Flock of Birds is Hitchcock's 1963 film based on the novel of the same name by British writer Daphne du Maurier. The classic of this work has influenced many disaster films and horror films in the future.
The film revolves around the love story of the heroine Melanie and the male protagonist Mitch, but it does not stop at the love story.
Many people say that "Flock of Birds" has no ending, but it is not. There are two clear story lines in the story of Flocks of Birds, one about the unprovoked attacks of birds on humans, and the other around the core of a family conflict, both of which go on at the same time and push each other.
The story structure of the family conflict is clear and clear, and has a happy ending.
As for the attacks of the flocks of birds, Hitchcock's incorporation of symbolism (mother Lydia's possessiveness towards her son, nature's revenge on humans, etc.) did not "solve" it except to show his masterful suspense laying skills to make it more and more intense and tore everyone's heart.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="6" > symbol of flocks of birds</h1>
Its symbolic significance, I think, is not single.
The first four bird attacks at the beginning symbolize the possessiveness of mother Lydia towards her son. Let's see when each of these four attacks was.
The first time: The heroine Melanie sneaks into the house of the male protagonist Mitch to send love birds (in the film, the love birds symbolize the love of the hero and heroine), Mitch finds out and drives out.
Just then, a seagull pecked at Melanie (which was a warning).
Mitch first appears when Mitch is helping Melanie apply medicine at a café.
Second time: At Annie's house, Melanie gets a call from Mitch inviting her to her sister Cathy's birthday party.
Just then, a bird slammed into the door of Annie's house and died.
Third: At Cathy's birthday party, Melanie and Mitch were chatting on a hillside not far away as they walked down the hill.
The camera pans to Lydia, a mid-shot, displeased look.
Then an out-of-picture child's voice shouted, "Look, look." "The flock of birds attacked again.
Fourth time: At home, they are cleaning up the dishes.
(Lydia: Catch Melanie away)
(Mitch: Keep it again and again.) ）
At this time, the love birds in the family quarreled, and Cathy said, "You listen to the love birds so noisy." ”
The lovebird symbolizes the love of the male and female protagonists, but in fact, Cathy's unintentional words hint at Lydia's psychological state - the irritability of Mitch's love for Melanie. Just then, a large flock of birds poured into the chimney of the house and began to attack.
But in this scene, Melanie saves Lydia, and their relationship eases, after which the attack of the birds no longer symbolizes Lydia's possessiveness towards her son.
Of the attacks that followed, some were Hitchcock's adaptations of real news, and some had to exist in order to advance the plot, but I would also say that one attack was in the café, symbolizing nature's retaliatory attack.
Melanie goes to the school to pick up Cathy, rescues Cathy from the crow's attack on the school, goes to the café, and calls her father to explain the situation. The people in the café heard about this strange incident and expressed their opinions.
Among them were three, a mother eating with her son and daughter at the back table. They ordered three portions of chicken and fried potatoes, and hearing the discussion in the café, the mother said the children were upset. The little boy was asking, "Will the birds eat us?" ”
It's ironic, because they're eating chicken.
Just as the mother was leaving with the child, a bird attacked a person outside the café who was refueling the car, the oil leaked, and a person who lit a cigarette accidentally splashed Mars on the gasoline, burned his car, and the fire spread, which was also very ironic, ironic that human beings were "igniting the fire", only this time the fire was not due to the fierce attack of the birds, but because of the human beings themselves. In the chaos, the mother fled back to the coffee shop with her son and daughter.
At this time, the camera changes to a big overlooking view, aiming at the fire, like a God perspective, accompanied by the cry of seagulls is disturbing, as if nature, God sees all this in the eyes, it is it that arranges the fire.
Later, the mother blamed Melanie's arrival for making it all happen.
As humans have always done, they never reflect on their own faults, but blame each other.
In addition, at the beginning of the film, the heroine goes to a store to pick up the parrots she ordered, revealing from the owner's mouth that these parrots must be caught from the time of baby chicks (chicks). And the conversation with Mitch's encounter can also figure out some foreshadowing.
Mitch: "Don't you think it sucks?" Keep these poor little beings in cages? Melanie: "You can't let them fly around." He then accidentally released a canary out of its cage.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="33" > an analysis of the plot of family conflicts</h1>
If we tear down the plot of the attack of the birds and look at this film, we can get a very clear plot of family conflicts.
The master Mitch and Melanie's desire goal: to be happy together. The opposing force of their target: the reluctance of Mitch's mother, Lydia.
Lydia's Desire Goal: To have a dependency. The countervailing force of Lydia's target: the son does not belong to himself, Melanie occupies him. (In fact, Lydia's desire was achieved while her husband was still alive.) But her husband's death allowed Mitch, the only man in the family, to take on the role. Lydia wants Mitch to replace her dead husband as her own, but as Lydia says in the film, "Mitch has his own life", Lydia is uneasy about the threat of "his son's life other than himself", and in the film, it is clear that this threat is the heroine Melanie. Of course, the possessiveness of his mother can also be explained by Freud's Oedipus plot, and this is where Freud rogues come in: you cannot prove his theory but you cannot say that it is absurd, because it is self-justifying. ）
Let's take a look at how Lydia's relationship with Melanie changes in the film.
The two meet for the first time: The first encounter at the café, Melanie's head injury, makes the relationship between the two seem obvious.
Lydia Close-up: Shot up, Lydia is in a strong position, examining Melanie.
Melanie close-up: Overhead, in a vulnerable position.
The second and third meetings that followed, Lydia, were hostile to Melanie, but this changed during the fourth meeting.
The fourth scene: it is a turning point in the relationship between the two of them. Originally, Lydia was opposed to Melanie's stay at home. But then a large flock of birds flew into the house from the chimney and began to attack them, and the scene was chaotic, and Lydia was alone blocked in the corner of the room.
Melanie, in the midst of the chaos, first hugged Cathy on the couch to protect her, then saw the door.
She grabbed Lydia in her arms and rushed out, saving Lydia.
Scene Five: Lydia is frightened by the farmer's corpse killed by the attack of the birds, lying on the bed, Melanie brings refreshments, notice, at this time the power relationship between the two in the scene is reversed, Lydia becomes weak, Melanie is strong, she comes to comfort Lydia.
Lydia showed her vulnerability in full front of her, she said it all, about her husband's death, her dependence on her son, her insecurities about her son abandoning her, and three times she mentioned her fears about her daughter's safety in school, and the third time Melanie offered to take Cathy back from school, and Melanie helped Lydia again.
Next we look at the final scene of the whole film, the scene where the birds attack the house, in which all the contradictions of the family are resolved.
At the beginning of the play, Mitch nails the windows of the house with wooden planks and checks inside the house that the doors and windows are closed. Lydia expressed uneasiness, scolding Mitch and saying, "If your father were here..."
He felt that the son's replacement of the father's role in the family was not good enough, but he did not finish this sentence.
But in the next step, Mitch successfully fends off the attack of the flock of birds and protects his family in various difficulties, and in this scene Mitch's identity is completed, and he is now indeed the whole family's dependence. This is the achievement of mother Lydia's desire goal, and this sub-plot line ends here and lays the groundwork for the sublimation of Lydia's relationship with Melanie later.
The scene in the film where Melanie is led to the attic by the sound of birds flapping wings is impressive, after which she is attacked and injured by a flock of birds. Mitch and Lydia rescue her because of Melanie's injuries, and Mitch proposes to go to san Francisco to the hospital. Lydia didn't want to go out of the house, and here she decided to take a risk for Melanie's injury, which was a moment of sublimation in their relationship. Here Lydia helped Melanie bandage her head wounds.
This bandage is symbolic, compared to the first time the café encountered Melanie's head injury Lydia is in a strong position to examine her, the relationship between the two has made a qualitative progress.
At the end of the film, the family escapes to the car, Melanie lies in Lydia's arms and holds her wrist, Lydia looks at her and smiles and hugs her, Melanie is fully accepted by the mother of the family.
All the contradictions were resolved, and the family fled to safety. The movie ends.
In short, the birds in the film, except for some of the more obvious symbolisms, Hitchcock does not clearly indicate where they come from and where they will go in the future. As for us, the huge mystery in our hearts has not been answered, and our hearts that we have brought up at the end of the film cannot be put down for a long time. Hitchcock knew it would happen, he knew, he meant it, it was his bad taste.
At the end, the Mitch family sails out of town, and the birds look at the back of the human fleeing as if it is a victory, and this revenge is not over.
(Reprinted: Douban Happy Pills)