Horror Villain Deconstruction

Norman Bates - Psycho (1960)

Norman Bates is a character created by writer Robert Bloch and is the antagonist played by Anthony Perkins in Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho in 1960. His character is shy, quiet and timid but is contrasted by his pleasure to greet others and help them as proven by his occupation at the Bates' Motel and the comfort Marion is shown to feel when she arrives. The Bates' Motel is an environment that smartly matches Norman as it is shown empty and still, indicating his own loneliness and simplicity as a person.

However this nice side of Norman is tested as him and Marion get to know more about each other. The slight admiration for birds is introduced in Room 1 with framed pictures but is then continued with the many stuffed birds in intimidating poses as the two sit and talk. Norman's disturbing interest in taxidermy is a key sign of his twisted character along with dialogue such as "we all go a little mad sometimes". Norman's body language indicates his dominance over Marion, for example during the scene where him and Marion sit and talk, he begins to stroke one of his stuffed birds; with Marion's last name being Crane (a type of bird)
this could foreshadow his plans to capture Marion and his want for power.

We then find out Norman Bates suffers from dissociative identity disorder (DID) and believed that he was his controlling mother. He uses his taxidermy skills as a coping mechanism to get over his mother that he himself killed. 

Psycho is a prime example of horror film trends with slasher elements as well as psychological ones since the audience are forced to do a lot more thinking rather than being fed the plot. Moving on from the supernatural themes, Psycho uses everyday situations (seeing your partner, errand for work, staying at a motel) to disturb the viewer since it is much more likely to happen than a poltergeist appearing and haunting you. Gothic ideas included violence and female threat and Norman's irregular wrath matches this ideology as he kills women with knives, including his own mother, seeing them as a danger.