Psycho shows us Norman Bates, a seemingly quiet and respectful young man who, suffering from dissociative identity disorder, turns into a psychotic killer. Some parts (actions) that Anthony Perkins character displayed were true to the actual disorder. Those include when he would slip into his alternate personality, his mother. The real disorder can send people into one or many other personalities, where they will act in a completely different way than their normal personality. Another aspect of the disorder that the film somewhat portrays is how Norman switches into the personality of his mother. The switching of personalities happens when someone is under some kind of stress, be it mental or physical or both. With Norman, I believe the stress came from his peeping on Janet Leigh’s character as she was about to and as she started to shower. For Norman it was a kind of sexual stress or tension, unleashing the mother side of his personality, and the mother side wanted him to have nothing to do with women. So, as the jealous mother side came out, the murder began. The murder of Janet Leigh’s character is where the portrayal of the actual illness of DID becomes less realistic. The thing is, people who actually have DID are not usually violent towards others. These individuals are much more prone to being violent towards themselves or not displaying violence whatsoever.
The other two films that I have discussed, Halloween and Maniac, portray a lot of the real symptoms of the illnesses associated with each killer but are even more loosely based on reality than Psycho. Michael Myers psychotic, mask wearing, knife toting, speechless killing machine character is obviously nothing like an actual person suffering from psychotic disorders. This brutal figure is a horror icon that would be the basis for many masked movie maniacs to come. Although Michael Myers is a completely over-the-top case of a psychotic disorder he still has qualities that are associated with psychotic disorders such as the inability to express emotion, slowed or unusual movements (why did he always just walk, and not run, after his victims?), and strange and possibly dangerous behavior. While Halloween had Michael having some sort of psychotic disorder, Maniac delves into several different psychotic disorders. The character of Frank Zito in Maniac is more of a portrayal of the gritty, ‘real life’ serial killer. Frank has delusions, hallucinations, and of course indulges in many vile acts of murder and mutilation. To say that Maniac shows a completely untrue view of a killer with mental issues would be a lie as any one of you can go and google Jeffrey Dahmer or Ted Bundy or Ed Gein and see that there have been plenty of real life ‘Frank Zito’s’ who have these disorders and commit the most heinous atrocities. What I am saying is that the people with these disorders are most often not violent and if they are the level of violence they commit is not anywhere as high as the violent acts of Frank Zito, Michael Myers, or Norman Bates. Finding good information and statistics about violence and mental illness is not as easy as you would think. An interesting website that I found, http://www.priory.com/psych/violence.htm , talks about this subject and will give you an idea of what the whole study looks like. These movies are all for fun boys and ghouls. Just remember, there are people out there with these disorders and they all need help and support in order to be productive and fulfilled members of society.
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