And now part 2.  In which I admit that Psycho is worthy of general praise for being an overall classic and show how.  In the next part, I'll break down why, while it may be a classic, its far LESS original than most people might think in some areas.  Cited in this run:  AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies, AFI's 100 Years...100 Thrills, and Ransom Riggs's article in Mental Floss Magazine (Nov-Dec 2006)"Masterpieces:  Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho".  Enjoy......

The 1960s: Weak Female Protagonists
To claim that Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho is unoriginal and uninspired is just as large a fallacy as claiming it is the only line that defined all movies that followed it. It is perfectly logical to present the argument that Psycho is a classic of horror in its own right. After all, a movie like Psycho is not dubbed the 18th best overall movie and most thrilling movie of the last 100 years by the American Film Institute for no reason.(AFI's 100Years...100 Movies, AFI's 100 Years...100 Thrills) Psycho is best known for having one of the most effective "twist endings" in the history of film. It's also distinctive because it is one of the first mainstream horror movies to be promoted as having a female protagonist. However, what may be Psycho and Hitchcock's greatest legacy is the ability of the film and its director to create the maximum tension and suspense in the viewing public through techniques that would become horror staples, particularly in the slasher genre some claim it fostered. In particular, analysts examine the infamous 45 second shower scene as proof of this. Using a soundtrack meant to evoke the action of stabbing a victim, foreshadowing by showing a shadow entering the bathroom during the protagonist's shower, and camera angles throughout the montage showing the killer's, victim's, and "knife's" perspectives; Hitchcock is able to "create the impression of nudity and violence without actually showing a breast, a buttock, or a knife puncturing skin" (Riggs 25). To this day, the sequence is seen as one of the most effective and scariest sequences in the history of the genre.

While the "shower scene" is memorable, it alone does not make Psycho compelling. Without effective character development, cinematography, and direction, the movie would have probably fallen flat. Fortunately for the annals of film criticism and film history, Anthony Perkins's portrayal of Norman Bates, along with Hitchcock and cinematographer John L. Russell's movie-making style, serve to turn Psycho into a classic. Perkins's ability to present Norman Bates to the audience as a meek, sympathetic character trapped under the thumb of an overbearing "mother" makes it all the more likely that the viewers will be stunned by the truth about the character's deep psychological disturbances and murderous tendencies. After all, Bates would go on to become one of the most infamous killers in film history partially because of the fact that the mental faculties that could lead to such a series of actions were not yet fully understood at the time of Psycho's release, nor were they talked about very often in everyday conversation. Hitchcock understood the power and unexpectedness of Psycho's ending, as well as how different his villain character was from the norm, showing this by both adding characters that explained Perkins's psychoses and family background and driving the point those characters made home by "[cutting] to Norman in a holding cell, grinning madly with his mother's dead face superimposed over his own" (27). Through this method, Hitchcock is able to explain to the audience just what could cause the mind-blowing, shocking activities they just witnessed. Overall, Psycho as a whole, including its psychologically-layered plot/ending and Hitchcock's genius at directing, storytelling, and cinematography; definitely deserves to be remembered as a masterpiece of filmmaking. However, this does not by any means prove that Psycho is the full, complete, and sole genre shift it is sometimes seen as, particularly in an area that is seen by some as one of its hallmarks of originality: its female protagonist.

Seeing as I'm currently fasting for blood work in the morning (that blood drive thing made me look at some other odd things in my life like random dizzy spells, leading me to consider the possibility that I am possibly maybe developing slight hypertension or diabetes), I'm watching the Dolphins episode of Penn and Teller:  BS (thank god for free on demand samplers), and I haven't done this in a while, IT'S TIME FOR PART THREE!  Today we will be attempting to prove that the characters of Marion and Lila in Psycho were not earthshattering changes as some might have you believe.    Sources cited today are: Psycho itself (though not physically, I am paraphrasing plot points here), the "Posters and Psycho Ads" special feature on the Psycho Collector's Edition dvd from 1998, Tony Williams's essay "Trying to Survive on the Darker Side:  1980s Family Horror" from the literary criticism collection The Dread of Difference:  Gender and the Horror Film, and Carol J. Clover's classic book Men, Women, and Chainsaws.  Of particular note in this section:  A)I have no idea how I got a B+ on this because GOD did this have spelling and grammar errors before I edited it for this, B)This section contains the first instance of me purposely rubbing my advisor's face in my use of Demon Knight later on, and C)I'm VERY thankful for that Carol Clover quote at the end.  Enjoy!  Next time:  Rosemary's Baby.

     Over the course of the history of the horror film, the role of female characters in horror movies has slowly evolved from supporting, weak, powerless roles in some "creature features" to women who are strong, self-sustaining, powerful fighters that attempt to survive at all costs. This change did not occur all at once. Rather it has happened in stages that one can see by examining movies released during each decade from the 1960s on that were either popular or which strikingly showed the trend of the decade in the evolution of the feminine. While many of the movies that will be discussed are of high critical acclaim and are beloved by a sizeable audience, it is sometimes the cult film that can prove the progression equally well. It is for this reason that, while films like Rosemary's Baby, Carrie, and The Silence of the Lambs should rightly be discussed here, so as well should the "slasher" film milestones some consider to have been detrimental to the genre due to the deluge of sequels they spawned. Even lesser known, sometimes critically dismissed, offbeat movies such as Tales from the Crypt Presents: Demon Knight deserve some credit in the progression due to how certain characters in them are able to show depth, emotion, and strength heretofore unseen in film and demonstrate the overall progression of female characters in general.
     It is important to note that the 1960s can be chosen as the first dividing decade due to a small change seen in two movies of the decade. The first film that features this is Psycho, though not because women exhibited different characteristics in this movie than they had previously in any way, shape, or form. In fact, the main difference between the female protagonist and her sister, Marion and Lila respectively, and the women of the movies that preceded them is that Marion is the main character focused on in the first act of the film. It is her story and the consequences of her actions that allow the plot to move forward and the movie's events to occur. That is not to say that the movie was marketed in that way, though, as Anthony Perkins's role as Bates was top-billed both in the trailer and on the movie posters and lobby cards, compared to Janet Leigh's which was last in all the marketing materials. ("Posters and Psycho Ads")
     Marion is the character whom the action revolves around from the beginning of the film and is the reason for the developments that occur as the movie goes on. However, to claim that she acts differently because of this is patently false. The opening sequence of the movie shows her in a motel room with her lover, having sex with him and discussing the possibility of marrying him. During this sequence, Marion appears to be quite uncomfortable with the secretive circumstances with which she must meet with her lover and acts so as to bring some degree of respectability and commitment into their relationship. She then goes to her job (a secretary-like position). At her job she is presented with $40,000 cash as part of a real-estate job and is supposed to deposit it in a safe-deposit box. Instead, she steals the money and leaves town in an attempt to find both herself and her lover. Along the way, she lies to a policeman, changes cars, and ends up at the Bates Motel after leaving behind the suspicious policeman at a used car lot. Once there, after a private dinner with Norman, Marion returns to her room where she is stabbed. Throughout this sequence of events, Marion acts of her own free will, attempts to be somewhat self-sufficient for the time period, and is, as a result, dead halfway through the movie. In order for her death to be avenged, it takes her lover, Sam, and Lila to hunt Norman down and discover his secret, with Sam specifically being the one to knock Norman out, rescuing Lila from mortal peril in the process.
     Thus, in general, the female roles of Marion and Lila represent a small step forward rather than a massive change. The characters in the film are far more similar to the expected role of the female in horror to that point, particularly Lila who only survives the movie because of Sam's protection. (Williams 170) Marion falls less into this category because she attempts to express her femininity and exercise her rights. However, she is still constrained by societal roles as seen through her job as a secretary and the questions she is asked by the police officer who appears to find it very suspicious that a woman driving alone would be in such a rush. (He asks her multiple times if anything is wrong and also follows her down the road to her next destinations.) She is also helpless in that she is taken by surprise by Norman and is thus powerless to stop herself from being stabbed to death. In general, Psycho is a turning point in the history of horror movies in that it redefined the way movies are marketed and the way in which directors and actors instigate fear in audiences. However, when the roles of the two primary women are examined, it is seen that the development of the feminine had not yet fully begun. Rather, Psycho was simply one of the first popular horror movies to have a woman in a protagonist role, even though she was still just as weak as women in horror movies had been before. Overall, while some of its plot elements were quite derivative, it was how they were put together and portrayed by the actors that made the movie such a touchstone. As Carol J. Clover puts it while describing Psycho in her book Men, Women, and Chainsaws:
"Its elements are familiar: the killer is the psychotic product of a sick family, but still recognizably human; the victim is a beautiful, sexually active woman; the location is not-home, at a Terrible Place; the weapon is something other than a gun; the attack is registered from the victim's point of view and comes with shocking suddenness. None of these features is original, but the unprecedented success of Hitchcock's particular formulation, above all the sexualization of both motive and action, prompted a flood of imitations and variations" (23-4, underlining mine).