Douchet (1986:10) elaborates on the themes in Psycho and let us make the assumption that Stewart descended from the screen of Rear Window
in order to take his place in the theatre and that he becomes one of
us, that is a spectator. His voyeuristic needs finds nourishment in
the opening scene of Psycho. The camera penetrates into a room
in an unassuming manner and the shades are lowered, in the afternoon. It
is in this room we see a couple on a bed who are kissing and are
amorous toward one another. It is from this moment onwards that he feels
frustration and would like to see more. If John Gavin’s bare chest
could make half the audience feel satisfied, the fact that Janet Leigh
is not naked is barely tolerated by the other half. These aroused
desires should find its finale toward the end of Janet’s expedition. She
will become totally naked and will offer herself completely. The
sexual act which will be extreme; a wish fulfilment which goes beyond
all desires. Back to the start of the movie, the spectator’s feelings
toward Janet are coincidentally of contempt and envy. She is a person
who accepts a sleazy hotel in the middle of the afternoon in her town.
Where is her self-esteem? He could ascribe to her his most innate
instinctual lusts, amongst others being those unconscious desires which
he does not want to act out in real life.. theft. At her desk, Janet
envisages a noteworthy cash transaction. The spectator, who starts to
get bored by business scenarios, wants something to eventuate and
thinks, Janet could take the cash for herself. The transaction is not
considered to be a common occurrence and the person who owns the money
is loathing. She can take the money as the theft won’t be noticed until
Monday and indeed she does perform this action.
Psycho (Chion: 1992: 195) is preoccupied with the
impossibility of being able to attach a voice with a body or the with he
concept of being embodied. It is of little coincidence that the
French word for embodiment[mis-en-corps] brings to mind the word for
‘coffining’[mise-en-biere] or ‘burial’[mise-en-terre], as something
which is likened to interment. Interment is a symbolic act, some would
argue that it was the first of acts which lead mankind toward a type of
evolution which was distinct from that of the other species. To bury
somebody does not imply disposing of the decomposing body, it is to
assign a place to their soul or their double-should one not believe in
this, to everything which remains in us or for us
of this being. This is performed by means of rites and marks like
inscriptions, crosses or stones which tell the dead person ‘you will be
remaining there' so that the spirit in question does not return and
haunt the living as a tormented soul might do. A ghost is essentially
the spirit from one who did not have a burial or was buried in an
untoward manner. This is true also for acousmetre, wherein the voice of a
person not yet witnessed is involved, here too, there is a thing which
is unable to enter the frame so as to attach to one of the bodies which
are revolving there, and does not occupy the withdrawn place of the
shower of images and is therefore destined to wander at surface level.
This is indeed the underlying fears in Psycho.
Chion (1992:205) highlights the power of making the dead live
via image and sound. In the cinema this is bought up against its own
impossibilities and these are identified as such. Thus, image and voice
can feature in it only as sundered one from the other and can perform
the consummation of rediscoveries through a mythical unity that will be
lost forever. The talking cinema is a kind of tying up and this could
constitute the claim it has to greatness-rather than deny this turning
up, it does turn in to its subject, going under the sign of the
impossible, to the core of the reality effect.
Douchet, J (1986) “Hitch and his Public”.. Deutelbaum, M. & L. Poague, A Hitchcock Reader, Armes, Iowa State University Press, pp7-15.
Chion, M (1992) The Impossible Embodiment, in S.Zizek(ed)Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Lacan….But Were Too Afraid to Ask Hitchcock. London: Verso. p195-207
