Postmodern Case Study: BBC ‘Psychoville’ – Episode 4
‘Psychoville’ is a BBC dark comedy television serial, written by and starring Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton – the creators behind similar comedy ‘The League of Gentlemen’. ‘Psychoville’ series one focuses on an array of strange and some unnervingly yet comical, psychotic characters – each who have seemingly unlinked lives filled with odd occurrences and obscene situations – who are one day brought together due to their shared association with an unknown and unseen blackmailer. Unlike conventional comedies, ‘Psychoville’ blends the genres of horror, slasher movies and surreal comedy. As well as this, Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton, the creators – both play more than one of the main characters in the show, some of which are female characters. In ‘episode 4’ of series one of Psychoville, we follow the characters ‘David and Maureen’ directly after they strangle their fourth victim in his flat. Hilarity ensues after an inspector pays the pair a visit –mistaking David as the deceased victim. Both David and his mother attempt to hide the truth. The episode is homage to Hitchock’s ‘Rope’ – much of his work is a notable and key influence on the comedy.
Episode 4 prominently and deliberately uses pastiche, particularly of Alfred Hitchcock’s ‘Rope’ 1948 and his masterpiece ‘Psycho’ 1960. The former is perhaps the episode’s source of inspiration. Frederic Jameson describes pastiche and parody as ‘the mimicry of other styles and particularly of the mannerisms and stylistic twitches of other styles.’ This can be said for Psychoville, which mirrors ‘Rope’ not only in subject matter but in camera angles, technicalities and mise en scene. The episode’s opening shot directly mirrors the opening shots of ‘Rope’, which include an establishing shot of the outdoors (it is Hammersmith, London in Psychoville rather than the US). This shot is then followed by a shot of a man being choked blue. The camera pulls out of this shot without cutting away, to reveal a medium shot of three figures – ‘David’ the man-child character in Psychoville, his dominatrix mother ‘Maureen’ who assists the murder with her marigold gloves and their unfortunate victim ‘Mr Pike’ who is being strangled with David’s tie. The audience are also revealed to the setting – what appears to be the living area of a small but high-class and antique-furnished apartment. This is a pastiche of the apartment setting of ‘Rope’. To the audience’s right is the kitchen, which can be viewed through a connecting window. On the left is the front door, and behind the characters in the centre is a door which leads to the upper recesses of the apartment. Like ‘Rope’, the entire course of the episode is set in the one room – the living room – though action appears ‘off-screen or offstage’ as it were, from the other rooms. Like ‘Rope’ – famous for being shot in entirely one take, ‘Pyschoville Episode 4’ is completely shot in this manner, with the camera on a dolly track in order to provide a variety of movement and shots, without cutting away. Unlike most TV serials, this episode of Psychoville occurs in real-time. It is 30 minutes long, and the events of the episode are also the same length. It is edited therefore, in a realistic timeframe, rather than with the conventional and Modernist Continuity Editing of Hollywood. This episode deviates from the norm, electing to follow ‘Rope’s timeframe in which time passes accordingly, without scenes varying from night and day or from various locations at different times. The episode is riveted in that one location, during the 30 minutes of their murder. Another reference to ‘Rope’ is the concealment of Mr Pike’s body in the wooden chest in the centre of the room. Similarly, the murderers attempt to draw their visitor – the detective’s attention away from the chest. Furthermore, Hitchock’s ‘Psycho’ is also referenced multiple times. Towards the end the inspector declares that David is the murderer (unbeknownst to David and Maureen the inspector is actually an actor who thinks he is taking part in a role play). At this accusation, Maureen replies ‘don’t talk wet, he wouldn’t hurt a fly...’ – directly a quote from the end of ‘Psycho’. It is also notable, that the murdering pair are a mother-son duo – much like ‘Psycho’, albeit Norman Bates was actually one character with the alter-ego of his mother in that film.
The episode also directly uses the soundtrack to ‘Psycho’ – made famous from the ‘shower scene’ in which the generic platinum blonde Hitchcockian character is stabbed to death. In Psychoville, however, the music accompanies the strangling of Mr Pike and the audience is fooled into thinking that the music is non-diegetic. However, it is soon revealed in a comedic way that the music is incidentally playing out from a radio in the room, coinciding with the murder.
Like other Postmodern texts such as ‘Blade Runner’ by Ridley Scott and the films of Tarantino, episode 4 of Psychoville is very much a hybrid of various genres. Primarily the series is a dark comedy thriller – which is core even in this episode. However, like ‘Blade Runner’, the episode contains many elements of the film noir genre. The inspector character is dressed in the manner of the trilby-hat-wearing and high-collared raincoat-donning police chiefs of the 1950s. He even carries with him a clichéd black briefcase. The episode also contains horror elements, particularly prominent when David advances on the inspector with a huge kitchen knife from behind him. The episode is shot in a very clichéd way at times, such as an over-the-shoulder medium two-shot of David and Maureen as they stare in horror at the sound of a knocking visitor on the front door. The episode is also a Christie-esque ‘whodunnit’ as the inspector is investigating a series of murders – though David and Maureen do not realise they are part of a roleplay and think he is genuinely investigating their murders from before. Having been created by Shearsmith and Pemberton, creators of ‘The League of Gentlemen’, the episode also self-references their creators previous project. The character of the actor playing a detective is Mark Gatiss – a fellow performer who collaborated significantly with them on their previous comedy. The big reveal of his cameo appearance when the door is opened to reveal him is a nod to the Shearsmith/Pemberton universe they have created.
Jean-Francis Lyotard a postmodern critic, describes the loss of moral relativism in postmodern works, and the ‘flattening of affect’ – also discussed by Jameson. Lyotard argues that postmodern texts do not abide my moral laws which have been established from conventions. E.g. the idea that the hero does not always win. This is true in the case of Psychoville, in fact our ‘heroes’ are a middle-aged man-child who lives with his mother and embark on a series of murders. The murder of Mr Pike in the episode are not only portrayed as a normal activity, the murders are made comedic by their handling of Maureen and David. After the strangling has been committed, Maureen exclaims ‘Well should I put the kettle on? I’m absolutely gaspin’!’ to which her son David replies; ‘so was he’ – indicating to the corpse in the chest. Flattening of affect and another postmodern element; ‘the identity-based struggle’ is also brought into the episode. When David is out of earshot, Maureen, believing the inspector to be a genuine law enforcer begins a heartfelt confession of the murders including the murder of her husband some years ago. The creators deceive the audience into thinking the scene is touching by playing non-diegetic, slow and mournful music. The emotional moment is then shattered by flattening of affect when discussing how her husband used to abuse her, Maureen states; ‘he used to beat me inspector... it’s what people did before they had tellies’. From this humorous comment, the tragic natures of her previous words have lost their emotional depth.
The postmodern technique bricolage is incorporated into the episode. The setting seems to be an earthy-coloured apartment belonging to a cultured person, through his antique furnishings. It is almost a Christie-esque who-dunnit setting – despite the fact it is set in present day. The idea of mixing high and low art to create a classless piece of art is also present. Maureen is played by Reece Shearsmith, as is the style of their comedy. Despite the fact Shearsmith is technically in drag, his performance cannot be deemed ‘trashy’ like the grotesque characters of Matt Lucas and David Walliams. Shearsmith’s performance is convincing, yet retains an element of the grotesque for comedic effect, however the audience could easily forget who is playing her. The use of wigs and make-up for the character can be deemed low art (such as the works of Little Britain creators) however, with the high-art nature of the Hithcockian episode, the episode becomes classless.
Baudrillard’s hypereality theory is less prominent in ‘Psychoville’, however there are elements of it. Though set in present day Britian, the series has almost missed the mark on normality. The characters portrayed by Shearsmith and Pemberton are strange and sometimes of opposite gender to their performers – yet this is all accepted in their world.
To conlude, Episode 4 of Psychoville is postmodern due to its blatant pastiche and homage to the works of Alfred Hitchcock, it’s unnerving and obscene subject matter which is flattened in affect through dark comedy. The episode works unconventionally in its narrative format, rejecting the usual continuity editing and the jumping of time. It also blends high and low art, creating a classless piece of television and contains references to Shearsmith and Pemberton’s previous work as well as successfully blending a mix of genres into a hybrid.
