The first is the . Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960) offers the most grotesque version. Norman Bates’s mother, Mrs. Bates, is dead, yet she controls every aspect of her son’s life through a projected, authoritarian voice. She has weaponized guilt and duty to such an extent that Norman’s psyche splits. The famous line, “A boy’s best friend is his mother,” becomes a chilling justification for murder. Mrs. Bates doesn’t just love her son; she consumes his identity, refusing to let him become a separate adult. He can only exist as an extension of her will.
The Oedipal complex, a concept introduced by Sigmund Freud, suggests that the mother-son relationship is inherently fraught with unconscious desires and conflicts. This idea has been explored in works like Sophocles' Oedipus Rex , where the titular character's quest to uncover the truth about his past leads to a revelation about his complicated relationship with his mother. The first is the