‘Mother, I’ve Really Had Enough of This! You Can’t Just Leave Me Alone in This Abyss Where I Can’t Find You!’ Norman/Norma and Bates Motel

Abstract

In 1960, Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho stunned both the cinema-going public and critics alike. Its tale of a young, genial, likeable and mother-fixated hotel proprietor – Norman Bates (played by Anthony Perkins) – whose psychotic tendencies and fractured personality tapped into the zeitgeist of an America changing in a post-World War II world, was very much the antithesis of rock ‘n’ roll rebels like Elvis Presley and James Dean. Norman Bates was Anthony Perkins and Anthony Perkins was Norman Bates.

In 2013, Norman resurfaced from numerous remakes in Bates Motel. With its nod to the past, and a look to the future of how Norman’s story pans out, the series’ narratives, characters and situations showed there was life for him, his mother and the motel beyond cinema.

This chapter examines how Creed’s ideas of ‘Monstrous’ can be overlaid onto Norman, his mother Norman and Bates Motel.

Citation

Gerrard, S. (2019), "‘Mother, I’ve Really Had Enough of This! You Can’t Just Leave Me Alone in This Abyss Where I Can’t Find You!’ Norman/Norma and Bates Motel ", Gerrard, S., Holland, S. and Shail, R. (Ed.) Gender and Contemporary Horror in Television (Emerald Studies in Popular Culture and Gender), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 215-223. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-78769-103-220191018