The (Un)expected Secrets of Psycho:

Alfred Hitchcock Presents and Film Audiences

Abstract

  Discussions of what caused the audiences of Psycho (Alfred Hitchcock, 1960) to scream so loudly when they witnessed the murder of Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) have already been analyzed from various perspectives, such as visual representation and narrative construction. Linda Williams’ groundbreaking essay “Discipline and Fun: Psycho and Postmodern Cinema” regarded this film as the new “cinema of attractions” and investigated the bodily reaction of the audiences in terms of a discipline that created “docile bodies” for enjoying the fear of the shower scene. According to Williams, the fun of Psycho is dependent upon the ability of these bodies to wait patiently in line in order to catch the thrills.
  Given the vast magnitude of the screaming effect, however, we need to consider the multilayered factors that caused this phenomenon. Above all, Hitchcock’s noteworthy television program Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955-62) played an important role for enhancing the effect of the shower scene yet the series has received little attention. To reconsider the meaning of the shower scene in Psycho for contemporary audiences, this paper attempts to elucidate how the usual narrative structure of the television program, namely twist endings, disciplined the audiences and constructed their docile bodies spontaneously for the upcoming film.