Intertextuality

The concept of 'Intertextuality' is that it means when similar scenes are used in other films, this is because they may like the structure of how it is set up. In addition the audience my recognise the scene and the mood of the film. This could be by the same camera shot, mise en scene and editing.

In class we can looked at What Lies Beneath, Fatal Attraction and The Stepfather, this is because they all used the aspects of the famous shower scene in Psycho.

In White lies Beneath the man has drugged his girlfriend so she is paralysed.
To display this they have used the same white clinical bathroom with the same white bath, same white tiles, the same shower head and the same white shower curtain. All of which have been borrowed from the original Psycho film. Another aspect borrowed from Psycho is the the noise of the shower being turned on and running. This creates a subliminal mood for the audience because the director is creating the same mood as Psycho. To create an audio reference for why the motive of using a shower. In addition the same ariel shot used to highlight the shower head.

Ariel shot in Psycho

ariel shot of shower head in White Lies Beneath 

the white shower curtain and the white bath

Same white shower curtain and the white bath

In Fatal Attraction the scene shows a big fight scene between two women while the husband is downstairs in the kitchen. As one of the women are getting ready to have a shower. Once again the same layout of the bathroom with the same tile, the same shower curtain and the same white bath. In addition they have chosen to use a bath rob.

However what is different form White lies Beneath is that in Fatal Attraction they used the same knife as the one in psych and the same editing style when demonstrating the hectic stabbing scene. Moreover in they use the same action of the slow motion woman sliding down the bathroom tile the same style the way the woman slide down. In addition they used the same shot of the close up on woman's hand.

The same shaped knife

The knife in Psycho

Sliding down

Sliding down

                 

Close up on woman's hand

the use of the same close up on the hand

In stepfather, once again the layout is the same because of the white tiles, the same bath, the same sound of the shower being turned on. The aspects borrowed from Psycho which is different from Fatal Attraction and White lies Beneath is that they used the same action of the white shower curtain being pulled down and the same low angle shot of that action. In addition the same action of the man slowly sliding down the tiles.

Same bodylangusge of stabbing

action of stabbing

The shower curtain falling

Shower curtain falling

All these aspects from Psycho are visual reference, could it be that the Alfred Hitchock has create an esstiental scene that makes a good thriller scene and for that to happen it should contain all these aspects. Or that Alfred Hichock is an inspiration to all.

 However I notice that in The Stepfather there is some intertexuality form Fatal attraction. This is demonstrated, when the man in fatal attraction looks up at the ceiling and the teenage boy looks up at the ceiling, all in which both films this is done in the kitchen. Another aspect that has been borrowed from Fatal Attraction is the same stair case design - the same white and brown - and the same action as running up the stairs.

 Intertextuality tells us that there is never the use of originality in films as film producers borrow from one another.