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Yes, that shower scene!
Apr. 16th, 2014 01:05 pmIs it just me, or did Supernatural give a shout-out to the most famous shower scene in cinema last night?
Supernatural "Meta Fiction"
"Psycho"
Now, I don't necessarily think that they are equating this:
With this:
Especially when the psyches of the two characters are considered. But I think there are some intriguing parallels here beyond the obvious. Both Dean Winchester and Marion Crane have recently committed a rash and morally dubious act as a way to achieve something that they value. Marion stole money from her employer in order to start a life with her lover. Dean took on the Mark of Cain as a "means to an end," specifically to kill the demon Abaddon. By this point, both have found themselves behaving in previously un-thought of ways, and have had their moorings, the aspects of their lives that have allowed them to define themselves, loosened. For both, the water represents spiritual cleansing more than physical.
There's a vital difference, however, and perhaps it's telegraphed somewhat in how the characters are positioned in the frame. Marion has decided to return the money. Her shower is a way of washing off her previous 24 hours, of actually returning to sanity, and her concept of self is therefore being restored by the scene. We as viewers are aware of her surroundings, the Bates Motel bathroom, and also of her vigorous and almost joyful actions in the shower, but we must also be aware of what she can't see coming behind her as she meets her fate.
For Dean, his struggle is clearly ongoing and getting worse. Here the storyteller wants to convey what is happening inside the character, and we are given an extreme close-up of his face from above. What menaces him is also a part of him now, and may be connected to his destiny. For all his attempts at control, Dean is not succeeding, and the water simply sloughs off his face as we watch him slowly open his eyes to that fact.
Of course, I can't say with certainty that the creators intended this parallel. Save for that shot of the showerhead. The scene in "Supernatural" does not contain any further shout outs to "Psycho." But now that this is in my head, I'm finding meaning in it, and in the way each fiction portrays these characters in relation to fate. Marion in her brief bout of madness ("We all go a little mad sometimes--") unwittingly puts herself in the path of a killer and becomes a victim of circumstance. Dean stands poised on the brink of having his humanity fall victim to the killer within.
In an episode titled "Meta Fiction," which asks its viewers at the outset to decide what role they play in defining a story, finding meaning in a single shot seems fitting, don't you think?
Supernatural "Meta Fiction"
"Psycho"
Now, I don't necessarily think that they are equating this:
With this:
Especially when the psyches of the two characters are considered. But I think there are some intriguing parallels here beyond the obvious. Both Dean Winchester and Marion Crane have recently committed a rash and morally dubious act as a way to achieve something that they value. Marion stole money from her employer in order to start a life with her lover. Dean took on the Mark of Cain as a "means to an end," specifically to kill the demon Abaddon. By this point, both have found themselves behaving in previously un-thought of ways, and have had their moorings, the aspects of their lives that have allowed them to define themselves, loosened. For both, the water represents spiritual cleansing more than physical.
There's a vital difference, however, and perhaps it's telegraphed somewhat in how the characters are positioned in the frame. Marion has decided to return the money. Her shower is a way of washing off her previous 24 hours, of actually returning to sanity, and her concept of self is therefore being restored by the scene. We as viewers are aware of her surroundings, the Bates Motel bathroom, and also of her vigorous and almost joyful actions in the shower, but we must also be aware of what she can't see coming behind her as she meets her fate.
For Dean, his struggle is clearly ongoing and getting worse. Here the storyteller wants to convey what is happening inside the character, and we are given an extreme close-up of his face from above. What menaces him is also a part of him now, and may be connected to his destiny. For all his attempts at control, Dean is not succeeding, and the water simply sloughs off his face as we watch him slowly open his eyes to that fact.
Of course, I can't say with certainty that the creators intended this parallel. Save for that shot of the showerhead. The scene in "Supernatural" does not contain any further shout outs to "Psycho." But now that this is in my head, I'm finding meaning in it, and in the way each fiction portrays these characters in relation to fate. Marion in her brief bout of madness ("We all go a little mad sometimes--") unwittingly puts herself in the path of a killer and becomes a victim of circumstance. Dean stands poised on the brink of having his humanity fall victim to the killer within.
In an episode titled "Meta Fiction," which asks its viewers at the outset to decide what role they play in defining a story, finding meaning in a single shot seems fitting, don't you think?
