The Birds directed by Alfred Hitchcock follows Melanie Daniels as she pursues Mitch Brenner in Bodega Bay. Strange attacks by birds begin, first targeting Melanie. Soon, swarms of birds are brutally attacking the entire town. With no explanation given for the attacks, the film leaves the audience to interpret why the birds have turned violent. It remains ambiguous if the attacks are targeted at Melanie for bringing lovebirds to town or represent the birds avenging past mistreatment by humans. The lack of answers adds to the film's unsettling and suspenseful tone.
The Birds directed by Alfred Hitchcock follows Melanie Daniels as she pursues Mitch Brenner in Bodega Bay. Strange attacks by birds begin, first targeting Melanie. Soon, swarms of birds are brutally attacking the entire town. With no explanation given for the attacks, the film leaves the audience to interpret why the birds have turned violent. It remains ambiguous if the attacks are targeted at Melanie for bringing lovebirds to town or represent the birds avenging past mistreatment by humans. The lack of answers adds to the film's unsettling and suspenseful tone.
The Birds directed by Alfred Hitchcock follows Melanie Daniels as she pursues Mitch Brenner in Bodega Bay. Strange attacks by birds begin, first targeting Melanie. Soon, swarms of birds are brutally attacking the entire town. With no explanation given for the attacks, the film leaves the audience to interpret why the birds have turned violent. It remains ambiguous if the attacks are targeted at Melanie for bringing lovebirds to town or represent the birds avenging past mistreatment by humans. The lack of answers adds to the film's unsettling and suspenseful tone.
The Birds directed by Alfred Hitchcock follows Melanie Daniels as she pursues Mitch Brenner in Bodega Bay. Strange attacks by birds begin, first targeting Melanie. Soon, swarms of birds are brutally attacking the entire town. With no explanation given for the attacks, the film leaves the audience to interpret why the birds have turned violent. It remains ambiguous if the attacks are targeted at Melanie for bringing lovebirds to town or represent the birds avenging past mistreatment by humans. The lack of answers adds to the film's unsettling and suspenseful tone.
The Birds directed by Alfred Hitchcock in 1963 follows the story of Melanie Daniels (Tippi Hedern) as
she goes after a potential love interest- Mitch Brenner (Rod Taylor) and finds herself in a small town called Bodega Bay. Birds start attacking the people of Bodega Bay, starting with Melanie herself when a seagull swoops down at her. There are soon swarms of birds that keep attacking the town, including an attack on the school children, one of whom is Mitch’s little sister Cathy (Veronica Cartwright). Then people start getting brutally murdered including Mitch’s ex-lover and school teacher Annie Hayworth (Suzanne Pleshette). Mitch’s mother, Lydia Brenner (Jessica Tandy) is absolutely terrified of the birds and when the attacks get worse they barricade themselves inside the house. The film ends when Melanie gets attacked by birds in the attic of the house and becomes completely traumatised. The family manages to escape the house between bird attacks and drive away from a then completely deserted town.
Fig 1. The Birds Movie Poster
In The Birds Alfred Hitchcock’s use of suspense and confusion drives the story forward as the audience hopes that there will be a final explanation for the sudden onset of brutal bird attacks. However, the audience finds themselves to be disappointed as no such explanation is given as mentioned in the film: “’I don’t know why,’ says harried Melanie Daniels (Hedern). ‘Wish I could say,’ blurts bemused Mitch Brenner (Rod Taylor). Everyone is confused, ruffled, on the brink of flight. Here is a film that provides no answers and no escape. Chaos reigns from top to tail.” (Brooks, 2012).
Fig 2. Melanie Daniels and Mitch
Brenner Hitchcock’s use of not disclosing any particular reason as to why the birds attack allow the audience to come to their own conclusions. Even in the actual film confusion is shown as multiple times you hear Mitch’s little sister, Cathy ask why the birds are doing this. There are many conclusions that people could draw from the film, such as, the birds are after Melanie, as the attacks only start after she arrives. Or maybe it has something to do with the lovebirds that she brings with her as a birthday present for Cathy.
Fig 3. Lovebirds
Either way no one knows the concrete answer, as quite possibly there isn’t one and the film is just left open for personal interpretation. “The Birds seems to be a film which functions as a Rorschach test, in which every critic sees something different, and of which virtually anything can be said.” (Derry, unknown) A Rorschach test is a psychological test where subjects’ perceptions of inkblots are recorded and then analysed. It could be said that this sort of test could be compared to The Birds as every audience member might have a slightly different perception on the film and therefore if we were to analyse the data we could interpret it in a psychological way.
Fig 4. Birds attack the school
children
Another way in which the film could be interpreted is how the bird attacks are due to birds or even other species in general taking revenge on the human race: “I think it’s fair to say that Hitchcock’s The Birds follows a hint in du Maurier’s short story and shows birds avenging themselves on humans for millennia of ill treatment.” (Mogg, 2009) This suggests that due to the fact that bird have been somewhat mistreated by humans for thousands of years then this story is about birds finally getting their revenge.
In summary, The Birds is extremely open to individual interpretation and the perception of the film depends on the audience member and how they perceive the various factors of the film. Illustration List
Figure 1 The Birds Movie Poster (1963) [poster] At:
https://addictedtohorrormovies.files.wordpress.com/2016/11/poster-birds-the_02.jpg (Accessed on 30/01/18)
Figure 2 Melanie Daniels and Mitch Brenner (1963) [film still} At: https://fictionmachine.files.wordpress.com/2016/04/birds14.jpg (Accessed on 30/01/18)
Figure 3 Lovebirds (1963) [film still] At:
http://screenprism.com/assets/img/article/_1080x400/4589788152_1fa31458f6_z.jpg (Accessed on 30/01/18)
Figure 4 Birds attack the school children (1963) [film still] At: http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Lq91eXqAS- o/TwfjFBgTG9I/AAAAAAAAD3M/LX-h0Q529zY/s1600/The+Birds+6.jpg (Accessed on 30/01/18)
Bibliography
Brooks, X (2012) ‘My favourite Hitchcock: The Birds’ In: The Guardian [online] At: https://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2012/jul/31/my-favourite-hitchcock-the-birds (Accessed on 30/01/18)
Derry, C (unknown) ‘The Birds- Film (Movie) Plot and Review’ In: Film Reference [online] At: http://www.filmreference.com/Films-Bh-Bo/The-Birds.html (Accessed on 30/01/18)
Mogg, K (2009) ‘The Day of the Claw: A Synoptic Account of Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds’ In: Senses of Cinema [online] At: http://sensesofcinema.com/2009/towards-an-ecology-of-cinema/hitchcock- birds-synoptic-account/ (Accessed on 30/01/18)
