3rd Psycho Image Analysis

This scene from Psycho is when Arbogast has entered the house at the top of the hill from Bates Motel. He was looking for Norman Bate’s mother as he gets to the top of the staircase we see a bird’s eye view as Norman rushes out with a knife dressed up as his mother and stabs Arbogast. The large grin on Norman’s face as he holds the knife is a direct connotation of sadism, as Norman is clearly getting pleasure from killing Arbogast dressed up as his mother. This was a surprise to the audience as it is against the CDI of the film. A few years before Psycho’s release, Ed Gein was a big serial killer in America, which greatly influenced the character of Norman Bates. Ed Gein was famous for digging up his mother’s body which is what Norman also does in the film Psycho and we are shown Norman’s mother just before the big reveal at the end of the film. Ed Gein was also famous for cross dressing like his mother in order to “keep her alive” which again was what Norman did by dressing up in a dress and a wig. This film was something which the public could relate too as there had recently been news reports on Ed Gein’s crimes on early TV sets in 1960, this was due to Ed Gein being the first serial killer that was extensively broadcasted on television.