Alfred Hitchcock uses many ways to research the dichotomy of human nature in his movies. particularly in the 1960 horror thriller Psycho. The dichotomy of human nature represents our interior ego. facets that are chiefly antonyms. the light demoing good. the dark screening immorality. the natural and the unnatural. are merely some illustrations of human nature. Hitchcock explored the dichotomy of human nature utilizing ways such as illuming. duologue. camera angles. music. comparison and contrasting what different characters would make when confronting the same job and individualization.
Harmonizing to Carl Jung. individualization is when a individual confronts they interior side ( normally the dark. negative and evil side ) . He believed that successful individualization meant that a individual non merely confronted their dark side. but conquered it every bit good and that people needed to recognize and face the negative facets of their personality or their “dark” side would destruct the individual. This means that inside everyone. there is a darker side. an evil and bad side. that must be confronted. or it will destroy you. By looking at the two chief characters Norman and Marion. and two minor characters. Sam and Lila. we can see the dichotomy of human nature.
Both Marion and Norman are being confronted with their inner dark ego. yet. Marion conquers her dark side. while Norman lets it take over his life. Sam and Lila. nevertheless. are largely seen as good and “natural” . There are many cardinal scenes throughout the film Physco. which explore the dichotomy of human nature. Some of these scenes include the opening scene. the scene in which Marion is driving off after taking the money and the parlour scene. The inkiness of Psycho’s opening credits sequence symbolizes decease and the opening scene of Psycho starts with a pan position of the cityscape of Arizona.
The shooting. from a broad pan into a dark sleeping room. leads the spectator into a dark. close infinite. demoing the spectator instantly that we will witness something close and dark happening during the movie. The spectator besides knows that the subject of concealing from something is established. as the two are concealing their matter. and Sam is concealing. or shying off. from matrimony to Marion. We learn that the two have money jobs. from Sam. who says. “I perspiration to pay off my father’s debts and he’s in his grave. I sweat to pay my
ex-wife maintenance. and she’s life on the other side of the universe somewhere” . and “A twosome of old ages and my debts will be paid off. and if she of all time remarries the maintenance Michigan. ” Marion knows the lone job between the two of them is money. and that if it wasn’t for money. the two could be together. It is at this clip. that Marion begins to face her interior ego. the demand for more money. so she herself can get married Sam. and non hold to worry about her occupation. When Marion returns to work after her “lunch hour” she complains of a concern.
When Marion’ s foreman asks her to lodge $ 40. 000 for him. “I don’t even want it in the office over the weekend. Put it in the safe sedimentation box in the bank and we’ll acquire him to give us a cheque on Monday instead… ” Marion sees this as a opportunity for her to eventually be with Sam and work out all her fiscal jobs. Behind Marion’s desk are pictures of sprawling lands. including images of trees. forests and natural landscape. These images juxtapose her isolation and demo her desires for freedom. The scene in which Marion is driving off from Phoenix is besides a cardinal scene in which Hitchcock explores the dichotomy of human nature.
We see Marion driving off. after she leaves Phoenix and after she meets with the Police Officer. trades her auto. and as she does so. the audience sees how uneasy she feels. the tenseness in her looks. and we hear the fanciful voices she is hearing in her caput. about what may be go oning because she has taken the $ 40. 000. Marion is believing about what the effects of her “theft” were. and what is go oning back in Phoenix. The audience hears the voices in Marion’s caput. the voices of Marion’s foreman. her sister. what Marion is believing. The audience is put into Marion’s head.
We feel the tenseness when she is being interrogated by the Police Officer and in a manner. we feel relieved when she is let off. even though what she did was morally incorrect. In many topographic points in this scene. we are put into the point of position from Marion’s position. which brings dichotomy of human nature non merely to her. but to us every bit good. as we feel like WE are in the scene. Hitchcock does this as he wants the audience to believe. what they would make if we were Marion’s place. which inquiries our ain dichotomy. Marion. while she is driving off with the stolen money. has presently let her dark. interior side return over her.
She is taking advantage of her boss’s trust in her and is making this out of personally greed and wealth. Here. Hitchcock is demoing us what giving in to your interior dark side can ensue in. One of the major key scenes in Psycho that shows how Hitchcock explored the dichotomy of human nature is the parlor scene. between Marion and Norman. At the start of the scene. after Norman returns from the house with milk and nutrient. they converse briefly outside on the porch. and we see a contemplation of Norman on the window. This shows his other side. his “mother” side. which has merely been “lit” in him.
The framings of Norman and Marion are unnatural. She is roundly illuminated. while he is being lit at angles and comparatively more subdued than Marion. He is a adult male. offering milk to a adult female. and the openness he shows towards her symbolize the fact that he has chosen her as his following victim. However. it is non till they go into the existent parlour that Hitchcock explores the dichotomy of human nature even more. The parlour room is rather little. which forces Marion and Norman to sit rather closely to each other. Even though they are both in the same room. the illuming the two receive is well different.
Marion sits near a lamp. and her frame looks more illuminated. and all-around. giving her a radiance and warm feeling. as if she is good and positive. It appears to look that she is delivering herself from what bad she did earlier. Norman. nevertheless. has a frame with many shadows- a symbol of darkness and evilness and the lighting on him seems both angular and irregular. and unlike Marion. we can non see the whole of Normans face. like as if Norman is concealing something. Besides. while Marion looks like she is at entire easiness. Norman seems to be irregular and the ambiances around him seems to be evil and dark.
During about the whole scene. Norman’s left side of his face is the lone side that’s seeable. while we can see the whole of Marion’s face. While both characters do non look to out of topographic point in they individual frames. when they are put side by side. there is a clear contrast between Marion and Norman. Marion. in light colored vesture. seems to stand for goodness and normalness. while Norman. in dark coloured vesture. seems to stand for immorality. darkness. and a sense of abnormalcy. Here. we see really. really clearly the dichotomy of human nature.
Marion typifying the good. and Norman typifying the bad. But there is even more to this scene that adds onto the dichotomy of human nature. We learn that Norman has a avocation for stuffing birds. and we see them. around the walls of the parlour. the camera frequently utilizing a low angle shooting to capture them. They seem to look over what is traveling on. and as they appear above Norman. expression as though they are overmastering him. doing his determinations and such. This shows that while Marion is seeking to suppress her interior side. Norman has already allow it suppress him.
Norman asks Marion “What are you running off from? ” and Marion seems shocked that he would inquire. But when Norman says. “No. Peoples ne’er run off from anything. The rain didn’t last long. did it. You know what I think? I think that we’re all in our private traps–clamped in them. And none of us can of all time acquire out. We–we abrasion and claw. but merely at the air–only at each other. And for all of it. we ne’er budge an inch” . Marion begins to recognize that she needs to travel back and acquire out of her “trap” alternatively of seeking to run off from it.
We besides find out that Norman himself is besides in a trap. but he says. “I was born in mine. I don’t mind it anymore” . it shows us that Norman has non been able to suppress his interior side and has let it suppress him. Unlike Norman though. Marion does suppress her interior dark ego and we know this when she says. “I’m really tired. And I have a long thrust tomorrow–all the manner back to Phoenix” . “I stepped into a private trap back at that place and I’d like to travel back and seek to draw myself out of it before it’s excessively tardily for me excessively.
” This once more emphasises the point that Marion is the good and natural side while Norman is the dark. evil and unnatural side. So by merely looking at some of these cardinal scenes in the movie Psycho. we know that Alfred Hitchcock used many ways to research the dichotomy of human nature. He used illuming to convey some characters into “good light” and demo the “goodness” in some and the “darkness” in others. He besides used camera angles. the show the sense of normalcy in some and abnormalcy in others. doing them natural or unnatural.
What different characters said besides explored the dichotomy of human nature. as the duologue was really of import. as it gave us an inside position to what the characters were believing every bit good as what they said. Individuation- confronting and suppressing your interior dark side. besides explores the dichotomy of human nature. Comparing and contrasting characters was another manner Hitchcock explored the dichotomy of human nature as he compared the good characters to the bad. and what different characters would make under the same job. So. it is clear to see. that Hitchcock used many successful ways to research the dichotomy of human nature in the movie Psycho.
