Psycho 2/05

Pierre and I are slowly settling into the grind after returning from our big trip. Our homecoming was a bit rough, as we realized upon returning that we were being evicted from our apartment. This situation was complicated by the malaise, nausea, sewer-like burps and chemical weapons-grade farts that we were stricken with (especially Pierre) as a result of the gardiasis we contracted from drinking bad water at the “rat-hotel” in Laos. Luckily, our symptoms have subsided and we are both enjoying our new-found svelte-ness that has resulted from parasites sharing the burden of all the calories we consume. Also, we moved into a new, sunny, fully furnished apartment last week. It’s a bit more expensive (a whopping $150/month), but we have been reintroduced to the joys of bathing, as we now have a gas-heated hot water tank. However, we have no longer have the luxury of a western-style toilet. Our bathroom is the size of a closet, with a hole in the floor for a toilet and a shower head above. Bathing over the toilet is not as bad as it seems – at least we don’t feel guilty about peeing in the shower!!!

Speaking of showers, I am teaching four film classes for the English majors this semester, and naturally I thought starting the course off with a screening of Alfred Hitchcock’s “Psycho” would be a perfect way to hone their appreciation of cinema (especially because the two most popular movies among the students seem to be “Braveheart” and “Titanic”….) None of the students had seen the film or even heard of Hitchcock, so I decided to show the movie with no introduction. My students’ mild amusement with Janet Leigh’s torpedo-like bosoms turned to shock and horror as she collapsed on the bathroom floor after being stabbed by “Mrs. Bates.” As the suspense in the film grew, I at one point looked up to see every single one of my students gaping at the screen with their hands clamped over their mouths. In the climax of the story when Mrs. Bates is revealed to be a corpse and Norman a homicidal cross-dresser, my students all seemed to short-circuit. Some screamed, others threw their heads down on the desk, hyperventilating and whimpering…one girl even tried to climb under her desk as if to escape a truth too brutal and disturbing for her to handle. When the film had ended, the class just stared at me as if I were the psycho. I did hear some giggling as they left at the end of class, so I think some of them might have enjoyed it.
Anyway, I think the movie was a useful learning tool for my students, as they are all now familiar with the words “transvestite, “matricide” and “taxidermy.”