In Alfred Hitchcock’s, 1960 horror film, Psycho, it is the beginning in which horror films really come to life. The film portrays how the male gaze is used and how Marion is demonstrated in the events of being utilized for sexual pleasure from the male figures in Psycho. Sam Loomis, Marion’s boyfriend is the main male figure that persuades the idea of the male gaze.
At first, Marion tries to deflect the sexual wants of her boyfriend Sam. However, Sam coerces her into the feeling of wanting more and more sexually and suddenly gets the urge that she wants to marry him and leave town. In Laura Mulvey’s article Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema it entails on how the looks of women affect the men’s feelings and attitude towards women, in Psycho the more attractive the women the more then men will want to get to know her or eventually have sex with her. The male gazes at the females for pleasure, and the women are displayed as erotic sensations. Both Sam and Norman Bates are clearly aroused by Marion which shows how the looks of her are affected by the way they feel which deals with the concept of pleasure from the characters in the movie.
Source: Universal Pictures, 1960
(Sam and Marion wanting to marry each other and move)
In Linda Williams article When the Woman Looks it relates to Psycho in the instance that the relationship between woman and monster increases greatly. Women are diminished for showing the nature of their sexuality and the way they look. Likewise, Marion was punished for her beauty and eventually killed. While Marion was staying at the Bates motel Norman and her seemed to be getting along just fine.. Norman finds her very attractive and takes her in the lobby of the motel where she finds his collection of stuffed birds. This leads Marion to an uncomfortable situation in which causes her to leave the lobby and go to her room to take a shower. This leads herself and her monster self when she gets undressed and eventually sees herself being punished.
Source: Universal Pictures, 1960
(Norman telling Marion about his stuffed bird collection, which leads her to feel uncomfortable and eventually go back to her room
In Laura Mulvey’s article it is obvious that women are the center of the films based on their looks.. They want and feel the need to have all of their attention by men just like in Psycho. The men at Marion’s job feel attracted to her and want to take her out for a drink. Marion feels uncomfortable and leaves as quick as possible entailing that she has a headache.
Despite how beautiful Marion was and had everything guys wanted she never really wanted to fall for the sexual erotic sensations and fall into the male gaze trap. She just wanted to move away from all of it. This, unfortunately leads her into a trap in which she ends up regretting.
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