Bates Motel | Robert W. Sullivan IV

Archive for Bates Motel

First Look – Cinema Symbolism 3!

Posted in Alchemy, Batman, Black Swan, Blog, Blog post, Carl Jung, Cinema Symbolism, Film, Freemasonry, Gnosticism, Halloween, Hollywood, Illuminati, Joker, Joseph Campbell, Kabbalah, Lucifer, Movie History, Philosophy, Radio, Royal Arch of Enoch, Symbolism, The Occult, Wizard of Oz with tags 9/11, Archetypes, Bates Motel, Batman, Beauty and the Beast, Cinema Symbolism, Dark Night of the Scarecrow, Freemasonry, Gnosticism, Illuminati, Joker, Jung, Kubrick, Metropolis, Mother!, Occult Symbolism, Psycho, Red Shoes, Red Sparrow, Robert W. Sullivan IV, Star Wars, Suspiria, The Mummy, Witchcraft on May 19, 2020 by robertwsullivaniv

Coming autumn 2020… Stay tuned. Cover by Blame it on Rebekkah Designs.

January 5, 2019: Rob heads over to the Spaceboy Universe! Live Radio!

Posted in Back to the Future, Batman, Black Swan, Blog, Blog post, Cinema History, Cinema Symbolism, Elizabeth Burnblack, Film, Freemasonry, Gnosticism, Illuminati, Kabbalah, Monsters, Mysticism, Mythology, Royal Arch of Enoch, Smurfs, Star Wars, Superman, Symbolism, Uncategorized, Wizard of Oz with tags A Pact with the Devil, Alchemy, Alfred Hitchcock., Bates Motel, Cinema Symbolism, Crimson Peak, Freemasonry, Harry Potter, Highgate Cemetery, Kubrick, Lucifuge Rofocale, Movies, Robert W. Sullivan IV, Royal Arch of Enoch, Smurfs, Star Wars, The Shining on January 1, 2019 by robertwsullivaniv

Rescheduled from December because of technical difficulties, kickoff of the new year with Rob when he travels to the Spaceboy Universe! Program debuts live this Saturday, January 5, 2019, at 10:00 pm EST and streams globally across internet on Spreaker; to listen click image:

13 May 2018: Excerpt from Cinema Symbolism 3….

Posted in Bible, Blog, Blog post, Cinema Symbolism, Education, Film, Hollywood, Movies, Mysticism, Mythology, Reading, Religion, Sorcery with tags Alfred Hitchcock., Bates Motel, Bible, Cinema Symbolism 3, Psycho, Robert W. Sullivan IV on May 13, 2018 by robertwsullivaniv

Currently writing Cinema Symbolism 3. Here is an excerpt (rough draft) for your consideration.

Bates Motel was one of this author’s favorite television series. It aired on the A&E Network for five seasons from 2013 to 2017. The show was a modern retelling of Hitchcock’s Psycho with hardcore Easter eggs turning up during its entire run. The eggs served to pay homage to Hitchcock and Psycho (1960). Psycho is replete with esoteric symbolism, so it is no wonder Bates Motel followed in its footsteps.

(Left) Susanna and the Elders oil painting by either Frans van Mieris the Elder (1635-1681) or Willem van Mieris (1662-1747), Frans’ youngest son. The painting, based on a story from the Bible, shows three men, like Norman Bates, spying on a bathing woman. In the Biblical tale, the men accuse her of erotic blackmail; in Room 1 of the Bates Motel, Norman qua Mother brutally stabs the naked woman. (Right) During Psycho’s climatic grand finale, Norman assumes Susanna’s same posture as he is being subdued by Sam Loomis.

For instance, the oil painting Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins, 1932-1992) uses to cover the secret peephole in the Bates Motel parlor symbolizes his repressed sexuality. Voyeuristically watching Marion Crane (Janet Leigh, 1927-2004), his passion brings jealous “Mother” to life; she, not Norman, seals her fate. The image is a replica of a painting called Susanna and the Elders. It depicts a story from the Bible–Book of Daniel, Chapter 13–in which three old men spy on an innocent woman as she gets ready to bathe, but when they find themselves overcome with passion, they accuse her of sexual blackmail. Later, when he is caught by Sam Loomis (John Gavin, 1931-2018), Norman’s position mirrors Susanna’s from the painting: his clothes are torn while his head is thrown back, and his right arm lifted high in the air. Stripped of his mother’s dress and his cheap wig, Norman is finally seen “naked” for all he is: mother and son, female and male, guilty and innocent.

Working on Cinema Symbolism 3….

Posted in Blog, Blog post, Cinema Symbolism, Film, Horror Movies, Movies, Symbolism with tags Alfred Hitchcock., Bates Motel, Cinema Symbolism, Cinema Symbolism 3, Crying, Mulholland Drive, Music, Psycho, Roy Orbison on April 7, 2018 by robertwsullivaniv

Here’s a teaser: “Unlike the original film’s and book’s counterpart, Marion Crane survives her experience at the motel in this episode. The iconic shower scene from the original film was duplicated in this episode. However, Sam takes Marion’s place of being the original victim and Norman is not his “Mother” persona when killing him. After Norman kills Sam, he says “Oh, mother, what have I done?” echoing the line “Mother, what have you done?” in Psycho. When Norman kills Sam, Roy Orbison’s (1936-1988) “Crying” (1962) is playing. The music is designed to conjure David Lynch’s film, Mulholland Drive (2001), in which Orbison’s song is performed in Spanish, “Llorando,” by Rebekah Del Rio in Club Silencio. In Lynch’s movie, the song terminates the dream world of Betty Elms (Naomi Watts) returning her to the real world of Diane Selwin (Watts again). In Bates Motel, the use of the song connotes the same thing: Norman becomes cognizant that “Mother” is another side of his personality–a dark vision–and that he has been murdering as her the entire time. Like Mulholland Drive, the music signifies the deconstruction the fantasy, returning the characters–Elms and Bates–back to their bleak realities.”