The Agency of the Women in Psycho

There is a small scene in Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960) that gets overlooked quite often. It’s the scene after Arbogast is killed by Mrs Bates where Sam and Lila are talking about what could have happened to him. It’s not hard to see why critics tend to skip this small exchange, it barely lasts a minute and is only included to explain how and why Sam ends up at the Bates Motel looking for Arbogast.

But re-watching this scene, I was struck by the way Lila is so ready to go out and look for Arbogast despite Sam’s reluctance and preference to wait. And then I realised that it is the female characters in this film who drive the plot, while the male characters choose to wait and react to what is happening around them.

This idea takes up the entire first part of the film, where Marion who is sick of waiting for Sam decides to take matters into her own hands. The opening scene of the film is all about Marion’s frustration at how their relationship is progressing and her need to gain “respectability”. Her agency and willingness to act is even expressed through her actions. Marion gets dressed while Sam lounges on the bed, not ready or wanting to leave. Their whole relationship can be summed up in Marion’s parting line, “I’m late, and you have to put your shoes on”. Marion is ready and willing, but Sam would prefer to wait. 

When she does commit the theft Marion sets the plot in motion, and this ultimately leads her to the Bates Motel and to her death.

Lila is the same way, coming to Sam to see where her sister is, demanding to be taken to Bates Motel to look for Arbogast, and finally exploring the Bates house and discovering Norman’s dark secret. But Lila’s agency is distilled in the scene where she is waiting with Sam.

The scene opens with Sam saying “Sometimes Saturday night is a lonely sound” while Lila sits looking worried in a chair. This shows the audience the differences between the two characters. Sam is looking out the window, and commenting on something that doesn’t matter. It depicts him as someone who is patient, trying to pass the time by not thinking about the trouble at hand. Lila is the opposite, from her facial expressions you can tell that the only person she is thinking about is Arbogast. She is also the first one to bring up how long it has been since they heard from the detective.

Sam only agrees to go look for Arbogast when Lila persists in going to look for him on her own. Sam is a passive player in these events, only doing what other people tell him to. Later in the film, despite feeling that they need to go there themselves, Sam only agrees to go and explore the Bates Motel after Lila’s insistence.

Arbogast is similar in his passiveness, but his comes with different circumstances. He comes to Fairvale and investigates Marion’s disappearance because it’s his job, showing that his agency can be bought. Though he does at least try to look for Marion, the fact that he is doing so only for a pay check follows his character until his death.

Only the women in the film do things by themselves, while the men just react. Even Mrs Bates has more agency to act than Norman does. She is the one who kills Marion because she doesn’t like her distracting Norman, and then Arbogast because he is intruding in her house and is getting too close to the truth. Norman simply reacts to the murders and cleans up after them. It’s not surprising in the end when Mrs Bates’ persona takes over completely, she was the truly active one while Norman just sat by and watched, like Sam sat and waited.

Going back to the scene exchange between Sam and herself, Lila exclaims at one point “Patience doesn’t run in my family”. I think that sums up how the women behave in Psycho, as people who are not willing to wait, but instead who seize the chances that come their way. Meanwhile, the men have no real active response, and only act when pressured or bought, or else they react to what the women have done. This is why I think that little scene is so important, to show us the difference between the women and the men.

References:

·         Psycho 1960, DVD, Paramount Pictures, USA, directed by Alfred Hitchcock.