constantly dominating and scrutinizing his actions. Yet when Marion asks Norman about his mother, he gets defensive and rather protective. That night, while Marion is showering, Norman enters and gorily murders her.
The film then delves into the investigation of the murder, with detectives arriving at the motel. During this time, it is noticed that Norman has an unusually clingy relationship with his mother. Interestingly, throughout the movie, his mother’s voice is only heard, and she is never seen as a character. As Norman adamantly denies all allegations, whenever prompted about his mother, he gets uncomfortable and changes the course of conversation. Eventually, after continuous probing into the matter that turns into a game of cat and mouse, it is found that Norman, the perpetrator, is a victim of dissociative identity disorder, wherein at times he adopts his mother’s identity.
Dissociative identity disorder, formerly referred to as multiple personality disorder is a condition, “wherein a person’s identity is fragmented into two or more distinct personality states.” (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). People with this rare condition are often victims of severe abuse, which can be seen in Norman’s case as well. It turns out, Norman as a child underwent two very traumatic experiences, as a result of which this alternate reality became a coping mechanism. The psychiatrist in the film pinpoints the first event as the death of his father which led to the second event - Norman killing his mother. It is revealed Norman was already disturbed due to his father’s death. After the death, his mother, a clinging and demanding woman spent all her time with Norman and their bond grew even stronger. This is why when she met another man, Norman felt betrayed and ended up killing both his mother and her partner. The psychiatrist further speculates that Norman could not deal with having killed his mother, and therefore kept her alive by giving her a part of his life. Norman’s everyday life was spent doing everything possible to keep the illusion of his mother being alive. He even bought a wig and dressed up as her when something threatened that illusion.
One of the 20th centuries’ most renowned psychological horror films, Psycho, depicts the image of mental illness in an equally thrilling and terrifying manner. The film opens with Marion Crane, a woman on the run with $40,000, embezzled from her employer. While driving, a torrential rain obscures the road ahead of her and forces Marion to spend the night at a desolate motel. The motel is run by Norman Bates, an over-friendly and peculiar, young man who helps her settle in. It is seen that Norman’s mother lives in a house near the motel and is constantly dominating and scrutinizing his actions. Yet when Marion asks Norman about his mother, he gets defensive and rather protective. That night, while Marion is showering, Norman enters and gorily murders her.
The film then delves into the investigation of the murder, with detectives arriving at the motel. During this time, it is noticed that Norman has an unusually clingy relationship with his mother. Interestingly, throughout the movie, his mother’s voice is only heard, and she is never seen as a character. As Norman adamantly denies all allegations, whenever prompted about his mother, he gets uncomfortable and changes the course of conversation. Eventually, after continuous probing into the matter that turns into a game of cat and mouse, it is found that Norman, the perpetrator, is a victim of dissociative identity disorder, wherein at times he adopts his mother’s identity.
Dissociative identity disorder, formerly referred to as multiple personality disorder is a condition, “wherein a person’s identity is fragmented into two or more distinct personality states.” (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). People with this rare condition are often victims of severe abuse, which can be seen in Norman’s case as well. It turns out, Norman as a child underwent two very traumatic experiences, as a result of which this alternate reality became a coping mechanism. The psychiatrist in the film pinpoints the first event as the death of his father which led to the second event - Norman killing his mother. It is revealed Norman was already disturbed due to his father’s death. After the death, his mother, a clinging and demanding woman spent all her time with Norman and their bond grew even stronger. This is why when she met another man, Norman felt betrayed and ended up killing both his mother and her partner. The psychiatrist further speculates that Norman could not deal with having killed his mother, and therefore kept her alive by giving her a part of his life. Norman’s everyday life was spent doing everything possible to keep the illusion of his mother being alive. He even bought a wig and dressed up as her when something threatened that illusion.
Norman also displayed other symptoms of DID, such as social impairment (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). The psychiatrist attributed this to the jealousy of Norman’s relationships with other women, which he projected onto his mother’s personality. This is the exact reason why he murdered Marion - the identity of his ‘mother’ could not handle the fact that Norman was giving attention to another woman. The psychiatrist elaborates, “He began to think and speak for her, give her half his life, so to speak. At times he could be both personalities, carry on conversations. At other times, the mother half took over completely. And because he was so pathologically jealous of her, he assumed that she was jealous of him. Therefore, if he felt a strong attraction to any other woman, the mother side of him would go wild.” (Hitchcock, 1960). Moreover, Norman covered up all the traces of the murder, not to save himself but because he was convinced that his ‘mother’ had committed the crime.
Norman Bates’ character sheds light on how DID can be mentally debilitating, at times making one unsure of their true reality. Since Norman was so deeply invested in keeping the idea of his mother alive, he succumbed to acts such as homicide. It is important to note that not all cases of DID are this extreme, and Norman after all, is the product of a filmmaker’s imagination. Yet, although Psycho was made before the modern classifications of DID exist as they do today, Norman’s character truly aligns with the symptoms of this disorder. Therefore, excluding the moments where the portrayal was dramatized for cinematic reasons, it was more or less accurate, and at parts, rather terrifying.
References
American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.). Arlington, VA: American Psychiatric Publishing.
Hitchcock A. (Producer), & Hitchcock, A. (Director). (1960). Psycho [Motion Picture]. United States: Paramount Pictures.
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