PSYCHO by Hitchcock
"Psycho" is a 1960 psychological thriller-horror film directed by Alfred Hitchcock. It is considered one of Hitchcock's best films. Besides, it is ranked among the greatest films of all time.
Marion Cane, played by Janet Leigh, is fed up with her life. Stressed out and under pressure after stealing a large amount of money from her boss to marry the man she loves, she runs away and decides to stay at a motel for the night. Bad decision!!!
It is difficult in this day and age to understand what motivated Marion to steal the money in order to have a respectable life with Sam, unless we understand what society was like in the 1950s, especially for women.
"Psycho" can also be understood using some of the ideas of Carl Jung. Carl Jung is one of the most famous psychiatrists of modern times (the other one is Sigmund Freud). According to Carl Jung, people need to recognise the negative aspects of themselves to reach maturity. Jung suggests that if people ignore them, these negative aspects grow bigger and will eventually destroy them.
Hitchcock was particularly interested in the way each of us has a "good" side and a "bad" side to our personality and this duality is indeed one of the major themes of "Psycho".
INDIVIDUAL TASK. Do this questionnaire:
GROUP TASKS. You choose:
Option A: Using Jung's theory,
In groups of 4/5 students prepare a Popplet (if you rather prepare a presentation with emaze, prezi,...feel free to do so) identifying Marion and Norman's positive and negative sides. Use references from the film to justify your work.
Think about other popular film or literature characters in which this duality is evident and include them in your work. Some examples could be Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by R.L. Stevenson, Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, The Incredible Hulk, Fight Club, Primal Fear, Darth Vader in Star Wars,Maleficent, Scrooge in "A Christmas Carol" by Dickens, Gollum and Smeagol in "The Lord of the Rings" by Tolkien ...
Your work will be orally presented to the rest of the class on Monday, 18th January.
Option B. Do some research on the role of women in the 1950s. Use the Internet and ask older family members to prepare a Popplet about women in the 1950s (if you rather prepare a presentation with emaze, prezi,...feel free to do so) . If you interview members of your family, ask them for permission to record them and include the video in your work. Make sure the interview is in English, so one of you might have to be the translator. Cover the following areas:
Work (what percentage of women worked and what kind of work they did).
Money (who controlled money?)
Family.
Morals: was it acceptable to live with someone outside marriage?
Who were the movie stars of the day? Think about Doris Day, Sandra Dee or Marilyn Monroe.
Your work will be orally presented to the rest of the class on Monday, 18th January.
The following pages might help you too:
MAR, ONOFRE, JUANJO, ALFONSO
AND LAURA CARRILLO
ALEJANDRO, LUIS, JOSÉ MANUEL NICOLÁS,
JOSÉ MANUEL LÓPEZ AND RICARDO
WOMEN IN THE 50s
TERESA, NURIA, ENCARNA, NEREA AND CLARA
MOISÉS AND FRAN
JAVI, JULIÁN, JOSÉ MANUEL ORTEGA,
LAURA PALAZÓN AND LAURA VIDAL
