This is best evidenced in the film by that slightly excruciating scene near the end in which the psychiatrist explains just how Norman’s psychotic break was due entirely to an overbearing mother. But the whole of the blame for such an upbringing can hardly be placed solely on Norma. That, then, would make Norman Bates an unlucky psychopath. He categorizes himself first as a “prosocial psychopath” and then as a “lucky psychopath”: lucky that he was raised in a positive, nurturing family with two parents who took care to create a safe environment for him to thrive. While never blatantly malicious, Fallon recognizes how troubling such choices were for those around him, even while admitting he’s not much bothered by their feelings. He also recounts stories from his life in which he exhibits careless, manipulative behavior, often with little care for the well being of others, including an incident involving a trip with his brother to Africa under the pretense of visiting Kitum Cave to see the elephants that gather, but in reality to afford Fallon the opportunity to visit a spot not yet widely known to be fostering a Marburg (an Ebola-type) virus, all unbeknownst to his brother. Fallon’s research reveals that PET scans of diagnosed psychopaths have recognizable and identifiable patterns in the brain that could lead to greater understanding and identification of the group, potentially providing demonstrable, verifiable evidence of a psychopath. They’re vivid descriptions, but they fall short of our, still evolving, understanding of psychopaths.įor instance, in "The Psychopath Inside" by neuroscientist James Fallon, the author recounts the experience of finding out that PET scans taken of his own brain showed identical earmarks to those of a typical psychopath.
He does, however, call Norma a man-hater who dominated her son and Norman a secret transvestite with a burgeoning interest in the occult. Despite the title, Robert Bloch never calls Norman a psychopath.
NORMAN BATES SERIES
The brilliance of "Bates" is how it chooses to reframe this narrative by building out the history that precedes not just the film’s timeline but that of the series itself, refusing to settle for taking the word of a known psychopath.Īs our understanding of Norma has expanded, so has our understanding of what Norman is since the novel was written in 1959 and the film was made in 1960. Through his eyes, we see a repressed, shrewish, near incestuous harpy hell-bent on bending a weak-willed son to her whims. To say that Norman is an unreliable narrator in the film and the book that inspired it is an understatement at best. A specter that haunts every corner of "Psycho," it’s only with the inception of "Bates" that the audience comes to understand just how misrepresented Norma has been all these years. Have you read Psycho by Robert Bloch? Post your thoughts in the comments below or join in the discussion on Facebook or Instagram.The evil mother figure is a well-worn trope in film and television alike, and Norma, as originally conceived, is no exception. Personally, I loved Hitchcock’s film of Psycho but after reading this, I have a much better understanding of Norman Bates and what happened at that bloody Motel. Mother had to pass the grandfather clock in the hall in order to come in here and she could easily see what time it was.Īt 150 pages, this novella is straight to the point but really gets you living each character’s actions. He could tell now that she was going to be difficult the very question was a challenge. So it was best to keep quiet and hope that she wasn’t in one of her bad moods. Mother had been sleeping in her room, and knew how crabby she could get when just awakened. In fact, he didn’t look up he pretended to continue his reading, instead. “He didn’t even have to look up to know she was there. I like the way she’s always lurking in the shadows and is described as having a “shrill” and “high pitched” voice. The Mother, Norma Bates cuts a really spooky figure in this novel too. From this, I learned that Norman Bates is well-read and really understands academic subjects such a psychology and physics which adds a certain depth to his character. This means that you get to know more about the thoughts of each person. It’s written from a first person viewpoint with each chapter dealing with one of the 5-6 characters in the story. I really liked Bloch’s “version” as it made more sense that it was the alcohol that-made-Bates-do-the-thing-that-I-can’t-say-as-it-would-ruin-the-novel. Anthony Perkins, as Norman Bates, outside his Motel.
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