How Alfred Hitchcock Gains Sympathy of the Audience for Marian Crane in Psycho

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How Alfred Hitchcock Gains Sympathy of the Audience for Marian Crane in Psycho

Alfred Hitchcock directed the film ‘Psycho’ in 1960. At the end of its

first year, the film earned fifteen million dollars. The film has

generated three sequels and was the first “Madman with a knife” or

“Slasher films.” Followed by films such as ‘Nightmare on Elm Street’

or ‘Halloween’. It was also the very first horror film that looked at

something realistic like a psychiatric situation instead of fictional

horror characters like werewolves or vampires.

Alfred Hitchcock had his own new ideas in publicity and marketing. He

made sure that everyone was seated before the film had started and

that no one could enter half way through. Hitchcock had advertisements

all over the place. He even went out and bought all of the ‘Psycho

novels out of shops to make sure that no one could find out the ending

without seeing the film. Hitchcock also asked people not to reveal the

ending of the film when they came out from the cinema. By investing so

much in publicity, Hitchcock manipulated the audience. More and more

people wanted to see the film and there were loads of queuing people

outside of cinemas all over.

Violence, sexual content and even the flushing of toilets were all new

to audiences. They hadn’t seen a film like it before. The film was

blamed for an increase of violent murders just as films are today.

Alfred Hitchcock was already a famous director before ‘Psycho’ was

made. He was well known for his strange and macabre films. ‘Psycho’

was based on the book by Robert Bloch, about real killings of

psychopath Ed Gein.

Many film studios rejected Hitchc...

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her as she only wants to be free, and able to live her life the way

she wishes.

This film unquestionably shows that appearances can be deceiving! In

this scene, it appears that the police officer is the enemy when

really he is there to help. Also, later on in the movie, Marion meets

a seemingly pleasant, genuine man named Norman Bates who in due course

turns out to be a psychotic murderer who will be the one who takes

Marion’s life!

In this film ‘Psycho,’ Alfred Hitchcock uses a wide variety of

techniques to gain the audiences sympathy for Marion Crane. From

camera shots to the clothes she wears, he spent a lot of his time

planning the ways he would reveal her. The time and money that

Hitchcock invested in the film paid off in the end when the film

proved to be one of the best horror films of its time.

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