Transcript Slide 1
The Birds: Relationships? It’s for the birds. Robin Wood: “And this seems to me the function of the birds: they are a concrete embodiment of the arbitrary and unpredictable, of whatever makes human life and human relationships precarious” (154). “The essential meaning of the film…that life is a matter of beating off the birds, and the only (partial) security is the formation of deep relationships” (Wood 172). Spoto: “More important and more enduring than any of this is the fact that the movie is a profound meditation on human relationships and on the myopic emotional vision that informs most of them” (330). Outline I) Plot Summary II) The Birds = The Bombs? III) Melanie and the Mother(s) IV) Oedipal Imagery: The Eyes V) Isolation VI) “Sound Consultant” Herrmann VII) Bird Attacks and the Role of Sound VIII) 7th Attack: The Destruction of Melanie and the Creation of a Relationship with Lydia Plot Characters: Tippi Hedren: Melanie Daniels Rod Taylor: Mitch Brenner Jessica Tandy: Lydia Brenner Suzanne Pleshette: Annie Hayworth Veronica Cartwright: Cathy Brenner Ethel Griffies: Mrs. Bundy (ornithologist) Melanie Tides Restaurant Lydia The Birthday party attack. Phallic symbols? The Birds = The Bombs? "The Birds." Du Maurier’s tale, conventional and utterly humorless, is a Cold War parable that uses the unexplained bird attacks as an apocalyptic metaphor for nature thrown out of balance by technology and warfare.” (Wake) In the novel, “There are rumors that the Russians have poisoned the birds to make them vicious and suicidal” (Wake) In the movie, the attacks begin small, but begin to grow and affect the other towns: domino theory. The birds of different species might symbolize the Warsaw pact, a group of united countries, fight their common enemy. Democracy is powerless to defend itself. (Atomic Scare Films Clip). “Cage” yourself. Can attack schoolchildren, adults, all professions… The Birds released 1963. Hitchcock’s primary interests from story: Coastal setting (isolation) and random attacks. (Bernard Dick) Melanie and the Mother(s) Throughout the film, Melanie has obvious difficulties with mother figures. Her own abandoned her at a young age, Lydia has obvious resentment towards her, and the hysterical mother shows no kindness to Melanie. (Clip #0074) Melanie and the Mother(s): Lydia • • • • Why does Lydia “dislike” Melanie so? “Zizek and Samuels read the birds’ attack first as a reflection of the maternal superego—Lydia Brenner’s rivalry with Melanie Daniels for the Love of Mitch Brenner” (Christopher Morris). (Clip #0052). OR is it Lydia’s fear of being left alone? Lydia and Freud Freudian take: • (Clip #007)- “As long as you know what you want Mitch.” “I know exactly what I want.” • Music in this scene: Debussy’s "Arabesque No. 1" played by Melanie. Oedipal Imagery: The Eyes Continuing with Hitchcock’s Oedipus complex theme seen in previous films. The most prominent here is Lydia’s discovery of Fawcett’s body. (Clip 0063). Computation. Spoto: “Over two dozen times, characters say ‘I see,’ or ‘You see.” (336). Lydia’s reaction when Mitch tells of Melanie’s gift of lovebirds: “I see.” Mitch: “Cover your eyes.” Isolation Motive for forming a relationship would be based on one’s isolation. Imagery of isolation, abandonment are The Birds reasons for forming a relationship, not just love. Example: Mitch and Melanie’s relationship, one based somewhat on love, does not develop, but Melanie’s and Lydia’s relationship, based on Melanie’s lack of a mother, forms at the end. “Sound Consultant” Herrmann Trautonium Scoreless soundtrack: “Vulnerability of a human community in a hostile natural environment” (Weis 136). Bird Attacks and the Role of Sound Task was to differentiate the attacks aurilry and visually 7 Attacks in all (Weiz) 1st: Gull seen before squawking 2nd: Both visual and aurally with squawks and popping balloons 3rd: Finches with sound and image 4th: Visually (more and more on playground) while children singing. 5th: Silence and screaming 6th: Almost all sound 7th:… 7th Attack: The Destruction of Melanie and the Creation of a Relationship with Lydia “What I wanted to get in that attack is as if the birds were telling Melanie, “Now we’ve got you where we want you. Here we come. We don’t have to scream in triumph or in anger. This is going to be a silent murder.” (Weiz 142) (Clip 008) CONTROL=Silence “The film eventaully makes us feel just as vulnerable in moments of relative tranquility as during attacks.” (143). Both Hitchcock’s and Lydia’s control. Computation: Showdown (Clip 009). Computation. Works Cited Dick, Bernard F. Hitchcock’s Terrible Mothers. Literature Film Quarterly, Vol 28, Issue 4, January 1, 2000. McCombe, John P. “Oh, I See…”: The Birds and the Culmination of Hitchcock’s Hyper-Romantic Vision. Austin: University of Texas Press. Cinema Journal. No. 3, Spring 2005. Morris, Christopher D. Reading the Birds and the Birds. Literature Film Quarterly, Vol 28, Issue 4, January 1, 2000. Smith, Steven C. A Heart at Fire’s Center: The Life and Music of Bernard Herrmann. Berkeley: U of California, 1991. Spoto, Donald. The Birds. The Art of Alfred Hitchcock. New York: Anchor Books, 1992 Wake, Bob. The Birds. http://culturevulture.net. Weiz, “Beyond Subjectivity: The Birds.” The Silent Scream. Wood, Robin. Hitchcock’s Films Revisited. Rev. ed. New York: Columbia University Press, 2002.