Psycho Addendum

I don't usually do this but after having given the matter some though, I going to revise/take back what I wrot for my review of the film Psycho. When I wrote my review of Psycho, I talked about how Hitchcock's film did not appear to me to be particularly transphobic. However a conversation I had with my partner after the review, has caused me to rethink my position.

Originally, I had posited that the character of Norman Bates did not appear to be transgender, gay, or in anyways queer. Instead I pointed out that Bates was presented as being attracted to woman and a line later in the film explicitely describes him as NOT being a transvestite. I also originally pointed out I could detect no queer subtext.

However, my partner pointed out to me one queer subtext I had over looked, namely that Bates clearly had an obession with his mother, a trait often ascribed to gay men in the 1950's. This is why I think I may have been mistaken originally. So with this in mind, I think that it becomes safe to say that in addition to the stigmitization of mental illness, there is defintely a vein of transphobia in the film Psycho.