Yes, Norman's "inferiority" with the Beautiful Woman probably touches a chord in many males, of all ages; and it yanks a few chains with me, too.
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Glad to hear I'm not alone.
On a positive note, what greater joy is there than when a guy DOES connect with a woman, and interest is reciprocated, and the guy can only think(if not say): "Me? You're interested in ME? I passed muster? I get to pass go?"
Its a great feeling. Poor Norman Bates dashed the chance. Well, mother dashed it for him.
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I think that what makes it so effective as that the combination of superb writing and acting leave it somewhat open ended; and in a way that probably wouldn't be allowed in the more "high functioning" film world of today, as in "let's cut to the chase here";.
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Hitchcock in general, but certainly here(and, I'll suggest , in Vertigo) went "against the grain of traditional storytelling" and messed with audience expectations in two ways: (1) Exactly who was a "hero" or "heroine" was left most murky and (2) exactly where the story was going was thrown on its ear -- not to mention Hitchcock's willingness, in Vertigo, Psycho and(I'll throw in) The Birds...to let the first half hour of storyline just meander on and on and on before the "story" really kicked in. Hitchcock took his sweet time and used that time for explorations of the human psyche other movies had no time FOR.
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In Psycho we,--as the actors, writer and director rather indulge themselves, as perceptive viewer can "indulge along" with them while watching it.
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Agreed, and as above. In the parlor scene, we just sort of go with the flow, even as Marion and Norman must, too. Though we can sense the film starting to "shift," as Marion says less and less, and Norman says more and more.
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The tragedy of Marion's fondness for Norman, for a while anyway, and her compassion for him, as his story unfolds, so to speak, is also what gets her killed is something almost too painful to contemplate.
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There's a deep pain within Psycho that makes the story so powerful. The new "Bates Motel" series has given us a Norman who can "override Mother" and save Marion, but Hitchcock wasn't interested in such an "easy out." Marion's compassion gets her killed by Norman. Norman CANNOT spare her. It must have been something in Hitchcock's own psyche that drove this. Vertigo is cruel in a similar way(the final death of Judy) and Frenzy in yet another way(the killing of "heroine" Babs Mulligan , late in the story, when we thought she wasn't in danger at all.)
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It's like something out of a Greek tragedy, with the difference being that Marion never gets her chance to see the nature of the danger that she's in, as what happens to her in the end might have been avoid had she a.) hadn't taken a shower and/or b.) made sure her door was locked, or c.) not tried to "play therapist" with Norman, if ever so briefly, not talked about mother at all,--but then there's no way she could have known.
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Its funny. Perhaps Psycho in its own way saved a lot of lives, made people less susceptible to violation in the many motels that dot our highways. I've certainly locked motel door deadbolts, and, in a couple of motels in really BAD parts of town, put chairs up against the doorknob(honestly, a few times in cross-country travel I've learned too late I was staying in the worst part of a city.)
That said, there was a real-life motel murder tragedy about ten years ago in Northern California that reminded us of the lessons of Psycho.
A woman and two teenage females(one her daughter, the other a friend) "disappeared' on a road trip. They were eventually traced to a motel and it was discovered that the motel handyman had talked his way into their room to repair a leaky faucet. And he killed all three women. This was a true case.
The painful part: the killer turned out to be the brother of a young man who had been victimized(kidnapped for years, but not killed) by ANOTHER psychopath.
Creating a terrible reputation for this backcountry part of California.
Moral: don't let the motel handyman in, either.
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