Psycho (1960) Image Analysis - Hole in the Wall

In this scene, we see Norman spying on Marion who is getting ready to shower. We can see a hole in the wall which is behind the painting of the Rape of Lucretia. It is ironic that this painting describes Norman’s feelings. When looking through this scene, we can see a lot of resemblance as to how Hitchcock chooses the women for his film. Hitchcock was always interested in the blonde women, which links in with his auteur theory. This is because he had many blonde haired victims usually with blue eyes, from which he would play practical jokes on them (cold water on Marion in the shower scene) and when we look at this, we can see how Marion fits into his stereotypical female victim part. This scene can also be linked in with Laura Mulvey’s theory on the Male Gaze (“Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema”), seen through using women in films to be seen as a pleasurable image to men. We can see how this theory is correct as Marion is a figure that Norman gets pleasure from watching.