This scene
from PSYCHO is when we’re introduced to Norman’s “murderous” mother when Lila
enters the basement and finds her in a rocking chair, only to find the mother
is just a rotten corpse. The corpse, being mise-en-scene looks to be smiling
and is dressed in the clothes we presume she’s died in and is positioned in the
rocking chair to add a sense of creepiness. Her corpse helps make the overall
creepy location of the Bate’s house seem even more unsettling.
In the
scene, Lila hits the light bulb after being scared through collision cutting
when Norman enters the room dressed as the mother, revealing to us that he has
been committing all the murders and the swinging light animates the corpse,
giving a sense that the corpse is both laughing and watching the group. This is
done through low-key lighting of the bulb which covers half the corpse’s face
which switches sides as the light bulb swings making the audience feel
uncomfortable.
This
specific scene also relates to the context of Ed Gein and how he also dug up
his own mother and made an attempt to preserve her corpse. This context is part
of a theory in which Janet Staiger had researched and developed and processed
into her own book Interpreting Films
(1992). Janet’s theory involves how important context is with the audience, as
this film’s antagonist Norman relates to the real life murderer Ed Gein,
portrayted through historial context as their actions are similar due to Norman
being based off Ed. Norman is represented as film version of Ed Gein, and as
his murderers and actions were close to the time of this films creation it adds
a more realistic horror theme to this film, creeping out the audience through a
way of having the story based on a real event.
This
sequence ends on the shot of the corpse seeming to watch and laughed and a fade
transition of the face of the corpses becomes a shot of the County Court House,
representing that is where the mother has ended up, even though it’s through
the mind of Norman.
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