Alfred Hitchcock Shower Scene Analysis

Presenter:
What marks horror as different from other genres is both the relationship it has with the audience and its tendency to twist and subvert cultural norms. I intend to explore that subversion today, and hopefully arrive at a deeper understanding of certain features.

Click to next slide, a quote from Alfred Hitchcock (Item 10)
“I have always believed in following the advice of the playwright Sardou. He said “torture the women!” The trouble today is that we don't torture women enough.”
- Alfred Hitchcock
Presenter:
Alfred Hitchcock has at times been criticised for rampant sexism, at others heralded as a master of subversive cinema. According

to Jason Zinoman he was viewed by the “new” wave of horror directors, Carpenter, Romero, etc., as “stuffy”. Zinoman also claims that Hitchcock does not deserve the credit for inventing the modern horror genre. This may be true, however the influence of Hitchcock and his ability to manipulate audiences is hard to ignore.
For today, we will be focusing on Hitchcock as misogynist, and the ways in which his views on women have imprinted the genre for good or ill.

Click to next slide, Janet Leigh in the infamous “shower scene”(Item 3)

Presenter:
The “shower scene” from Psycho is infamous for many reasons. The close-up of Janet Leigh, naked, whilst she is assaulted with a knife has gained iconographic status within film criticism and academia.
Hitchcock's film sparked two key features of the horror genre as we know it.
Firstly, the hyper-sexualisation of female victims. Janet Leigh is filmed in long, lingering tracking shots time and time again, particularly when she is dressing or undressing. The camera acts as the “male gaze” (Item 9) which sees the woman on screen as an object of desire, rather than a subject with autonomy.
Or to put it more simply, the woman is there to be looked at, by men, rather than to look. Although the film portrays Norman's voyeurism as unwholesome, the audience itself is indulging in the same activity.
Click to next slide, Norman Bates from Psycho (Item 3)

Presenter:
The second important convention formed in Psycho is that of the outwardly normal killer. Gone are the grotesque Nosferatu and Frankenstein's monster. Instead we have a monster able to hide in plain site. This aspect of horror is one which has endured into the current incarnations of the horror genre.
People seem to find the idea of the monster next door much scarier, a reflection on changing social values and the increasing fear of threats from within our own countries, cities, neighborhoods.
Presenter:
Let us take a closer look at Marion Crane's death in Psycho. Since horror deals so intimately with death, we can learn a great deal about the genre from how people die.
Marion is first visually dissected, as Norman indulges his voyeuristic tendencies, before being murdered by “Mother” in a frenzy of violence.
Presenter:
We can read Marion's death by Norman in several ways. In the first instance her death is punishment for her sins (stealing the money). Norman acts a substitute for the punishment of society (the law).
By this reading her death is justified, she “brought it on herself”.
Presenter:
This leads me to our second interpretation, which is this; Norman uses the knife as a substitute for his penis, to inflict sexual violence upon the object of his desire.
In this scenario, Marion's death is caused by her sexual appeal; she arouses Norman, but he is unable to perform sexually (perhaps due to extreme repression), and “punishes” her for reminding him of his impotence.
She could be accused of raising in Norman fears of castration, as described by Barbara Creed (Item 5). She argues that man's fear of woman as a castrating force is stronger even than his sexual desire for woman.
Click to next slide, quoting Laura Mulvey (Item 9)
“Pleasure lies in ascertaining guilt... asserting control and subjugating the guilty person through punishment or forgiveness”
-Laura Mulvey
Presenter:
As we can see, Laura Mulvey is another academic who views the death of women on screen as a form of punishment.
This brings me to my final interpretation of Marion's death, and the most complex.
The third reading, inspired by the work of Carol J Clover, regards Norman as a character of ambiguous gender, or gender confusion. His mind, inhabited by himself and his mother is not entirely male.
Click to next slide, an image of Norman Bates dressed as “Mother” (Item 3)

Presenter:
We have a killer gendered as female (dressing in his mother's clothes, effeminate behaviour), punishing a victim gendered as female. It is quite easy then, to read the film as a message to women that not only will men keep them in place, but other women will too. The suggestion is that misogyny, internalized, is just as dangerous as the external kind.
Presenter:
How then, have these representations changes over time? We will look next at the horror of the 1970's, focusing on Halloween as an exemplar.
My two main interests in 70's horror are the way in which the punishment of women changes, and the emergence of what Carol. J. Clover terms the “final girl”.

One way American horror evolved in the 70's was an increase in the levels of torture, both physical and psychological, female characters were exposed to.

Presenter:
As we have just learned, it takes women on average five times as long to die in a horror movie as a man does. We can link this back to our analysis of voyeurism earlier, and come to the conclusion that seeing women in pain has become an image associated with pleasure.
Whereas seeing a man in pain would make the, largely male, audience uncomfortable. It becomes a matter of identification. We will explore later how the “final girl” challenges this male-centric identification.
Click to next slide, showing Laurie and friends in Halloween

The virginal character is traditionally impervious to the attentions of the antagonist. She can be tortured, emotionally and physically, but ultimately she comes out on top.
The message sent by the genre is that women who “behave”, maintain their virginity, deny their “dangerous” sexuality, will be “safe” from the “monster” that is male aggression and violent male sexuality.
Click to next slide, an image of promiscuity (Item 2)

Presenter:
A clear message then: perceived promiscuity in women (and occasionally men) is punishable by death. Some would claim this is a gross exaggeration, that horror is an unrealistic extreme. However it re-enforces the social norm of demonising female sexuality.
Presenter:
But let's take a more positive approach, and look at Carol. J. Clover's “Final Girl” (Items 4 and 11). Clover presents the idea that the audience identifies with the person who moves the action forward within a film, the “active” force. In horror, unlike other genres, that “active” force is usually portrayed as outwardly female.
I say “outwardly” because once we begin to examine her character we may be a little less confident of her female-ness.
Click to next slide, Laurie from Halloween (Item 2)

Presenter:
If we examine her costume, we see that Laurie visually signifies sexual unavailability, nothing she wears emphasizes her femininity with the exception of a floral apron. Even that is designed to make her seem safe and maternal. John Carpenter himself, when describing the link between Laurie and the psychotic Michael Myers, used the term “sexual repression” (Item 7)
Her outfit for the final stand off with Michael Myers is incredibly masculine, a smart shirt and boyish jumper.

The Final Girl is presented as a pseudo-boy, rather than a strong girl.
And herein lies her flaw, she is a male character dressed in a facsimile of a female one.
How is Scream different?
Click to next slide, a shot of Tatum from Scream (Item 1)

Presenter:
Scream presents a post-modern, self-aware piece. Characters within the film frequently make reference to other films, such as Tatum (pictured here) suggesting they are playing out “I Spit on your Garage”, a nod to rape-revenge flick “I Spit on Your Grave”. Later, Sydney declares that she wishes to “pick which genre” of movie her life is going to be.
As well as contributing to the dark humour present in the film, these references also demonstrate the production team's familiarity with horror, particularly its codes and conventions. This is what allows Scream to modify those conventions so easily.

Click to next slide, depicting Sidney from Scream (Item 1)

Presenter:
Sidney is presented as quite a quiet young woman, old-fashioned in some ways. She goes to bed in a long nightgown and wears high-necked tops and sensible shoes. She shares many of the boyish traits of the 70's “Final Girl”, so how is she

different?
Click to next slide, a shot a Sidney and Billy undressing (Item 1)

Presenter:
One important difference between Sidney and her predecessors is this: she has sex and survives. Even as the film buff within in the movie (part of Scream's delightfully acute send up of “new” horror) lays out the rules for surviving within a horror, Sidney is breaking them.
Does this change reflect the way societies values have changed? Of course. Film does not exist within a vacuum. But it is interesting to note that in the genre most criticized for its treatment of women, its heroines are getting stronger, while others are become more and more stereotypical.
Presenter:
For me personally, the most important feature of Sidney's story is this: she beats the monster. She has help, certainly, and as is traditional with horror, there are sequels to imply that the killer is somehow “un-killable”. But for a woman raised on the horror of the 70's, there was something distinctly satisfying in seeing our heroine get the final shot.

Presenter:
Sidney summarizes better than I ever could. The real difference here, is that it's her movie.
Presenter:
So to quickly recap. Today we've learned about misogyny, and how it became engrained within the American Horror system.
We've also covered the idea of the “Final Girl” and her role as a counterpoint to the “Psycho-killer”.
And we've touched upon how things are changing to be offer more empowering representations of women.
I discovered a great deal of things I didn't know about horror while researching for this presentation. My only regret was that I couldn't include more of the ideas and theories out there. Approaching film from a feminist perspective has been fascinating and I hope you've all enjoyed this presentation, as I certainly enjoyed creating it.

I'll leave you with this quote from Carol. J. Clover, which I believe neatly sums up the attitude we should have to horror. (Item 4)
“...slasher films present us in startlingly direct terms with a world in which male and female are at desperate odds but in which, at the same time, masculinity and femininity are more states of mind than body”
- Carol. J. Clover