The past is dominant in this film, with the main characters struggling to understand and resolve their destructive personal histories, and ultimately failing. Light and darkness are featured prominently in “Psycho” . The first shot after the title is the sunny scenery of Phoenix. The scene where Sam and Marion appear as happy figures is in a dark hotel room. Marion is guided by her shadow as she reenters the office to steal the money and is almost immediately engulfed in darkness when she enters her bedroom. When she flees Phoenix, darkness descends on her as she drives. On the bright next morning we see a watchful police officer wearing black sunglasses (again focusing on eyes and dark circles) until, finally, Marion arrives at the Bates Motel in almost complete darkness. The bright lights are "the ironic equivalent of darkness" in this film, blinding rather than revealing. Examples of this are the window curtains that open in Sam and Marion's hotel room, the headlights of vehicles at night, the neon sign of the Bates Motel, the dazzling white of the bathroom tiles where Marion dies, and the light visible from the cellar. light bulb shining on the corpse of Norman's mother. Such bright lights naturally depict the dangers and evil in Hitchcock