The Bates Motel
A&E
10 PM
When Robert Bloch wrote the Psycho back in the 1950s, I am sure he didn't imagine the number of renditions his novel would have, and that it would continue to inspire quite a number of film-makers and others even into the beginning of the second decade of the 21st century.
We have all heard of Hitchcock's Psycho, some of us have been brave enough to see it, and the horror buffs even include it in the list of all time favorites. Psycho, and the positive reviews it has gathered over the years, rising to the status of a cult movie, indicate the steady rise of the macabre and the gradual niche that the horror genre has created in the minds of viewers. Maybe that explains why suddenly, every major channel in the world is hosting one horror (including gore, supernatural, aliens, time travel, zombies, slasher/serial killers) series or the other.
A&E
10 PM
When Robert Bloch wrote the Psycho back in the 1950s, I am sure he didn't imagine the number of renditions his novel would have, and that it would continue to inspire quite a number of film-makers and others even into the beginning of the second decade of the 21st century.
We have all heard of Hitchcock's Psycho, some of us have been brave enough to see it, and the horror buffs even include it in the list of all time favorites. Psycho, and the positive reviews it has gathered over the years, rising to the status of a cult movie, indicate the steady rise of the macabre and the gradual niche that the horror genre has created in the minds of viewers. Maybe that explains why suddenly, every major channel in the world is hosting one horror (including gore, supernatural, aliens, time travel, zombies, slasher/serial killers) series or the other.
The Bates Motel on A&E is one such series.
Now, Psycho is one of my favorite movies. I
have hated all renditions of it so far, perpetually hated them. I have believed
all my life that one must not remake originals, and that too classics.
Perfection is achieved only once, and even if that perfection has flaws, the
flaws over the years make it unique and, I don’t know how, better. Psycho and the horror it inspired in me,
the very idea that someone’s mind could be so scrambled, someone could be so
lonely as to get lost in their own heads, someone could have so many
personalities hiding within, and someone can be bad and pitiful at the same
time, was a revelation for me. After watching the movie, I was in a dilemma for
a long time, do I pity Norman Bates, or do I hate him for being the victim of a society that views women as playthings? What do I do with this
person who is how he is not because of himself, but because of a million things
going wrong with his life, inadvertently?
Bates Motel seems to help me find answers to this question. It's a prequel to the movie, seemingly. But there is one thing in the series that the movie didn't have- hope. And that's why, so far, I have loved it. With brilliant casting and brilliant acting by the two central protagonists, Norma and Norman (yes, the very names suggest the somehow incestuous-creepy-oh-don't-talk-about-it relationship between the mother and son), Bates Motel is good work. I know, hope doesn't rate very high in the requirements of a good horror/creepy fest of a series, but somehow, this little thing makes me happy about Bates Motel. Psycho was brilliant, no doubt about it, but in it, Norman was lost, forever.
In Bates Motel, we are taken in the journey of how he gets lost, and there is this terrible urge in me to stop whatever is happening with him. That's what creates the brilliance in the series.
I know, ultimately, as the season finale very simply showed, that Norman will be lost, and if it has to live up to the original source, he will have to be lost. But I can't help imagine a world where he won't be, and this helplessness, this terrible wishing upon wish for Norman's saving, is what makes this show worth watching.
I loved the tragedy in Bates Motel, I hope you do too!
