Thursday, 12 October 2017

Critical Investigation: Project proposal

Working title
"To what extent are gender roles in horror remakes like 'Bates Motel' adapted for contemporary audiences?"

Angle
Due to desensitisation and the general impact of time on audiences, horror has changed significantly. As a result, gender roles have also been altered, yet we can still argue huge similarities from how gender in horror was used to how it is currently used now. Gender is exploited to portray women as the weaker sex (feminist stance)

Hypothesis
I believe that gender in horror is used to reinforce the idea that females are the weaker sex.

 Linked production piece
Perhaps a graphic print from for a psychology horror found in a contemporary magazine/film brochure and as a 1960's style print for a the same genre. Also, a horror trailer or opening scene.
 MIGRAIN
  • Norman Bates is a young man, suffering from dissociative identity disorder, who runs a small off-highway motel in Fairvale, California. As a child, Bates suffered severe emotional abuse at the hands of his mother. When Norma took in a lover, the teenage Norman killed them both with strychnine in a fit of jealousy and forged a suicide note to make it appear that the pair had killed themselves in a suicide pact.
  • Norman Bates is being represented in a somewhat psychotic and multi faced way because it reflects on his personality disorder(s). His dual personality can be explained with the Freudian notion that all humans are bi-sexual and heterosexuality is shaped by our society.
  • Norman's brother, Dylan, acts as a literary foil, demonstrating Norman's insanity with his calmer demeanour. He is much more socially competent in comparison to Norman despite being a child  conceived from incestuous acts forced upon his mother's brother.
  • the representation is fair and accurate. Considering it was based on two original texts, there is a lot of evidence supporting that this is how the characters were meant to be represented. More generally, the character's all symbolise a variety of different notions or ideas fairly and accurately. Although there are stereotypes such as Norma's rapist being a misogynist, fat, white man or how Norman is presented as the stereotypical 'nerd', as he is bullied. These stereotypes are negative as they have a larger implication of viewers; it reinforces stereotypes that are not always true.
  • Denotation is the first level of analysis. What the audience can visually see on a page. Denotation often refers to something literal. In Bates Motel, we see a slightly dysfunctional family trying to make the best of the situation they are in. Connotations of this run much deeper. One example of denotation are simply the character's names.
  • In terms of costume, Norman is seen in typically very smart clothes. This adds to the conflicted view, viewers have of him. Everything about the character of Norman bates contradicts each other. Another type of clothing Norman wears is his mother's clothing. This develops the idea of Norman believing he 'is' her. 
  •  For lighting, often in scenes where suspense is being built, lighting is more low-key. However, usually the lighting is often high-key. Mise-en-scene refers to everything in the scene.
  • The main set is a replica of the original Bates Motel set from the film Psycho was built on location at approximately 1054 272nd Street in Aldergrove, British Columbia. 
  • For props, Norman likes to keep mementos of his victims such as his teachers necklace. Also, he is interested in taxidermy, adding to his already neurotic demeanour. 
  • In terms of setting, the main set is a replica of the original Bates Motel set from the film Psycho was built on location at approximately 1054 272nd Street in Aldergrove, British Columbia. This really connects the series to it's roots.
SHEP

 Social-
  • The hippie movement began in San Francisco, California, in the early 1960s and progressed into the late 1970s.
  • more fluidity in censorship; restrictions were less frigid
  • Psycho challenged many restrictions e.g showing lingerie or toilets.
Historical-
  • The first media text of Psycho was released in 1959
  • The first moving media text of Psycho was released in 1960
  • The character was inspired by Wisconsin murderer Ed Gein
  •  During the 1960's, a range of cultural freedoms were sparked that helped in the production of this film including freedom to explore one’s potential, freedom to create one’s Self, and freedom of personal expression.
  • There were huge changes in censorship in this time period also
Economic-
  • $103 million domestic gross for horror (slasher) films
  • At the beginning of the 1960s, many Americans believed they were standing at the dawn of a golden age
  • by the end of the 1960s it seemed that the nation was falling apart.
  • Phoenix Corporate Center built.
  • During the 1950s, Phoenix annexed 94.86 square miles of land.
  • Phoenix annexes Maryvale and South Phoenix
  • Population reaches 439,170.
Political-
  • California was a Republican stronghold in presidential elections
  • The 1960 United States presidential election in California refers to California's participation in the 1960 United States presidential election. California voted for the Republican nominee, Vice President Richard Nixon, over the Democratic nominee, Massachusetts Senator John F. Kennedy.

Issues/Debates
  • Representation and stereotyping
At the outset of the film, the protagonist Marion Crane and the villain Norman Bates are both "trapped" (to use Norman's phrasing) as subordinate partners in their respective male-female relationships. Marion is desperately stuck in a dead-end romantic entanglement with her non-committal boyfriend Sam Loomis , while Norman appears to be ensnared in an unusually crippling relationship with his overbearing Mother. Marion and Norman's dissatisfaction with their respective relationships mobilises an internal conflict within each character in which both must struggle with the implications of gender and power in their personal lives. 

Norman bates representation is largely this; however, he is also seen as violent and impulsive. His physical portrayal is very smart, almost outdated. His mother, on the other hand, is presented as nuerotic. She is temperamental, fluctuating between being euphoric, dejected and enraged. Norman Bates is being represented in a somewhat psychotic and multi faced way because it reflects on his personality disorder(s).

  • Moral Panics
The concept of 'moral panic' was coined by Staney Cohen in 1960, same time as the first moving media text of psycho was released.  It is the process of which the media amplifies a particular event in the news, which results in people worrying about a subgroup, disease or individual. The media plays a part in defining and shaping social problems and perceptions of threat. This media representation and subsequent societal reaction may increase the deviance and threat. Psycho made the audience feel really uncomfortable as it made people feel that they couldn’t trust anyone. The film itself reflected that and this made it a successful hit as it made the audience disturbed and confused at the actual killer. Alfred Hitchcock reflected societies fears in this movie as it made the audience more worried and suspicious of who to exactly trust.

  Stages of Moral Panic:
  • Concern – that the behaviour of the group or category in question is likely to have a negative impact on society 
  • Hostility – towards the group in question increases and they become ‘folk devils.’ A clear division forms between ‘them’ and ‘us’ 
  • Consensus – a widespread acceptance that the group in question poses a very social threat to society 
  • Disproportionality – the action is disproportionate to the actual threat by the accused group 
  • Volatility – moral panics are highly volatile and tend to disappear as quickly as they appeared due to a wane in public interest or news reports changing to another topic.
  • Media effects
The effects of the entire Psycho franchise on film was huge. The 1960's marked a big change in American cinema. With the collapse of the Hollywood Studio System came a weakening of censorship laws; sex and violence moved from obscurity to the forefront of mainstream cinema

  • Ownership and control 
The book by Robert Bloch based on the real-ife killings of psychopath Ed Gein in Plainfield, Wisconsin, had already been rejected by Paramount Studios as ‘impossible to film ‘, when Hitchcock paid $9,000 for the film rights. Paramount were horrified that Hitchcock should consider Psycho suitable material, and did everything they could to put him off; even claiming that there was no Paramount studio space available for him to use.

Hitchcock was determined to film Psycho and came up with a financial formula that even Paramount could not refuse. He agreed to pay for the film himself and give up his usual $250,000 director’s fee. He even arranged to make the film using facilities at Paramount’s rival studio, Universal International. In exchange, Paramount agreed to promote and distribute the film and give Hitchcock sixty per cent ownership of the final negative 
  • Regulation and censorship
Twenty or even ten years earlier, there is no way the MPAA would have allowed Hitchcock to commence production, but it was now the 1960s and the mindset of Production Code officials had shifted along with the cultural changes happening around them.

Once Hitchcock had a cut of Psycho that he was happy with, he sent the film to the censors. The censors absolutely flipped out over the shower murder, but because it contains some 75 cuts over only 45 seconds, some saw nudity, while others didn't. They sent the film back to Hitchcock and demanded that he remove any nudity, to which the director agreed. However, he did not change a single frame and sent the exact same cut back to the censors the second time. Again, some of the viewers saw nudity in the shower scene and others didn't. They eventually let it all slide. Hitchcock even offered to redo the opening scene with Sam and Marion in bed, and invited the censors to watch production, but they never showed up. Hitchcock never reshot the scene. In other words, Hitchock only just got away with being able to produce his film.

 The film Psycho by Alfred Hitchcock is the epitome of the 20th Century. However the film still does represent the rapid development of film more than the development of the 20th Century. During the 20th Century color and sound were added to most films that took the risk to do so. Because of these advancements censorship came into play with most films. Hitchcock went against the grain and fearlessly used women's lingerie and used a toilet in the film. The use of a  toilet that flushes in Psycho was the first of its kind. At this time in history these types of gestures by Hitchcock were considered audacious and created shock among the film's audiences. Despite having the ability to film the movie in color, Hitchcock chose to do it in Black and White. Hitchcock had two reasons as to why he chose to film it in Black and White. One reason was that he wanted Psycho's budget to be less than $1 million dollars. The second reason was that he believed if Psycho was shot in color it would be too violent for American cinema at that time.
   
Theories

Select at least five and say how each relates to your study, using keywords/specific theorists' names from the Media A-Z:
  • Semiotics
Semiotics refer to the study of signs. This is relevant to Bates Motel as the original sources are filled with symbolic meaning. Hitchcock was a director who paid huge attention to small things. 
  • Audience theories
Dating from the 1920s, this theory was the first attempt to explain how mass audiences might react to mass media. The hypodermic needle model suggests that audiences passively receive the information transmitted via a media text, without any attempt on their part to process or challenge the data. In other words, it is injected into them. 
  • Genre theories
Steve Neale’s theory of Repetition and Difference. Steve Neale states that genres all contain instances of repetition and difference, difference is essential to the to the economy of the genre. This is seen in Bates Motel as the show mirrors the orginal films in a variety of ways.

"How much is conforms to its genre’s individual conventions and stereotypes. A film must match the genre’s conventions to be identified as part of that genre.
How much a film subverts the genre’s conventions and stereotypes. The film must subvert convention enough to be considered unique and not just a clone of an existing film."
  • Contemporary Media Landscape
Innovative. We are the midst of a period of prolonged and profound technological change. New media are created, dispersed, adopted, adapted, and absorbed into the culture at dramatic rates. This exact premise is demonstrated through Bates Motel and it's histrocial texts that it acts as a homage to.
Research plan (media texts, academic texts and websites)

Media texts
  • Bates Motel (2013 series) 
  • Psycho (1960 film)
Other media texts
  • Psycho II (1983)
  • Psycho III (1986)
  • Bates Motel (1987)
  • Psycho (1998)
  • Psycho (1959 book)
TV documentaries
Academic texts/books

Internet Links
1. At least FIVE from Media Guardian or Guardian Culture or another newspaper website.
2. university websites/academic papers online. Use Google Scholar as a starting point.

3. Other links

Use our archive of 2017's top-grade Critical Investigations to help you. (You may also want to look at those from previous years too: 2016,2015, 2014, 2013).
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