Every film has a point or an overall message that the producer would like the audience to walk away with. How that point or message is brought together and conveyed to the audience is what sets films apart from one another. Infamous movie producer Alfred Hitchcock had a way of putting together ideas that allowed his movies to offer entertainment, suspense, and relate ability all at the same time. Specifically, in the movie Psycho, Hitchcock uses certain emotional instabilities and mental dysfunctions within his characters to build his story line and add the entertainment and suspense resulting in a very successful film. Thesis: describe some of the disorders and relate to characters, is this effective in film, how they add to the plot….??? Need some suggestions on best way to put this
Alfred Hitchcock details each of his characters with a specific identifying trait whether it is a legitimate mental disorder or just an internal psychological battle. The issues in Psycho range from schizophrenia and bipolar disorder to more simple matters of struggling with self-acceptance. The variations in the instabilities provide the depth and relate ability to the film from the audience perspective. In the case of Norman Bates we first see what appears to be a kind, gentle spirit, who desperately wants to have someone to call a friend. As the film progresses Norman becomes this confusing character that the audience starts to feel bad for. We can’t decide whether he is doing the right thing by covering up his mother’s horrible mistakes or if his lying is equally as bad her murdering Marion and the detective. By the end of the film once everything is out in the open and the mystery is coming to a conclusion it is clear that Norman is suffering from emotional instability. The two diseases that appear to be most related to Norman are schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Schizophrenia particularly stands out because according to the doctors of ehealth MD, a person suffering from schizophrenia, “…finds it difficult to tell the difference between real and imagined experiences, to think logically, to express feelings, or to behave appropriately.” By Norman taking on his mother’s identity it is a huge indicator that his brain is not functioning correctly. eHealth MD also goes on to say that the disease can cause people to see things that really aren’t there which can seem to frightening to someone who is not suffering from schizophrenia