Sunday Matinee #66 Psycho
The movie that was rated R after R was invented.
Acts 3:12-19 | Revised Common Lectionary | EnterTheBible.org
Third Sunday of Easter | 04.14.2024
Context: Simon Peter and John are at the Temple in Jerusalem. From there, they move to the nearby gathering space called Solomon’s Portico, named for King Solomon who rebuilt the Temple. This is where they teach and preach of Jesus and encourage people to turn from one way and embrace a new way.
17 [Peter said,] “And now, brothers and sisters, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers. 18 In this way God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, that his Messiah would suffer. 19 Repent, therefore, and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out…”
Psycho | 1960
IMDb | Letterboxd | RRMC
Context: Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) has stolen $40,000 from the bank where she works and she’s on the run to make a new life for herself and her lover, Sam. She pulls over to spend the night at the Bates Motel and shares a sandwich with the caretaker, Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins). They talk about life, choices, and family. Finally, Norman discloses that while he loves his mother and is close to her, she can in fact have terrible episodes that are difficult to manage. Still, he comes to her defense to his new dinner companion.
Norman: It’s not as if [Mother] were a maniac, a raving thing. She just goes… a little mad, sometimes. We all go a little mad sometimes. Haven't you?
Marion (long, reflective pause): …Yes. Sometimes… Just one time can be enough. Thank you.
Norman (cheerfully): Thank you, Norman.
Marion: Norman. (Marion rises.)
Norman: Oh, you're not going, uh… You’re not going back to your room already?
Marion: I'm very tired. And I have a long drive tomorrow. All the way back to Phoenix.
Norman: Really?
Marion: I stepped into a private trap back there and… I’d like to go back and… try to pull myself out of it. (She looks to Norman.) Before it's too late for me, too.
Commentary:
What is the present-day equivalent of the public square? The place where someone steps up to be heard and offer a new idea to a crowd that’s eager to listen? I don’t mean a place where people are already converts, like an Apple Event or Star Wars Celebration or political rally. I mean a place where people are hungry for a new idea and a new teacher to bring it to them so their lives are changed. Ten years ago (maybe fifteen), I would have said TED Talks, but even that particular arena in the online landscape is changing.
We may not really have a true equivalent to what a place like Solomon’s Portico offered. It’s near the Temple, so you get a taste of religious and cultural sensibilities. It’s opulent so you get a taste of local infrastructure investment and a chance to meet people from far and wide. It’s essentially a long, open-air hallway with rows of parallel columns to support its roof. You’d pass through it, socialize in it, and find something new throughout it. This is where Peter and John come to teach.
One of the things I can appreciate about Peter’s approach here is that he acknowledges people were doing it one way because that was the best way they knew how, and for whatever reason. Now, they can choose to do it another way and make the most out of it. I see not condemnation, but invitation. I see not offense, but offer. Peter says, look, you had ignorance? So what. Move on. He doesn’t add, “So did I, so move on,” though he just as easily could use his life as the cautionary tale we’ve come to see it as in the gospel stories.
How we approach people about the change they could be making can be just as, or even more, important as the change they can make. When was the last time somebody barked an order at you to change and you got excited, ready to spring into action because of yelling or guilt or a combo? Peter speaks openly with open people. You catch more flies with honey? There’s some of that. Mix it in with “Kill ‘em with kindness,” perhaps.
How does that pair with Psycho?! Marion Crane’s change of heart. She was acting out of love (lust?) and impulse (lustpulse?) when she took that money. While she isn’t quite sure what to make of her dinner host, Norman Bates, she does think he makes a point. We all go a little mad sometimes. But that doesn’t have to define us. We can make a change. We can do it better. That’s what she’s determined to do, and as we all know, Marion Crane spends the rest of the movie being a powerful role model to us all and shows us what repentance lived out looks like. After all, that’s why we all remember Psycho so well, right? Right?!
P.S. $40,000 in 1960 is over $400,000 in 2024, folks. Try not to cry.
Quick sidenote, Psycho was released in 1960 and was given 3 ratings over the years:
1960: Approved (no ratings back then, just whether a movie was “approved” per the Hayes Code or not)
1968: Rated M for Mature (MPA ratings from 1968-1970 were G, M, R, and X)
1984: Rated R for Restricted (MPA ratings for R went from age 16 to 17 in 1970, and in 1984 the ratings became G, PG, PG-13, R, and X which was replaced by NC-17 in the 1990s).
Is it truly an R-rated movie? I mean, not compared to the toxic waste-drenched henchman’s demise in RoboCop that I first saw when I was 8 years old and still haunts me to this day, no. But its violence is quite brutal, both physically and emotionally. It is in the moment relentless and in its legacy enduring. Certainly, I’d think twice before showing it to my kids. Well, until I showed it to them last year and they loved it (and yes, I gave them exactly zero spoilers but once the famous shower scene happened, they were able to name at least half a dozen places where it was referenced, including The Simpsons:)
I have to stop always referencing The Simpsons. Eh, one more: