PSYCHO

According to Antonin Artaud; "When we no longer find fulfilling meaning in either ourselves or in life itself, a painful cleavage is created: “the poetry which we no longer succeed in finding in the world around us or inside ourselves can then appear on the wrong side; consider the crimes whose perverse gratuitousness is explained only by our powerlessness to take complete possession of life”, Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960). O’connor.

The hotel in which Bates ran is very similar to his fantasy world which he conducted. He was in complete power of both and therefore achieved somewhat of a Godliness power. It is made evident at the beginning of the film that he expressed his artistic creativity through his hobby of stuffing birds. In order to preserve the bird Norman took the necessary measures to maintain the external body. Norman also applied this concept when attempting to immortalize his mother. Stuffing the birds essentially immortalized them for their bodies truly never leave the world. Essentially, Norman does the same for his mother as he creates the illusion she is still alive. In doing so he gave a voice to his mother, authoring her every word and action believing this to be the solution to his repressed feelings and problems in reality. His artistic ability for creating the illusion of life was not only projected in his work, but onto the strategic murders of his victims.