Analysing the semiotics in the film ‘Psycho’

The shower curtain in this scene is pulled across to represent the detachment of her life and how she won’t survive to cross the barrier back into her day to day life once she is trapped behind it. The haziness of the curtain is used to confirm the hazy hope of a future she plans to have fading away. Her grey silhouette connotes the dark and negative murder that is about to take place. The crinkles in the shower curtain add to the sense of reality in this scene and make the viewer’s realise that they too go through the day to day ritual of washing but don’t experience the murder she went through.

                The point of view shot is used to indicate to the viewer that the last thing the woman positively sees before she is brutally murdered is the pure and clean water pouring from the shower. This symbolises the innocence her character represents in the film and adds a sense of reality to the scene as it makes the viewer’s realise that they could easily find themselves in the same situation as her and staying alive or dying is purely down to luck. The point of view shot on the shower head also draws the attention away from the surrounding location to shock the viewer’s more when her shower is disturbed.