Shower scene image analysis Psycho 1960

This scene from Psycho is the shower scene where Marion gets killed. This image is a backlit silhouette. The blackness of the silhouette is representing the evil of Norman’s mother. The weapon he is carrying is a knife which is a phallic symbol that connotes the power Norman has over women considering the fact that he is sexually frustrated over women. In the foreground of this image there is the water from the shower which symbolises misery through the use of pathetic fallacy. This leads onto a fast montage of around 57 shots from at least 8 different angles. The idea of the montage is to create fear and panic as Marion gets attacked. At the end of the scene there is the shot of Marion with a tear in her eye which carries on with the connotation of misery as she is now dead. This shows the impact of Hitchcock as the “auteur of the film. Hitchcock was also very famous for his clever use of montage editing which helped him to create suspense and then a shock.