The word psycho also means split personality. Alfred Hitchcock gives clues for this. e.g the word "Psycho" which is featured on the promoting poster has been completly shattered, which makes you think that the film is about split personalities. Also in the opening set of credits, lines split the screen in 2 different sections. Another clue was the word "Psycho" was split, it looked unstable and it could split anytime a reflection of Norman Bates behaviour. Mirrors did appear alot in the film, for example: at the point where Marion Crane realised she could steal the money, she was looking at another side of her she had never seen before while looking at her reflection. Everytime somebody had different identities(personalities) there was a mirror reflecting them. The only character that was'nt reflected is Norman Bates because he already has a different personality "Mother". At the end of the movie there is an image of norman and "Mother's" skull merging together, as if they had become one person. We also have split personalities e.g When Norman pushes the car in the swamp, we see things from his perspective.
Differences between and simlarities between the novel and the film. The fisrt similarity between book and film is that Alfred Hitchcock copies the structure of the book and brings it into the film, e.g the order of the book and how it tricks you into thinking that it is a sleazy romantic(book,or film). Then it suddenly turns into a horror movie, proof of this, during the infamous shower scene where Marion Crane gets stabbed to death by "Mother". After this scene the structure was completly changed from a sleazy to getaway to a horror movie. Another similarity is there is a narrator in the movie but not the speaking type. The camera is the film's narrator as it can go close up to people's thoughts. There are other differences and similarities between the book and film, but Hitchcock has completly taken the way the story is told.
The irony of the movie is a bit sick for example:Behind Marion Crane's desk at her workplace there is a picture behind her of a swamp, that swamp is where she was left to die. Also the words that the characters say for example: When Norman Bates was speaking to private detective Arbogast he said "Old habits die hard". There are other scenes where there is irony like when Arbogast was murdered the way he fell down the stairs Alfred Hitchcock tried to make it look funny in a very sick sense of humour. There is a tree next to Norman Bates in a poster, the tree is dead, the branches have been broken, its sort of a description of Norman Bates.
The camera creates suspense in the film for example: When Arbogast was in the Bates household while he was walking up the staircase the camera moved onto "Mother's" room where we saw the door open but Arbogast didn't see it and he got killed. During an interview Alfred Hitchcock gave a suspense qoute "Let us supppose that three men are sitting in the room in which a bomb has been planted. The audience doesn't know its there. The bomb goes off. The audience gets a surprise...Thats all. This time, while the men still didn't know, the audience does. One of the men say "leave" audience is praying for them to do so. But a man says "No wait a minute". The audience groans that is suspense". Also another part of the movie where the camera creates suspense is in the shower scene, Marion Crane is having a shower the camera moves towards the door she does not realise but someone has come in. The person pulls the shower curtain and kills her.
The film has had a massive impact on the film industry. It changed the way people came to watch movies at the cinema."Psycho" is the only film that has groosed more than 3 times the amount it took to be made, it took $15.000,000 in its first year.They have even made a cover version of the movie. Everything about that cover was exactly the same the camera angles they even had a Alfred Hitchcock look alike in the movie. Overall Alfred Hitchcock changed the film industry forever.
