Robert Bloch's Use Of Dissociative Identity Disorder In Film
Writing characters with serious mental health conditions as antagonists is an incredibly prevalent trope in entertainment media. It is common to see antagonists and villains portrayed with mental health issues which further demonizes these conditions. An important example of this form of misrepresentation is in the case of dissociative identity disorder, or DID, formerly known as multiple personality disorder. There are many popular portrayals of DID in movies, television, and novels, but many fail to properly represent the condition. Movies like Fight Club (1999) and Split (2016) have warped the public perception of dissociative conditions and placed a negative lens upon them. When it comes to Psycho, written by Robert Bloch, there is a degree of misrepresentation, as the story is yet another example of using a mental health condition as a plot device. However, it also utilizes it as a form of explanation, even justification, for the character’s actions.
Psycho tells the story of Norman Bates, who is a seemingly incompetent man living with his mother, Norma Bates, and running the Bates Motel. He is portrayed as nervous, reclusive, and
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Norman Bates is an outdated representation of what DID truly looks like, but the factors of his life that manufactured the condition are somewhat realistic. It is impossible to understand the entire character of Norman Bates, but he would not have become the murderer that he is if not for the events of his childhood. The abuse and mourning he went through is what ultimately shapes him as a character, rather than him having outright murderous tendencies. He is more than Bloch first shows, in ways good and bad; He is revealed to be the true evil of the story, but also more tragic. Detesting and condemning a murderer is justifiable. However, Norman could have had an entirely different life and story without the hardships of his
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