Post by marianne48 on Jun 23, 2018 19:39:15 GMT
At the end of Psycho, the know-it-all psychiatrist explains the motivation behind Norman Bates' behavior--in a nutshell (no pun intended), he was a weak-willed character whose personality was taken over by a domineering, overbearing, possessive mother. "Mother" browbeat poor Norman his whole life,
lecturing him on the evils of women who were out to manipulate him with their seductive wiles, while at the same time she controlled him into being her
craven little servant his whole life. Eventually, her stronger personality devoured his docile one, until he ultimately morphed into "Mother" and carried out "her" crimes against any woman who crossed his path, allowing him to come out only long enough to cover up her vicious crimes.
So, that's one doctor's opinion. But is this really a fair analysis of the poor woman whose only crime may have been giving birth to a psychopath? Was Mrs. Bates really the domineering, emasculating monster the doctor makes her out to be, or was that Norman's twisted view of her? Blaming everything on the mother was like Marion blaming her own crime on the demands of her lover and her resentment of the obnoxious millionaire who entrusts her with his money--they might have had some degree of influence on her motivation, but ultimately she would be responsible for the theft of the money, and any plea of temporary insanity on her part probably wouldn't have been taken seriously. "We all go a little mad sometimes" may be true, but to do what Norman did was
more than "a little mad."
When we hear "Mother"'s voice lecturing Norman on the evils of young women, is Norman merely parroting what his mother used to tell him? Or are these words just something that Norman would like to imagine his ideal mother saying? Is it possible that Mrs. Bates was not this kind of clinging, browbeating mother at all, but rather a normal woman who had to put up with a disturbed, psychopathic son while trying to live a normal life? Norman murders her and her lover, after all, after he discovers them making love in her bed, so she was apparently involved in a normal relationship with someone else rather than
some clinging, needy relationship with her son; it was Norman who had a problem with this. It was after her murder that Norman invented the story of the cranky, demanding invalid mother and reinvented himself as the noble, devoted son who couldn't abandon her. That's how he got his victims to trust him/feel sorry for him so that he could murder them, too (and then blame Mom).
lecturing him on the evils of women who were out to manipulate him with their seductive wiles, while at the same time she controlled him into being her
craven little servant his whole life. Eventually, her stronger personality devoured his docile one, until he ultimately morphed into "Mother" and carried out "her" crimes against any woman who crossed his path, allowing him to come out only long enough to cover up her vicious crimes.
So, that's one doctor's opinion. But is this really a fair analysis of the poor woman whose only crime may have been giving birth to a psychopath? Was Mrs. Bates really the domineering, emasculating monster the doctor makes her out to be, or was that Norman's twisted view of her? Blaming everything on the mother was like Marion blaming her own crime on the demands of her lover and her resentment of the obnoxious millionaire who entrusts her with his money--they might have had some degree of influence on her motivation, but ultimately she would be responsible for the theft of the money, and any plea of temporary insanity on her part probably wouldn't have been taken seriously. "We all go a little mad sometimes" may be true, but to do what Norman did was
more than "a little mad."
When we hear "Mother"'s voice lecturing Norman on the evils of young women, is Norman merely parroting what his mother used to tell him? Or are these words just something that Norman would like to imagine his ideal mother saying? Is it possible that Mrs. Bates was not this kind of clinging, browbeating mother at all, but rather a normal woman who had to put up with a disturbed, psychopathic son while trying to live a normal life? Norman murders her and her lover, after all, after he discovers them making love in her bed, so she was apparently involved in a normal relationship with someone else rather than
some clinging, needy relationship with her son; it was Norman who had a problem with this. It was after her murder that Norman invented the story of the cranky, demanding invalid mother and reinvented himself as the noble, devoted son who couldn't abandon her. That's how he got his victims to trust him/feel sorry for him so that he could murder them, too (and then blame Mom).
