The films “The Birds” and “Psycho” do not portray your typical family and clearly have some dysfunctionalism going on. Throughout the film In “The Birds” Mitch continually refers to his own mother as “darling” and “dear” – clearly this is a sign of an enmeshed dysfunctional relationship between mother and son. Mitch and his mother Lydia’s relationship has more of a husband and wife's role; for example, when Mitch and Lydia wash dishes, their conversation is like husband and wife. There are three relationships with Mitch that are disrupted by Melanie’s arrival in Bodega Bay; Lydia, Annie, and Cathy. The first attack comes to Cathy’s birthday party, which Melanie attends. While Cathy welcomes Melanie she seems to subconsciously harboring the fear that her brother’s affections will be replaced by Melanie. The other attack comes after Melanie leaves the lovebirds for Cathy; the seagull’s attack is a warning shot that Melanie ignores. When the birds attack the schoolchildren, it's after Melanie has arrived at the school to pick up Mitch's sister. Another warning shot arrives as another gull slams itself into Annie’s front door when Melanie invades Annie’s territory by choosing to board with her for the night. During another attack, Annie is killed, leaving Melanie to take her place. Mitch's mother Lydia, a woman portrayed as cold to anyone not in her immediate family, and especially cold to other women who might have an interest in her son. The bird attacks are just a metaphor for Melanie's "invasion" of the peaceful world of Mitch & his family, a world that seems peaceful on the surface but in fact has all these repressed feelings and anxieties bubbling underneath. Every scene in the film is about Melanie's "invasion" of M...
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...y away from women, Norman seems to lusts after Marion, and “Mother” did not approve of it. Of course at the end of the film we discover that the mother is actually also Norman, who “transforms” into his mother whenever he experiences sexual desire for other women. Norman’s mother’s personality that consumed him would kill those who threatened to come between them. After listening to the manner in which Norman’s mother spoke to her son, Marion can't believe that Norman is traumatized so harshly by his mother and suggests he should break away from her. She overstepped her boundaries when she suggested Norman place his mom in an asylum. Marion insists that he can free himself from the traps that he feels have possessed him. The fact that Norman lusted Marion and Marion threatened the relationship between him and “mother’s” served purpose enough for her murder.
According to smith and Hamon (2012), Families are considered as a whole in society. However, they believed that couples have many components in which makes up the family, if one component is missing, the family as a whole can get unbalance (Smith & Hamon, 2012). In the Brice’s family, communication was the component that was missing. The couple was not able to communicate their differences, which was what caused Carolyn and David to verbally insult each other. Smith and Hamon (2012), also explain that a person who expresses his or her feeling is considered as someone who is breaking the functions of their family system; especially if the person is focusing on the individual who is causing the problem, rather than the problem itself. In the Brice family, Carolyn could be considered the one that cause the dysfunction in the family structure because she was focusing on David as the problem of their marriage, rather than focusing of the elements that are causing their problems. Smith and Hamon (2012) explain that individuals should focus on how to solve a problem, rather than trying to find who is causing the
... come across a police officer following them, Marion continues to do the opposite of normal in her frazzled state. Much like how Marion’s paranoia develops once she is in her car, Norman’s paranoia intensifies and becomes much more evident within his first, and continuous encounters with people. In meeting his first, and only, customer for the night, Norman becomes edgy and nervous and constantly tries to engage Marion in conversation. Knowing fully well that his mother would disapprove of such interactions, Norman becomes protective, obsessive and deranged at the mention of his sick mother. Norman’s sickness combined with his obvious paranoia of people coming around him and his “mother” only leads to him committing several murders all being blamed on his mother. This sickness that each character suffers from can only leads to a greater downfall; obvious insanity.
...e on her part. Throughout the story, the Mother is portrayed as the dominant figure, which resembled the amount of say that the father and children had on matters. Together, the Father, James, and David strived to maintain equality by helping with the chickens and taking care of Scott; however, despite the effort that they had put in, the Mother refused to be persuaded that Scott was of any value and therefore she felt that selling him would be most beneficial. The Mother’s persona is unsympathetic as she lacks respect and a heart towards her family members. Since the Mother never showed equality, her character had unraveled into the creation of a negative atmosphere in which her family is now cemented in. For the Father, David and James, it is only now the memories of Scott that will hold their bond together.
Norman Bates was able to show a public face, just as Emily did, even though he seemed strange. He was a victim, same as Emily, of a domineering parent. A further similarity between the two is the fascination with the dead. Norman too kept a body, refusing to let go of the only structure he had ever known. When his mother who had berated him his entire life dies Norman has a mental break and he not only taxidermies her body in order to preserve it, his personality splits into two people. One was being himself, and the other becoming his dead mother. Norman Bates like Emily is an example of when obsession can take over a person, sometime literally, and becomes unhealthy. In the case of Norman, his dual personality, his other self, killed anyone that stayed at the motel. The motel and house representing the self-inflicted prison Norman has sentenced him to, just as Emily did with her
After Norman is physically attracted to Marion, he feels guilty for betraying his alter ego who is that of his mother, whom I would label as Norma.
Early in the film , a psychologist is called in to treat the troubled child :and she calmed the mother with a statement to the effect that, “ These things come and go but they are unexplainable”. This juncture of the film is a starting point for one of the central themes of the film which is : how a fragile family unit is besieged by unusual forces both natural and supernatural which breaks and possesses and unites with the morally challenged father while the mother and the child through their innocence, love, and honesty triumph over these forces.
...ver the period of his absence, Norma Jean develops into a stronger person from being on her own. Having Leroy home makes her realize she needs to move on and employs her assertiveness to get out of the situation. Although they remain loyal to their duties through all of the drudgery, the Native American women are strong because they lead a very important role in the family. Norma Jean also proves herself to be strong as she leaves her husband to move on to achieve more in her life. The women share different experiences, but they all exhibit strength in being the way they want to be.
According to Frederick Asals, the first half of the story serves a significant purpose as it informs the audience that the family’s journey to Florida is only a “mere empty movement through space” (42). Prior to the car accident, the family acts out of vanity and disobedience despite believing they are devote Christians. Through their actions and behaviors, O’Connor reveals that they are heading down a path of destruction. T.W. Hendricks examines the structure of the family and their relationships with each other, he comments that “the structure of the family is in disarray” (203). The patriarch of the family, Bailey, despises his mother and prefers to overlook her presence by participating in self-absorption. In comparison, his wife does not pay attention to her external surroundings, but simply puts sole focus on her infant child. Furthermore, she and her husbands are parents t...
Jennifer Egan’s use of structural classifications about Charlie’s role within her family displays the reason for Charlie’s
The struggle to battle with the persistent grief of self-blame and lack of identity is a constant reminder to the barriers in relationships. Leroy grieves over the fact that he has lost his identity as a father and husband. Although he often thinks of Randy, the memories of him have faded. As a result, he latches on to Norma Jean but she doesn’t respond back. This causes him to feel like a failure of a husband. Norma Jean is grieving over the emptiness in her life. It was not the life she thought she would have. Her deceased son symbolizes her emptiness because of his death. She also feels emptiness towards her husband. For example, she feels very uncomfortable around him and always tries to find something for him to do. When Leroy arrives back home from his accident Mason implies, “he thinks she’s seems a little disappointed” (Mason 220), displaying Norma Jean frustrated with his lying around doing nothing but watching television and smoking pot. In addition, Norma Jean feels emptiness towards her mother, which is presented in the way her mother criticizes her. When tragedies occur in a family and self-confidence fades it can take over your life a...
Therefore, family problems can have a great effect on the lives of the people within the family. Kaslik shows this by making Giselle and Holly’s verbal and physical fights, and their creation of imaginary friends. But in the end no matter how you deal with stress, whether by loss of appetite or jumping off a bridge, family is family, and they are always there for each other even if they feel like the family is separated.
The two films Psycho and The Birds, both directed by Alfred Hitchcock, share similar themes and elements. These recurring themes and elements are often prevalent in many of Hitchcock’s works. In Psycho and The Birds, Hitchcock uses thematic elements like the ideal blonde woman, “the motherly figure”, birds, and unusual factors that often leave the viewer thinking. Hitchcock’s works consist of melodramatic films, while also using pure cinema to help convey messages throughout the film.
Norman’s mind housed two personalities, his and his mother’s. After his father had died, Norman and his mother had lived “as if there was no one else in the world.” A few years later, Norman’s mother met a man that she planned to marry. Driven with jealousy, Norman murdered both the man and his mother because he had felt replaced. The guilt ate him up and caused him to pretend that his mother was still alive. In order to do this, half of him became his mother. Just as Norman was jealous of any man who came near his mother, the mother half of Norman was also jealous of anyone that aroused Norman himself. Therefore, when Marion came to stay at the Bates Motel, owned by Norman, he was attracted to her, and his attraction spurred the mother half of him to become jealous and murder Marion. Sometimes Norman would dress up as his mother when reality came too close and threatened his illusion. Since his mind was housing two personalities, there was a battle, and eventually his mother won and completely took over Norman. Norman was gone, and his mother has fully taken over (Psycho). The viewers realize that Norman Bates never meant to hurt anyone. It was his jealous emotions stemming from his mother that caused him to murder Marion. In Norman’s case, his mental illness was to blame for his vile crime. Through this portrayal, the viewers are more likely to view mental illnesses negatively. Because Norman’s
The madness and nothingness of the family gets the better of Shelly and she begins to doubt her own existence as well:
Wright was described as a beautiful women filled with such joy and life until she married John Wright. Mrs. Peter’s and Mrs. Hale feels sorry for her because her husband treated her so bad. Due to female bonding and sympathy, the two women, becoming detectives, finds the truth and hides it from the men. The play shows you that emotions can play a part in your judgement. Mrs. Peter’s and Mrs. Hale felt sorry that Mrs. Wright had one to keep her company no kids and she was always left alone at home. “yes good; he didn’t drink, and kept his word as well as most, I guess, and paid his debt. But he was a hard man, Mrs. Peters just to pass the time of day with him. Like a raw wind that goes to the bone. I should of think she would have wanted a bird. But what you suppose went with it?” Later on in the play the women find out what happens to the bird. The bird was killed the same way Mrs. Wright husband which leads to the motive of why he was killed. Mrs. Wright was just like the bird beautiful but caged no freedom not being able to live a life of her own. Always stuck in the shadows of her husband being told what to do and