How to approach "Psycho"

Main Argument: I believe the Formalist Approach is the most effective method of studying film because it is more concrete and applicable, whereas the Ideological Approach, while very persuading and effective, tends to be more subjective.

·      Claim #1:

o   V.F. Perkins’ Approach (The Synthetic Approach) facilitates an effective method for it takes any specific shot—rather than a sequence or montage—and produces significance in how it affects cinema as a whole.

§  Perkins claims Hitchcock “aestheticizes” the horror, which can be used in multiple instances in the film (and in the horror genre).

·      Claim #2:

o   Robin Wood’s Approach can take any single key aspect—from shot choice, to lighting, etc.—and produce significance in how it fits in our world.

§  Wood describes the moment of revelation as the “irretrievable annihilation of a human being.” In this instance, he takes a moment in one shot and explains its significance to us and its relation to the world.

·      Claim #3:

o   Mulvey seems a bit prejudiced, and her article on Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema (from Sexuality and Gender in Cinema) doesn’t apply as effectively in this case.

§  Although the “scopophilic instinct,” where one person gains pleasure in looking at another as an erotic object, is definitely true for male spectators on the female characters, especially in the shower sequence, it does not aid the concluding scene in which we discover the murderer’s identity, nor does it prove useful for the window scene.