Why did Norman kill women?
Was it a reaction against his overly possessive controlling mother?
Repressed homosexuality?
Sociopathy? Psychopathy?
Because he was a bad man. A very bad man.
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MovieChat Forums > Psycho (1960) Discussion > Why did Norman kill women?
The psychiatrist at the end explained this. Norman became incredibly jealous of his mother when she took on a lover. The two of them had lived as if there was no one else in the world, and now she was bringing in this stranger who was going to steal her love and attention from him. And since he was already psychotic to being with, he killed them both. Then when he brought Mother back to life in his own mind, he assumed she was equally jealous of him, to the point that she would kill any woman whom he was sexually attracted to. Norman was attracted to Marion, based on him peeping on her undressing (the '98 remake went more into detail on that). So, in his own mind, since he killed Mother for having a lover, then Mother must kill this girl before she becomes Norman's lover.
Psycho IV goes more into detail on this, if you want to get into the sequels. Mother loved to elicit involuntary reactions from Norman then go ballistic on him for having them. At one-point teenage Norman and her were tickling each other and laughing, then it got to a point where Norman was on top of her, and she realized he was aroused. She started screaming and locked him in a closet for days alone with his "little toy". So there was a degree of sexual repression.
Bates Motel develops this idea even more. Any time Norman has a girlfriend, or a girl is showing interest in Norman, Mother will make a little comment that gets into Norman's head and screws it up for him. It gets to the point where it happens when Mother isn't even there, and Norman just knows what Mother would say.
At one-point teenage Norman and her were tickling each other and laughing, then it got to a point where Norman was on top of her, and she realized he was aroused. She started screaming and locked him in a closet for days alone with his "little toy". So there was a degree of sexual repression.
No repressed homosexuality. It's more like an Oedipus Complex. share
Because he was a Psycho.
Just kidding.
In a more serious answer, Bates doesn't seem to actually be a "psychopath" in the film, he seems to be suffering from Psychosis and Dissociative Identity Disorder due to unresolved issues surrounding his mother's death. How realistic of a portrayal this is of people suffering from Psychosis and DID is highly-debatable.
It's a chicken egg question though. He was psycho because of a woman. No woman; no psycho.
shareSorry I edited my answer while you were replying.
I think that's correct, no woman, no psycho.
Bates was deeply attached to his mother, Norma, and when she died, he was unable to accept her death. Unable to deal with his grief Norman preserved his mother's corpse and created a second personality within himself that embodied her.
Whenever Norman felt attraction to a woman the "mother" persona would take over Norman whenever he felt threatened or aroused, often leading to violent behavior.
SPOILERS FOR PSYCHO
Come on bro, this movie is over 60 years old, anyone who's at least a little bit into movies knows the plot of Psycho.
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Please no spoilers on movies made after 1940. Thank you for your cooperation
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I'm of two minds about this:
Yes, movies that are "old" (50 or more years) on the one hand may have had their twists and secrets exposed for years, and Psycho is a special case: Norman Bates is known today as a VILLAIN, a killer -- but 1960 audiences only knew Anthony Perkins as a good guy and were surprised when he WAS revealed as the killer. Lots of people have seen Norman Bates as a killer ever since.
BUT: New generations come around every ten years or so and I can PERSONALLY attest that a lot of them have never HEARD of Psycho, or even know who Anthony Perkins was -- or...maybe don't know who Alfred Hitchcock was.
So when they see Psycho -- in a high school or college film class, which happens a lot -- they do NOT know the twist and they ARE surprised.
Solution:
People should never come to moviechat or any other movie discussion board until THEY HAVE SEEN THE MOVIE.
I've been posting on Psycho here for years, and I do not put SPOILER on my every post about it...