This is the famous show scene from Psycho, where the
fate of Marion is finally decided. The prominent use of the knife is very
important here, as it’s contradictory to the user, and our expectations. The
knife is seen as a phallic symbol, which is generally used to represent male
power, however, we clearly notice a seemingly female body is doing the stabbing
and then running away, accompanied with the face constantly being shadowed/
off-screen. This makes the viewer question who the killer may be. The low-key
lighting, along with the shower mist and more noticeably the rapid montage of
the scene throws the viewer into an uneasy and disoriented viewing of the
scene. Restricted narration had to be used for the killing of Marion due to the
‘Hays Code’ which was issued at the time, therefore we never actually see the
knife penetrate Marion’s skin.‘Genre Theory’ written about by Thomas Schatz is
important, as the fact that the scene has all generic conventions if horror.
Some of the conventions featured are fast montages, between Marion screaming
and mother stabbing her, female victim (Marion herself) and low-key lighting,
all things that are expected in a horror film.
Also, we find that Hitchcock’s auteur style came through in
this scene, as he is renowned for being quite an odd and sexually repressed
person who, as demonstrated in this scene, is obsessed by blonde blue-eyed women,
who are usually tortured. This is represented in Psycho by the killing
of Marion. His obsession of tortured women is also represented from his film,
Birds, where he stuck real bird crumbs in the actresses hair, causing the birds
to actually peck at her scalp, causing her a great deal of pain.
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