Frankenstein & Psycho

1. Describe

FRANKENSTEIN: In Frankenstein, the “bad guy” we are faced with is a physical monster, duly named “The Monster”. It is made from the parts of the deceased, and was deliberately made to look as distorted and un-human as possible by the director. He made The Monster wear clothes far too small for him and extremely heavy shoes to try to emphasise its largeness and obscurity.

PSYCHO: In Psycho, the “bad guy” we are faced with is a psychological monster, Norman Bates, who appears to be a normal person; until you find out he is a cross-dressing schizophrenic. This is a big difference from Frankenstein, as The Monster was shown to be hideous, whereas Norman Bates is shown to be a charming bachelor, who seduces Marion, and eventually kills her.

2. Explain
The idea of a monster within a horror film was used as a device to scare or frighten the audience, by showing them an inhuman creature with the ability to torment. Frankenstein’s monster, for example, was deliberately made to appear as inhuman as possible, via making him appear far taller than his surrounding characters, and equipping him with heavy shoes and extensive make-up. This idea is effective, as showing the audience something which they have never seen or experienced before, preferably something as opposite to them as possible, created uncertainty, and subsequently, fear. This had a lot of reflection to society within it, considering one of the most common fears in the world is the fear of the unknown, and so tapping into that caused the audience to react exactly as planned, to be afraid. With Psycho, for the majority of the film we are still left wondering who the killer is until the end, but the suspense and mysterious nature of the murder left us tentative.


3. Analyse

Since the first horror movie, the monster has evolved with the time. Although the general idea of the monster has not changed, a creature/person used to create fear, as seen from Frankenstein and Psycho, the way in which the monster is portrayed is quite different. As time progressed, the nature of the monster changed as the world changed and began to realise that things are not as they seem. It transitioned from a physical monster, in this case Frankenstein’s Monster, to a mental monster, Norman Bates. This evolution shows a lot about the society that we are living in; we do not need something to be visibly frightening to frighten us, more so we need something like a person, who could easily walk past without us sparing a second thought, who then reveals themselves as a monster themselves. In Frankenstein, the monster was the highlight of the film, as we saw the changing nature of a creature, essentially doomed from the start. This allowed us to show sympathy toward hideous creature, even though said creature accidentally kills several people. In Psycho however, we do not sympathise towards Norman Bates, even though he appears normal and human.

1 comments:

  1. Ms Kazimi said...

    There are some good ideas here but you have not explored them in enough depth. I also question your point that Norman Bates is "charming" and that he "seduces" Marian. I think the fear in Psycho stems more from his awkwardness and appearance of innocence: he stutters and appears frightened most of the time. Some good explanation, but aim to also support your points with expert opinion and quotes from readings.

    Merit.

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