Sobre a trajetória afetiva de Psicose

Abstract

Based on the homonym book by Robert Bloch, the forty-seventh feature film by the director Alfred Hitchcock was a box office phenomenon in the United States and in countries of Europe, Latin America and Asia. Today, Psycho (HITCHCOCK, 1960) remains a reference for other film, television, literary and documentary narratives. Since its release, the movie has been discussed in many occasions under psychoanalytic and/or linguistic perspectives, even though some film researchers have pointed to some gaps in these types of theories in explaining cinematic experience phenomena. Thus, from the perspective of modern theories, the aim of this research was to analyse the types and intensities of emotions and affects stimulated by Psycho movie. Starting with a discussion about narrative comprehension, we unravel the main plot of this film and point to some cultural elements of 1960. Then, we discuss the relation of cognition to the process of emotion stimulus in cinematic experience and observe the responses incited by the narrative. Regarding automatic and preconscious affects, we use as main theoretical-methodological approach the cognitive-perceptual theory by Carl Plantinga (2009) to understand the influence of stylistic elements in spectator’s responses. By using quantitative method developed by Barry Salt (1974; 2009a), we were able to compare sensitive strategies between the scenes within this film and also in comparison to other films by different directors and periods. A review of our main findings and some possible guidelines for future research are also discussed.