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[FIST 100] Black and White Movies - Psycho (1960)

 I actually having seen Alfred Hitchcock that I can think of so this movie was a first of his for me.  I'm also not particularly a huge horror person and knowing this was an older movie I wasn't really sure what to expect.  I thought the movie was good but there are two particular things I enjoyed about the film.

Firstly, I really enjoyed the black and white filter.  I really wish black and white filters were used more often that they are because I feel like the filter completely changes the way the movie is seen.  Another movie I recently saw in black and white was The Lighthouse (2019).  With movies like that I cannot imagine what it would have been like in color.  The black and white filter sets a specific tone and the directors that use it know how to use it and how they want to use it.  I also feel like it isn't used very often because the average media consumer might now like the artsy ascetic of black and white so Hollywood films need to appeal to more people, but nonetheless, I think the black and white overall contributed to my enjoyment of the film.  

The second thing I enjoyed about this film was the transition between characters.  The murder of Marion was an unexpected scene which forced us to question who will the story follow.  To me it was even more surprising because I thought both Norman and Marion would be two big characters for their rest of the film.  I think Kaja Silverman's article also added to how I viewed this part in the movie in how gaze is used for Marion when its all of a sudden shaken up.     

Overall I enjoyed the film and it is always nice to see different horror films despite me not liking the genre so much.  The horror genre in the modern day can have some really interesting ideas but some of the slashers have extreme over the top gore.  Psycho gave me the thrill of watching a slasher without all of that gore, even though at the time, the gore and nudity was extreme.  



Poster for Psycho


Comments

  1. Henry KilloughApril 11, 2021 at 4:31 PM

    Hi Davis! I hadn't thought too much about the black and white in Psycho, but I'm curious to hear more about your thoughts on it in the future! Personally, while I didn't mind the black and white, I can't articulate what it did to benefit the movie either (besides making it feel older, which I suppose has a certain affect to it). I'll definitely be thinking more about the reasons to use black and white over color in future films.

    Before studying Psycho I might have claimed that it truly didn't matter, but with the amount we've unpacked as a class about the power of shot angle and editing, I'm sure there's more going on with the medium than I can parse right now.

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  2. Anna HoldemanApril 11, 2021 at 9:16 PM

    I totally understand where you're coming from! I absolutely hate horror movies but this one wasn't as bad as I was expecting, and I was actually very impressed with the cinematography work throughout the film. The gore is usually what gets me freaked out, but this movie made it digestible.

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