Crime, Gender, Sexuality, and Genre in Horror-
Slasher Films: The
Objectified
Feminine in Films 2
Student Edition
Based on Work by
George Santora,
Mary Lou Vredenburg and
Katie Fields
Created and Edited by Dr. Kay Picart
© 2002

Psycho and Psychoanalysis
Healing the Bleeding Wound Through
Narrative and Spectacle
By
Mary Lou
Vredenburg and
Katie Field
Edited by Dr. Kay Pixart @ 2002

“It is the place of the look that defines cinema, the possibility of varying it and exposing it” (137).
Alfred Hitchcock, Psycho , 1960.
Vera Miles, Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh

The Paradox of Phallocentrism…

“… depends on the
___________________ to give order and meaning to its world. An idea of woman stands as __________ to the system: it is her lack that produces the phallus as a symbolic pre-sence, it is her desire to make good the lack that the phallus signifies” (Mulvey 131).

Clips and Questions

Considering that the _______ symbolizes power, describe how masculine power is depicted in the film through both narration and symbolism.

Clips and Questions (2)

Discussion / Clips:
 The film incorporates a lot of “bird imagery.
” When Marion sits with Norman in the office, there is a bird of prey hovering above him while a crow sits over
Marion’s shoulder.
 Some examples include …
Continued on Next Slide

Clips and Questions (3)

Discussion / Clips:
 Marion and Lila’s last name is Crane.
 Norman’s hobby is stuffing birds.
 Marion ‘eats like a bird’.
 Norman knocks a picture of a bird from the wall when he comes to ‘clean up’ after the shower scene.
Continued on Next Slide

Clips and Questions (4)

Discussion / Clips:
 The male characters solve the mystery,
 The females serve as helpless victims.
 _______ = phallus = power.
 Can you think of examples from other films that illustrate this point?

Scopophilia and Identification

“The male unconscious has two avenues of escape from this castration anxiety: preoccupation with the
___________________ (investigating the woman, demystifying her mystery), counter-balanced by the _______ ,
_________ or __________ of the guilty object …
Continued on Next Slide

Scopophilia and Identification (2)

“... or else ______________ of castration by the substitution of a fetish object or turning the represented figure itself into a _________ so that it becomes reassuring rather than dangerous.
”
(Mulvey 135)


According to
, the _________ is aroused when a boy perceives that his
means that his
and, in turn, could threaten to do the same to him.

This fear
and instead to identify with his father (Houston 127).
Continued on Next Slide


Mulvey claims that the male disavows
_________ through __________ by fetishizing an object which becomes the substitute for the woman’s missing penis; that is, he overvalues the woman (hence, the cult of the movie star ) or a part of a woman (Mulvey 135).

Clips and Questions

Discussion:
 Questions :
 Where is the male gaze portrayed ?
 Who holds this gaze?
 How is Marion portrayed/objectified? Lila?
 Is the mother’s corpse a fetish? How so?
Continued on Next Slide

Clips and Questions (2)

Useful Clips:
 POV shot occurs when Norman peers at
Marion undressing (the painting he removes from the wall is that of a rape scene).
 Marion is often shown scantily clad wearing a slip or a bra, etc..
Continued on Next Slide

Clips and Questions (3)

Useful Clips:
 the shower scene shows fragments of
Marion’s legs, hands, feet and, finally, an extreme close-up of her eye.
 Other examples can be found in
 Marnie (Marnie walking to the train station at the beginning of the film) or
 Vertigo ( Scottie follows Madeline through the city) .

II. Disavowal of Castration through Identification

The spectator identifies with
________________ on the screen and
“he projects his look onto that of his like, his screen ___________ , so that the power of the male protagonist as he controls events coincides with the active power of the erotic look, both giving a satisfying sense of omnipotence” (Mulvey
132).
Continued on Next Slide

II. Disavowal of Castration through Identification (2)

The male protagonist represents the spectator's ____ ideal which is outlined by
Lacan in his ______ stage:
Continued on Next Slide

II. Disavowal of Castration through Identification (3)

When a child first encounters its image in a mirror , he sees _______________.

This image becomes the basis for the child’s ________________ .

“In other words, the mirror image represents an ________ self, not the real and fragmented subject” (Houston 128).
Continued on Next Slide

II. Disavowal of Castration through Identification (4)

“ Recognition is thus overlaid with
__________ : the image recognized is conceived as the _________ body of the self, but its misrecognition as superior projects this body outside itself as an
______ ego , the _______ subject , which, re-introjected as an ego ideal , gives rise to the future generation of identification with others” (Mulvey 133).


Through identification, the male is able to escape his fear of castration by
_______________________.
Continued on Next Slide


He does this by ____________ and solving her mystery.

In doing so, he _______ the threat her presence implies by ascertaining her guilt and either
______ or ______ her (Mulvey
133).
Continued on Next Slide


The narrative structure of film provides an avenue to ________ the original trauma .

Through _________ (looking at some one without their knowledge) and ________
(the pleasure in harming some one), the
“narrative structure allows the spectator to gain control and possess the woman within the diegesis” (Mulvey 133).
Continued on Next Slide


“…voyeurism, on the contrary, has associations with sadism: pleasure lies in ascertaining ________ (immediately associated with castration), asserting control and subjecting the guilty person through punishment or forgiveness. This sadistic side fits in well with narrative. ...
Continued on Next Slide


“… ________ demands a story, depends on making something happen, forcing a change in another person, a battle of will and strength, victory/defeat, all occurring in linear time with a beginning and an end.
________ scopophilia , on the other hand, can exist outside linear time as the erotic instinct is focused on the look alone' (135)

Clips and Questions

Discussion:
 Questions :
 Which character does the spectator identify with? What cinematic techniques demonstrate this?
 Is it unsettling in the end for the spectator who has identified with Norman?
Continued on Next Slide

Clips and Questions (2)

Discussion:
 Questions :
 Since Norman punishes the “guilty” Marion, but Sam saves the innocent Lila, how does the spectator overcome his sense of castration anxiety?
Must he identify with both characters?
Continued on Next Slide

Clips and Questions (3)

Discussion:
 Questions :
 When Marion decided to return to Phoenix and turn herself in, she has essentially absolved herself of guilt.
Why, then, did
Norman have to kill her?
Continued on Next Slide

Clips and Questions (4)

Discussion:
 Questions :
 How does Norman’s relationship with his mother, the murders of his mother’s lover and Mr. Arbogast conform to the ‘ identification’ model ?
Continued on Next Slide

Clips and Questions (5)

Useful Clips:
 POV shot when Norman peers at Marion undressing. This shot puts us in Norman’s shoes.
 When Marion decides to return to Phoenix, she is shown from a ______ angle , which seems to show her __________ .
Her next words, however, reveal her true identity, thus sealing her fate.
Continued on Next Slide

Clips and Questions (6)

Useful Clips:
 Marion is often shown in _____ -angle shots
(e.g., talking to Mr. Cassidy in the office, when stopped by the policeman, in Norman’s parlor).
 The _________ of Marion’s eye pans to the newspaper/money, i.e., the justification for her
‘punishment’.
Continued on Next Slide

Clips and Questions (7)

Useful Clips:
 Another interesting example of a ________ shot occurs when Marion and Norman talk outside of her room and she invites him in to eat.
Norman’s look sweeps down over her body and when we see her from his point of view, she looks significantly smaller.
Continued on Next Slide


There are three looks associated with cinema:
 _______ looking at characters
 _______ looking at the characters
 the ________ looking at characters
.
Continued on Next Slide


“The conventions of narrative film seek to deny the first two and subordinate them to the third, the conscious aim being always to eliminate _________camera presence and prevent a ______ awareness in the audience. Without these two absences, fictional drama cannot achieve reality, obviousness and truth” (Mulvey
135).
Continued on Next Slide

Clips and Questions

Discussion:
 Questions :
 Can you think of examples for each type of ‘look’?
Continued on Next Slide

Clips and Questions (2)

Useful Clips:
 Marion’s long drive : the camera focuses our attention on ________.
- We see only brief glimpses of the road from her point of view.
- Compare this to the long shots from behind the steering wheel of Scottie’s car in
Vertigo .
Continued on Next Slide

Clips and Questions (4)

Possible group discussion:

Separate students into groups and give them one of the following activities to outline and then discuss with the class:
Continued on Next Slide

Clips and Questions (5)

Possible group discussion:

Separate students into groups and give them one of the following activities to outline and then discuss with the class:

Referring to Houston’s outline of Freud’s developmental stages, give a Freudian analysis of Norman’s relationship with his mother.
Continued on Next Slide

Clips and Questions (6)

Possible group discussion:

Separate students into groups and give them one of the following activities to outline and then discuss with the class:

Referring to Houston’s outline of Lacan’s three domains, give a Lacanian analysis of
Norman’s relationship with his mother.
Continued on Next Slide