Saturday 7 May 2022

TERRIBLE



“I think at this point 
We start to wonder 
What's Going on in His Head
and What's Going to Happen 
because of this look on his face.”

“That's so interesting —
As An Actor, 
What is He Playing?”

Elijah Wood :
He's playing, 
"Oh, God, PLEASE Don't Let 
My Mother KILL This Girl."


Norman Bates is presented 
in all these little, you know,
encapsulated moments 
throughout the film
and in much the same way 
that The Murder is presented
in encapsulated moments of images 
and compositions, cut together.

So, I think that The Movie is, 
it's about Fragmentation,
it IS Fragmentation.


Norman goes up 
to The House —

It's very important that The Audience SEES him LEAVE,
because he is reacting to a third character that we think
is in The House, Mother.

But that is really in His Mind.

He goes to The Stairs 
and he looks up, and he looks like 
he's sad because he realises that 
Mom's not at Home upstairs.

Then he goes and flops 
into The Kitchen, like 
a dejected little schoolboy.

So he sits there, like, 
"Oh, rats, I can't have dinner 
with the lady I want to have dinner with."

I imagine he must've done that 
a LOT when Mother was alive.

That she must've 
yelled at him 
and he would just 
Go into The Kitchen 
when he couldn't get 
What He Wanted, 
when She was 
berating him 
for whatever,
he wasn't living up 
to Her Standards.

There's a LOT one could say about Hitchcock Mothers.

“Are you quite sure she didn't come down here to see you, to capture the rich Alex Sebastian for a husband?”

“Go get shaved before 
Your Father gets Home.”

“You gentlemen aren't really 
trying to kill My Son, are you?”


Eli Roth :
When you talk about 
What is Sacred in America,
people talk about 
Mom, and Apple Pie.”

“Mom is Good, We Love Mom, 
We are Mom, We are Good.”

On the other hand, there's something else going on 
in 1950s America
in Culture and Society, 
where Mom is also suspect.

There was a serious 
Social Panic in America 
about Juvenile Delinquency.

One thing that this Social Panic resulted in was this 
Fear that Moms were Going to 
Shelter and Spoil Children, 
possibly America Itself
to DEATH.

All of the sitcoms - 
Father Knows Best, 
Ozzie and Harriet, where 
Mother never did anything.

All She Did was 
Take Care of The House 
and The Kids.”

“I'm just practically ready 
and David has to get dressed.”

“Get dressed? You mean dressed up?”

“Well, yes, you want to look nice when Nancy gets here.”

The Director who exposes 
The Horror 
of The American Family 
in The '50s
without making 
a horror movie, 
is Douglas Sirk.

“You see Kay, I love Ron.”

“You love him so much you're 
willing to ruin all our lives?”

“You can't really think that.”

“What else can I think?”

In Sirk, it's the whole 
construction of The Family.


It's not until Psycho, though, where
The Mother is 
literally A Monster 
when you see Her at The End.

HITCHCOCK :
I think My Mother scared Me 
when I was three months old.

AUDIENCE LAUGHS 
“You remember that?”

HITCHCOCK :
You see, She Said “Boo.


“I don't know 
how many times 
in Psycho, 
Do People Talk 
about MOTHER.

“Oh, we can see each other.
We can even have dinner.
But respectably
In My Housewith 
My Mother's Picture on The Mantel,
and My Sister helping me 
broil a big Steak for Three.

“And after The Steak
will we send Sister 
to The Movies,
turn Mama's Picture 
to The Wall?

Sam!

Patricia Hitchcock talks about, 
she offers her A Tranquilliser :

“Have you got some aspirin?”

“I've got Something, not aspirin….
My Mother’s Doctor 
gave them to me 
The Day of My a
Wedding.

Teddy was furious 
when he found out 
I had taken tranquillisers.

“Any calls?”

Teddy called, me,
My Mother called, to see 
if Teddy called...

Even in that office, the influence,
The Negative Influence 
of Mothers
and here it's 
on Womennot on Men.

So, the fact that 
Norman Bates' Mother
we realise eventually 
is Norman Bates himself,
might have on an unconscious level audiences saying, 
"A-Ha! I knew it! 
Mom IS gonna to Kill Us!

Mom IS going to be 
The Death of Us ALL!"

• SHOWER RUNS •

OK. Once more unto The Breach :
Back to The Primal Moment —

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