The Netflix series Bates motel is a sequel of the movie Psycho (1960) which was based on a guy who owned a hotel and killed the people who stayed there. This new series came out in 2013 and is about a teenage boy named Norman Bates who lives with his Mother Norma Bates. Both Norman and Norma move to a new town and open up a motel which they named “The Bates Motel” Hence the last name. Norman has unknown blackouts and can see things such as spirits or just goes into a daydream about people doing things that really hasn’t happened. His mother is a crazy women who tries to protect Norman so he doesn’t get in trouble.Yet Norman will do anything she says and that will protect and defend him and his mother, even if it does involve killing.
A defense
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mechanism is defined as an automatic reaction of the body that typically unconsciously, reacts to avoid conscious conflict or anxiety. Sigmund Freud was an Austrian Neurologist that came up with a list of defense mechanisms. In Freud's studies, he carefully explains different kinds of mechanism. The three main mechanisms of Freud that I thought popped out in this show the most and will be covering throughout this essay are Repression, Displacement, and Reaction formation. Unknowingly replacing an unpleasant memory into the unconscious is known as Repression.
Throughout this show, Repression is a very popular mechanism that has been used. Many times has Mr.Norman Bates come across a close call death. Yet, once retrieved at the hospital cannot recall how he ended up there. More than likely this being from his blackouts. In further detail Norman took his mother’s car without her permission and picked up a girl and were attempting to leave the town and never come back. This situation got cut short when while he was driving, was daydreaming and steered the car off the road. After being blacked out was taken to the hospital, but couldn’t recall how he ended up …show more content…
there. Displacement according to Freud is defined as redirecting unacceptable feelings from the original source to a safer, substitute target. Norma and Norman are like two peas in a pod. They do everything together and rarely leave each other's sides in any situation. In one of the episodes Displacement plays a big role. Norman had threatened to leave Norma after a huge fight broke out. Of course instead of Norman actually deciding to leave, Norma who had a boyfriend at the time was attacked outside the house with a shovel. Norman did this because he felt as if his mother didn’t love him anymore and didn’t spend time with him. Instead of being mad at his mother he took it out on Alex(boyfriend). In this show, another mechanism strongly used was Reaction Formation.
Reaction formation is acting in the opposite way to one's unacceptable impulses. For example, being overprotective and lavish to an unwanted child. This mechanism fit’s very well in this show considering Norma actually has an ‘unwanted’ child whose name is Dylan and he was also the first child. Norma also has a brother, which is how Dylan came about. Yes, incest. Anyways, they had Dylan and Norma abandoned him because she clearly felt very wrong about it. Later down the line, he comes to find out where his mother lives and goes to see her. During this visit, she mentally, is very emotional but she tries to act as if nothing is going on, and to not be thrilled. She later tries to do everything and anything to make up for leaving him and tries to convince him and herself that she is the best
mother. Coming to a conclusion, Sigmund Freud did an extravagant job in explaining just what and how these mechanisms work. Believe it or not, these defense mechanisms are used in everyday life around the world, rather it is realistic or non-realistic, will always be used whether or not we realize it. Without Freud, today’s idea of the process of defense mechanisms would be much more confusing and challenging to understand.
The psychological definition of reaction formation is asserting opposite from the truth. The protagonist claims that she feels splendid, upbeat and she acts as if nothing is wrong, however, in reality she is struggling with major depression and thoughts of worthlessness. The teen feels this as a result that she believes running is something that she may never be able to experience again. Analyzing her situation, overcomes this problem by getting a special prosthetic leg made custom for running that her track coach raised money for. While surpassing her reaction formation phase, Jessica overcomes this problem due to she is now able to run again with her dog Sherlock. It may not be the same as before, but sure-enough, she feels as if she is running just like old times. Researchers at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology kept in touch with over 800 adolescents for approximately two years. According to the studies, researchers found that physically active children had less symptoms of depression in comparison to the children who had done no psychical activity (McGinn). Running is the activity that Jessica seeks happiness in, pertaining to the study, the protagonist is a part of the section of children that has less symptoms of depression. As her ability to run escapes, depression creeps in and takes the place of happiness. Ecstatic
The film Friday Night Lights, directed by Peter Berg explains a story about a small town in Odessa, Texas that is obsessed to their high school football team (Permian Panthers) to the point where it’s strange. Boobie Miles (Derek Luke) is an cocky, star tailback who tore his ACL in the first game of the season and everyone in the town just became hopeless cause their star isn’t playing for a long time. The townspeople have to now rely on the new coach Gary Gaines (Billy Bob Thornton), to motivate the other team members to be able to respect, step up their game, and improve quickly. During this process, racism has made it harder to have a success and be happy and the team has to overcome them as a family.
One of the most devastating and forgotten battles of World War II was the battle of Dresden. The book Slaughterhouse Five, narrated by Kurt Vonnegut, attempts to describe the war and its destructiveness. The war provides no advantages to the lives of soldiers and in some ways destroys the mind of the soldier as well. Billy after the war is deceptively successful. He has a good job and a family, while in reality he has no connection with his kids, and most of the time cannot express what is on his mind. The destructiveness of war shown throughout the book causes much harm to the lives of civilians and soldiers after the war.
Friday Night Lights by H.G. Bissinger is a story about a football town. The name of the town is Odessa. It is a small town on the west side of Texas and football is the only thing that matters. Bissinger gives the reader a glimpse of what life is like at an area high school called Permian. Very few towns are obsessed with sports like Permian and Ringgold when it comes to sports programs. In this essay, Permian and Ringgold sports will be compared by their programs and values that they place on sports.
For instance, once Norma presses the button and begins to believe it truly has no power, she receives a call from the Lennox Hospital informing her that her husband died; she then calls Mr. Steward and exclaims, “‘You said I wouldn’t know the one that died!’... Mr. Steward said, ‘do you really think you knew your husband?’” (Matheson 25). Because Mr. Steward asks Norma if she really knows her husband, it suggests that Norma’s egotistical personality causes her to be incognizant of her surroundings. The author composes this choice in the plot in order to manifest the concept that greed can cause a person to be desperate enough to make irrational decisions. Moreover, Norma’s recklessness reveals her inability to formulate logical decisions. In the end, Norma’s decision costs her her husband’s
“Poor decisions and bad luck are contingencies of most horror films” (Wesley Morris). The 1960’s thriller, Psycho, is no exception. It has been acclaimed as one of Alfred Hitchcock’s best films because of its use of psychopathic elements to create what has come to be known as a “slasher films”, a subcategory of horror films. It evolved the horror genre from monsters and the supernatural to the human condition and the monster living inside. The motion picture Psycho tells the story of a Marion Crane, a secretary who flees Phoenix, Arizona with $40,000 she steals from her boss. Days later she arrives to the Bates Motel in Oregon. At the isolated, vacant motel, she meets the owner Norman Bates who shows her hospitality. Later, however, we find
In Alfred Hitchcock’s famous “slasher” movie, Psycho, the audience is introduced to Norman Bates. Like many ot...
When most people think of a “slasher film” (Clover 1992) they tend to think of movies such as Friday the 13th, Halloween, and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. These movies align with the basic necessities for a slasher film ,but at the same time, are repetitive. In 1984 A Nightmare on Elm Street was created and completely changed what was looked at as a “slasher villain”. In A Nightmare on Elm Street the viewer is introduced the evil omnipresent being known as Freddy Krueger. Freddy Krueger is a nightmareous malicious monster whose only purpose is to kill. He is the embodiment of fear and evil with immense power and abilities that some would dub as “Godlike.” In James Kendrick’s Razors in the Dreamscape: Revisiting A Nightmare on Elm Street and the Slasher Film Kendrick discusses A Nightmare on Elm Street’s originality as compared to other slasher films such as Friday the 13th, Halloween, etc. Kendrick presents an understanding of how A Nightmare on Elm Street fights common archetypes and tropes associated with the slasher genre by discussing the amalgamation of Krueger and his victims and how it ultimately emasculates Krueger and leads to his demise.
Inspired by the life of the demented, cannibalistic Wisconsin killer Ed Gein (whose heinous acts would also inspire THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE, 1974 and DERANGED, 1974), PSYCHO is probably Hitchcock's most gruesome and dark film. Its importance to its genre cannot be overestimated. PSYCHO's enduring influence comes not only from the Norman Bates character (who has since been reincarnated in a staggering variety of forms), but also from the psychological themes Hitchcock develops.
The character of Norman Bates deviated from the book's original character, a forty year old pervert, to Anthony Perkins' character 'a tender vulnerable young man' one could almost feel sorry for. Perkins plays Norman Bates as if the role were written for him, with his nervous voice used throughout the movie and his awkward appearance and actions. A distinct part of Norman's character is his subtle lapses in which he shows signs of the ever present 'Mother'. The parlour scene is an excellent example of these lapses. The lines 'a boy's best friend is his mother' and 'we all go a little mad sometimes' are e...
What drives a person past insanity? What drives an individual to feel no remorse, but rather a psychological relief in murderous acts? Consider all the different types of people on Earth as well as the lifestyles and situations these people are raised up in. As much as it’s desired to think the world is filled with people who carry no such thing as a bad bone in their bodies, that thought process is simple deception. The fact is that psychopaths and sociopaths hide among others in everyday environments - neighbors, teachers, family members, doctors, friends, or even the local mailman. Psychopaths are declared as people who suffer from a mental disorder causing aggression and abnormal behaviors such as their “lack of
Norman Bates was an American serial killer and keeper of The Bates Motel in California. Bates suffered from Dissociative Identity Disorder and psychotic behavior, believing himself to be controlled by his mother. At the same time, he suffered from visual and auditory hallucinations, in which his mother apparently talked him into committing acts of violence to satisfy her. When his mother’s personality took over, Norman would fly into murderous rages targeting women who aroused him. He is known to have eventually killed his mother and kept her mummified corpse in the basement of his house for many years. He is the primary antagonist of the 1960 film, Psycho and appears as the anti-hero/protagonist villain. Lastly, Norman 's incestuous relationship
My favorite genre of television is Science Fiction and Horror, Specifically the Netflix Original Stranger Things. The show focuses on the investigation of a missing boy along with many supernatural events around the small town of Hawkins, such as an appearance of a telekinetic girl. Stranger Things is my favorite television show because of the cast, characters, and mystery that draws me in and keeps me guessing which direction the show will go.
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Hannibal Lecter, a character created by Thomas Harris, is commonly known for his psychopathic and cannibalistic tendencies, and keenly recognized for being a prolific serial killer. However, a major aspect of his characterization is his profession as a renowned psychiatrist which prompts the FBI to seek his assistance even behind bars. While this element of his portrayal may not appear to be greatly significant, the constant misrepresentation of psychiatrists, psychologists, and counselors can subconsciously deter those who need assistance from seeking help, making it just as dangerous as misrepresenting mental illness. For the purpose of this paper, I will refer to Hannibal Lecter’s story according to the films “Hannibal Rising,” “Red Dragon,” “Silence of the Lambs,” and the series, “Hannibal.”