Information AboutNorman Bates |
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Norman Bates is a Fictional Character created by writer Robert Bloch as the central character in his novel '' Psycho ''. The character was based on real-life Serial Killer Ed Gein . Bates was portrayed by Anthony Perkins in Alfred Hitchcock 's seminal film adaptation of Bloch's novel. Perkins' performance is so Icon ic it seems to have become the basis for much of the Myth of the modern serial killer. Bates was later played by Vince Vaughn in Gus Van Sant 's 1998 remake of the Hitchcock classic. BIOGRAPHY Bates suffered emotional (and, it is suggested, sexual) Abuse at the hands of his mother, who preached to him that women and sex were Evil . The two of them lived alone together in a very unhealthy state of emotional dependence after the death of Bates' father. When Bates was a teenager, however, his mother took a lover, making him insanely jealous. He Murder ed them both with Strychnine and preserved his mother's Corpse . Bates developed Multiple Personality Disorder , assuming his mother's personality, repressing her death as a way to escape the guilt of murdering her. Bloch summed up his 'Unholy Trinity' of personalities in his stylistic form of Pun s: As "Norman" Bates, the little boy, he was dominated by his mother, and had to do what she told him. As "Norma" Bates, he dressed in her clothes, mimicked her voice, and killed anyone who threatened to come between her and her "Norman," especially attractive young women. As "Normal" Bates, he was a (barely) functioning adult who could run the hotel and keep peace between the other two personalities. After he murdered his third victim, a young woman named Mary Crane (called Marion Crane in the film) and a private investigator sent to look for her, he was arrested and sent to an institution, where the "mother" personality completely took hold; he completely ''became'' his mother. The characterization of Bates in the novel and the movie differ in some key areas. In the novel, Bates is in his mid-to-late forties, short, overweight, homely, and more overtly unstable. In the movie, he is in his early-to-mid-twenties, tall, slender, and handsome. Reportedly, when working on the film, Hitchcock decided that he wanted audiences to be able to sympathize with Bates and genuinely like the character, so he made him more of a "boy next door." In the novel, Norman becomes Mother after getting drunk and passing out; in the movie, he consumes no alcohol before switching personalities. Perhaps the most significant difference between the novel and the movie is that, in the novel, Mary Crane is "Mother"'s first victim; in the movie, Bates kills twice as his alternate personality before murdering Crane. In the sequels to the original film, Bates was released from the institution 22 years later, but the "Mother" personality eventually resurfaced and he started murdering people again. After another arrest and institutionalization, he married one of the hospital's nurses. When his wife became Pregnant , however, he tried to kill her and himself by locking them both up in his mother's old house and setting it on fire; he wanted to prevent another of his "cursed" line from coming into the world. He relented at the last minute, however, when his wife professed her love for him, and they escaped. After they had their child, Bates finally overcame his mother's psychological hold on him. In the Pilot Episode of the failed TV series ''Bates Motel'', Bates, who was never released from the institution, befriended Alex Kelly, a fellow inmate who murdered his stepfather, and Willed ownership of the titular inn to him before dying of old age. As the pilot never developed into a series and bears almost no relation to previous novels or films, it is considered non- Canon . Bates also died in the book ''Psycho II'', Bloch's 1982 sequel to his novel. While he entered the public consciousness as a Villain (albeit one with some sympathetic qualities), he developed throughout the film's sequels into a Tragic character and the series' Protagonist . EXTERNAL LINKS |
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