In "Psycho" Norman is presented as a fairly normal guy who lives at home with his mother. He is tall and has dark hair portraying a mysterious man. We the audience do not see Norman as a stereotypically attractive man but more lonely and

so the audience may have sympathy for him. Marion Crane is a stereotypically attractive young woman with blonde hair clearly suggesting her gentle nature and innocence. As we learn at the start this is not entirely innocent having stolen $40,000 which is a "McGuffin" and in the parlour scene she is presented in a very sexual way. When Marion is killed we see how Hitchcock has transgressed the rules. He did this by playing with the audience's expectations by misleading them. The audience expect Marion (Janet Leigh) to have the main role as she is a star and don't expect her to have a minor role and die at the beginning of the film. This technique is similar to "Scream" as we see Casey (Drew Barrymore) the innocent, flirtatious blonde killed at the beginning of the film where the audience least expect it. According to Propp's theory (A Russian narrative theorist) Norman is portrayed as a Helper or False hero, we also see Marion as the princess (heroine) in this case Marion being the princess is very ironic as she is not "perfect" as she stole the money at the beginning of the film. These are soon juxtaposed as Norman becomes the villain and Marion's sister Lila is seen as the princess (Blonde as well). Marion Joins with Sam (The hero) to uncover the truth. Collectively we can apply the Propp theory to "Psycho" although the character roles do change around. In this film there is a large contrast between what the audience are aware of and what the characters are. Through the different use of techniques like camera shots the audience are informed or given hints at what may happen or who to.

The shower scene is the first disruption from equilibrium in the narrative. Marion gets into the shower although the audience may be aware of what may happen they know that Marion is totally oblivious to this like when she was being watched by Norman through the hole in the wall. The bathroom is lit very brightly to represent Marion's stereotypical character as she is meant to be innocent. The close-up low angle shot is rather clever; this is Marion's point of view portraying she is very unaware of what is happening. The shower curtain plays a big part in increasing the suspense as it hides the killer and creates more of a mystery for the audience to who it may be, the shot/reverse shot emphasised this and also emphasises the speed in which this is happening. When the door is opened we see a big contrast to the lighting in the bathroom and the lack of light from where the killer has come from which builds up the tension. The pace moves on faster towards the killing this is symbolised by the use of the shot/reverse shots getting much faster, and then when the knife is revealed the tension is increased. The pace of the shots also seem to convey to the audience how he is losing control and maybe also his excitement. When Marion is attacked/killed the music plays an immense part in making this dramatic

Some common words found in the essay are:
Norman Marion, Marion Norman, Hitchcock's Psycho, Marion Crane, Joins Sam, Helper False, Psycho Norman, Janet Leigh, Drew Barrymore, According Propp's, shower scene, angle shot, norman portrayed, parlour scene, beginning film, shot/reverse shot, low angle shot, marion portrayed, marion leave, marion's view, marion princess,
Approximate Word count = 1957
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)