Episode 005: Psycho (1960)

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Poster for Psycho. It reads “A new–and altogether different–screen excitement!” The prominent image is of Janet Leigh sitting on a bed in her bra, the headshot of Anthony Perkins beside her, and the upper body of a shirtless John Gavin beneath her. The title PSYCHO appears with a crack running through the middle of the letters. Along the right hand side: “Starring Anthony Perkins, Vera Miles, John Gavin. Co-starring Martin Balsam, John McIntire, and Janet Leigh as Marion Crane. Directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Screenplay by Joseph Stefano. A Paramount Release.”

AnDread and author Vicious Victor Rodriguez dive into one of the show’s namesakes, Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960). We discuss mental illness in horror, the Other, and the film’s shifting perspectives and sympathies. Also reviews of the Psychoanalysis Podcast and Robert Bloch’s 1959 novel that inspired the film.

Show Notes:

  1. Intro
  2. Psychos and Mental Disability in Horror Overview  26:49
    • Mental disability as broad term encompassing forms of mental difference: mental illness, intellectual disabilities, autism spectrum disorder, etc. vs. mental illness/psychiatric disability
    • Dissociative identity disorder as response to abuse & trauma – product, not cause, of violence
    • Controversy over whether DID actually exists
    • Mental illness used to explain brutal crime, things we find too horrific to be understandable
    • According to Brian Van Brunt and Lisa Pescara-Kovach’s article “Debunking the Myths: Mental Illness and Mass Shootings” (Violence and Gender, Mar. 2019, pp. 53-63), 90% of people with mental illness have no history of violence, and can be up to 11 times more likely to be victims of violent crime than the general population
    • Mental illness can be factor in violence, but media disproportionately represents it as cause rather than more common factors such as poverty, greed, stress, social isolation, bullying, substance abuse
    • Psychiatry and psychology have profoundly shaped horror’s depiction of mental illness in both positive and negative ways
    • Mental illness and the uncanny as ways to “other” antagonists of horror stories
  3. Psycho Discussion  41:01
    • Our history with Psycho and overview thoughts
    • Who/what is a “psycho”?
      • Psychosis vs. neurosis
      • Psycho as term for someone dangerous because of mental disability
      • Psychotic vs. psychopath
      • Sexual deviance and psychos
      • Reclamation of “mad” as term for pride
    • Norman Bates as a character
    • Is Norman the protagonist or antagonist?
      • Shifting perspectives mirrors the idea of multiple personalities, multiple sympathies
      • Norman in movie vs. Norman in book
    • Psycho’s representation and thematic of mental illness
      • Norman and Marion parallels – both are “mad”
      • Playing upon mentally ill as “other”
      • Mental illness often connected to “bad” mothers: Libby Hill “In Defense of Norma Bates or How Bates Motel Radically Reinvents Psycho” argues that what we think we know about Norma Bates could be all wrong because it’s told to us through Norman’s perspective.
    • Favorite scene
      • AnDread: conversation between Norman and Marion
      • Victor: opening scene with Marion and Sam
    • Psycho, Ed Gein, and Bad Mothers
      • Gein as prototype for horror antagonists (Norman Bates, Leatherface, Hannibal Lecter)
      • Norman’s dysfunctional relationship w/his mother was based on Ed Gein’s supposedly repressive mother, Augusta, and Ed’s obsession with her.
      • But Sady Doyle challenges this idea, saying that it is a misogynistic distortion that does not align with what Ed actually says about her, and glosses over the fact that Gein’s father was actually the abusive one. See Dead Blondes and Bad Mothers: Monstrosity, Patriarchy, and the Fear of Female Power. Thanks to Rebecca Stone Gordon’s recommendation of this! Check out Matt Zoller Seitz’s interview with her on rogerebert.com, which gives an overview of the big points of her book, including thoughts on how Ed Gein’s story got distorted into Psycho.
      • Bad mothers common in horror and thrillers, especially Brian De Palma’s work such as Carrie
      • Mental illness and mothers as way to make stories both tap into the Other/unknown but also serve as explanations for murder
    • Psychiatrist scene at end – flaw or necessary explanation?
      • Audiences needed explanation to orient them
      • Psycho as reverse Frankenstein story – in Frankenstein, father rejects his imperfect child, which drives child to murder; in Psycho, the son rejects his imperfect mother, and murders by taking on his mother’s personaHitchcock worried psychiatrist scene was too talky and dry, but knew he needed something to help viewers understand what they just saw
      • Psychiatrist’s explanation undercut by seeing horror still lives in Norman – Hitchcock saw authority figures as knowing facts but not emotional import of themArt films can end abruptly and without explanation, but Hitchcock was doing mainstream film
    • Parting thoughts
      • 78/52 – documentary about the making of the shower scene and Psycho generally: Hitchcock influenced by living through bombings of Britain in WWII, wanted to bring fear of death to everyday Americans in Psycho
      • Psycho as turning point in modern cinema – brought horror to everyday people, everyday life – the “Other” becomes “Self” (the “normal” person)
    • Victor’s plugs
  4. Psycho Sounds  1:45:44
    • One of the only other horror podcasts out there similar to Freaks & Psychos
    • Focused on concepts of mental health such as anxiety, PTSD, and toxic relationships in horror movies
    • Hosts: Jenn Adams, Lara Unnerstall, and therapist Mike Snoonian
    • Length: one and a half to two and a half hours
    • Spoilers: yes
    • Network: Consequence of Sound
    • Site: consequenceofsound.net/psychoanalysis/
  5. Freaky Fic  1:50:12
    • Robert Bloch’s Psycho (1959)
    • Short, only about 190 pages
    • Different enough from the movie to make it interesting
    • More about Norman and his failure to take responsibility for his violence.
    • Parallels between Norman and Mary
    • More about Mary – her and Sam are poor
    • Money struggles of the everyday American – “economic horror”
    • Norman’s reading habits- anthropology, history, abnormal psychology, and parapsychology
    • In conclusion, check out the book!
  6. Plugs and Wrap-Up  1:55:15
    • Site: freaksandpsychospodcast.com. Please subscribe, rate, and review
    • Voicemail: 614-721-1011
    • Next episode: Jay of the Dead to discuss Ari Aster’s Hereditary!
    • If you find yourself wishing that you were normal, just remember: The Freaks Shall Inherit the Earth.

There will be a transcript for this show in the future. Please contact freaksandpsychospodcast@gmail.com for any accessibility concerns.

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