The Importance Of Birds In Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho

No matter what film you watch or examine, there will always be details that you as an audience member will miss. You may think that these details were too small and therefore they were insignificant. Additionally, these aspects provide the audience with a different view and an altered outlook of the film and its characters. Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho is filled with different motifs creating different emotions within the viewer. However, no motif in Psycho was more visually obvious than that of the birds. Hitchcock included birds all throughout the movie and this motif, these symbols came in the shape of: physical birds, names, decorations and many more. While it was subtle, it created a sense of tension and stress amongst the characters in Psycho. Hitchcock’s usage of birds can be broken down into multiple different types, each one indicating a different aspect of the story. The first and most important of the bird motifs were seen
The other main aspect the birds reference is that of voyeurism. Voyeurism is basically the act of watching someone while there are in private without the other person knowing. Usually this is in a sexual manner, however, in the case of the film Psycho, it is more like stalking. Throughout the building and repeatedly referenced, are the stuffed birds, like mentioned previously. It consistently seemed like those pieces of taxidermy were multiple extra sets of eyes with their gaze always set upon Marion. Then, at the end of the film after the shower scene birds are used yet again. This time is when Norman walks into the bathroom and witnesses Marion on the ground dead, following the very famous murder scene. When he sees Marion he steps back, in horror, and knocks over a photo of a bird, thus breaking it. This connects to the prior metaphor of Marion being a small bird, Therefore, the audience can come to the conclusion that Norman was indeed the