Intertexuality of Psycho and Fatal Attraction

Intertextuality- Psycho and Fatal attraction 

Intertextuality is a term used that describes the visual referencing between films or media texts. Often we see films borrow elements from each other , where the audience is able to recognise certain aspects such as camera angles, aspects of mise en scene, snippets of sound and also different methods used in editing. 


Intertextuality is used as it is shown to encourage people/ viewers allowing them to feel involved in what is going on around them. Psycho was one of the earliest thriller films which had been released in the 1960s. Intertexuality is shown best throughout psycho where i have then shown to compare it to Fatal attraction 1987. The comparison of Fatal Attraction is of two woman who are each trying to get hold of the knife that is being used towards one another. Then a man who is downstairs hears strange noises and then rushes to the bathroom who is then troubled as he is forced into the shower with serious cuts. Both Psycho and Fatal Attraction are shown to have various amounts of similarities in the shots used together with the music. There is shown to be a close up of the characters feet that are both shown to be represented in the shower. Along side we see the music at this point in both films is shown to be very tense allowing the audience to build up tension in what could potentially happen next.

Here we see a medium close up of the character in the shower 

An above shot has been taken of the shower, this has been used to show the angle of the person. The music at this stage is calm and normal  which viewers will  expect to hear when they are in the shower 

As shown above we see there is a two shot being used of where the man is approaching. In this part we see the main focus is still applied at the woman, as we see the man is blurred out and not much detail is revealed at this point. The music at this point is shown to build up whilst we see the man/ woman approaching allowing the audience to feel involved and excited in what is going to happen next.

We then go on to see the man who is behind the curtain revealed. He/she is still shown to be anonymous as we still have no clue who it is as no detail has been shown. The character being identified as a plain black object with no detail gives us the connotation that he/ she is a evil character who continues to kill people. The music is very sudden at this stage whilst the character is shown to be stabbing the person in the shower.

Extreme close up of woman screaming, this is where we see expression of the characters mouth in detail, the character screaming is shown to give negative associations towards the action taking place. The music at this stage is very tense allowing viewers to feel the emotion and action that is happening at this stage of the film.

Here we see her hand sliding down the wall once she has been stabbed. At this point we see the pace is very slow so that viewers are able to build up tension whist this is happening.

Once we see the characters hand sliding down the wall we then go on to see the characters body in the same position. Seeing the character at this stage we get a clear view where the character is placed and the emotions that are perceived on her face in which this case is shocking. The music at this stage is shown to be slow allowing the audience to see he slowly passing away.

We then go on to see the shower curtain ripping as the character grabs the nearest thing near her. The background music at this stage is shown to be quiet allowing us to hear the curtain ripping whist it is being pulled down.

Here we see a close up of the characters feet in the bath, where blood is running through the water.

This is an extreme close up of the hole in the bath where the water goes down continuously. The sound at this stage allows us to hear the shower running quickly going down the drain.

As we go on we see an extreme close up of the characters eye. Using an extreme close up gives us great detail in the expressions represented on the characters face allowing viewers to generate a certain mood. At this stage looking at the ECU of the characters eye it is shown to reinforces that the character is dead as the image is still and focused. The sound at this stage is silent allowing us to reflect on the action taken place.

From the above image we then see the camera zooms out to a close up of the characters face on the floor.

Clips of intertextualtiy shown through psycho and fatal attraction.

Above is shown to be the comparison of the feet of both characters. Both of the feet at this stage are shown to be set in the bathroom with blood on either side to reinforce the action that has taken place. 

This is the shot of both woman sliding down the walls reinforcing the result in them being shot/ stabbed. Again we see both set in the bathroom. Looking at both a medium close up is used to show detail in some parts of the characters body.

At this point both the criminals are shown to be holding the same weapons using them in the same way. Looking at the first image we see in psycho the character is blurred however we see detail in the woman below.

Here we see the curtain being pulled which then rips in both fatal attraction and psycho. Both of the characters are shown to be pulling the curtain for the same reason. The music at this stage in both is quiet allowing us to build up tension.

This is where we see the final shot of the woman being represented. On the top we see a close up of the characters face with her eyes open allowing us to reinforce the character is dead. However in the image below we see a MCU is used allowing us see the blood on both the wall and character.

As both these films are set in the bathroom, the audience are able to identified the certain aspects in the bathroom to reinforce where it has been set throughout. Both images are CU allowing us to see some detail in the object.

We are then introduced to a close up of certain parts of the characters face. On both the images we see the eye of both woman are open allowing us to see they are dead. The close up on the woman eye (Psycho) is shown to be the famous scene of the film.


Overall looking at the comparison of intertexuality used in both Fatal attraction and Psycho we see many similarities are used to clearly identify the genre of the film as we see most thrillers are shown to be based on people getting killed. The music of the thinner Psycho is shown baed around a screeching sound which is accompanied by various amounts of jump cuts to show her being stabbed continuously in different parts of her body. However the music in Fatal attraction is shown to be modern where we see suspense is built up when there is silence in the room when suddenly she jumps up from inside the bath where she is meant to be dead but is then shot by the rival woman where she then slides down the wall and slowly dies similarly through psycho. The cuts used are not as quick making us focus more.