It is an atypical Greek film that is the most special presence in all of Hitchcock's works.
It doesn't have the necessary motives, there's no suspenseful plot like a perverted murder spy adventure, and there's no interlocking suspense, but a psychological thriller that takes place in an enclosed space.
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The Birds
1963
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
Flock of Birds is a 1963 film by Alfred Hitchcock. Three years earlier, Horror had brought Hitchcock worldwide acclaim, and he found his next story in Alfred Hitchcock Recommended.
The film is based on the short story "Birds" by British author Daphne Dumourier, who is also the author of the original novel "Butterfly Dream". Hitchcock's directing career was adapted into film three times in total. In addition to the first two, there is also a final work made in the United Kingdom by Hitchcock before going to the United States, "Jamaica Hotel".
Birds is known as the originator of disaster films, and it's amazing to be able to make such special effects in that era. Regarding the theme of the film, many people say that it is a film that reflects the ideological opposition in the Cold War, some say that it is a film that shows family relations, and some people say that it is a film that highlights the relationship between man and nature under environmentalism... The different interpretations are not only because of Hitchcock's design of each shot, but also because of the different judgments of the audience throughout the story of "Birds".
After watching it, the story framework of "Birds" is the most attractive thing about this movie, and after careful consideration, I will find that Hitchcock's design of the horror thriller factor is based on the changes in the relationship between the characters in the film. All the suspense and bird attacks make the characters' understanding of autonomy more complete.
The story of the film mainly takes place in a small town called Podgar Bay, located on the coastline, away from the hustle and bustle of the city. The people of the town live in peace and slow pace, and the busyness and stress of the city are not felt here. "Flock of Birds" has two story lines, the first half is the development of the love of the male and female protagonists and the display of family conflicts, and interspersed and at the end, is the attack of the birds on humans.
Most of the female characters in the film are female characters, but the male protagonist "Mitch" around the center of the female group portrait is actually the most interesting character image that is worth exploring.
Mitch was born and raised in Podgar Bay and grew up to be a prominent lawyer in San Francisco. Sister Cathy said Mitch usually works in San Francisco and returns to town every weekend and holiday. Judging from Mitch's family environment, when he was in his youth, the sudden death of his father forced Mitch to become the pillar of the family, and he carried his own family and supported each other with his mother.
Mitch and his mother Lydia are not traditionally "Oedipus complex" in a relationship, and although he would call his mother dear, the title is actually a kind of power reciprocity. As the only man in the family, he stood up to maintain the whole family. At home, the power constraints of no elders led to the "self-aggrandizement" in his personality. This self-aggrandizement refers to his conceit and overconfidence in his abilities.
When Mitch and Melanie first met, the latter mistakenly released the caged bird, and with Mitch's calm and steady help, the wandering bird was safely caught back into the cage. Mitch's help is the embodiment of his power in the patriarchal society, in fact, his image of himself is incomplete, so that later disasters occur, self-confidence and action gradually disappear in Mitch, replaced by "I don't know", "I also hope I can tell you".
Mitch may want to use his own ability to shoulder the same responsibilities as his father. But when disaster strikes, his mother, Lydia, shouts "If your father is still around" in a nervous breakdown, which is undoubtedly a kind of doubt and denial of him.
The appearance of her mother Lydia, accompanied by sharp words and eyes, makes her inaccessible, creating a very strong impression on the audience in terms of visual impact. With the attack of the flock of birds, her image transformation is most obvious and fullest: the strong is only her shell to hide the fragility of the heart.
All along, Lydia and Mitch's father relied on each other to survive. The sudden death of Mitch's father put Lydia in the pain of being abandoned, and her extreme insecurity caused her to become overly dependent on her son. And being strong has become an unattainable fantasy. Lydia will be hostile to any woman who approaches Mitch, not because she is afraid of whether Mitch will be snatched away by other women, but because she is a protective vigilance against herself, afraid that she will once again experience the helplessness of losing her dependence.
When Mitch and Cathy were young, as a mother, she rarely cared for her children in her life, and her father provided both fatherly and maternal love to her children. At Cathy's birthday party, mothers rush to protect their children in the face of a sudden attack from a flock of birds, and Lydia is dazed and panicked. After her father left, before the disaster of the birds, as an elder who could not make decisions and actions, Lydia hid in her heart a vulnerability that she did not want to show.
Sister Cathy is at a beautiful age when she grows up to recognize the world, and the appearance of Annie and Melanie fills the gap in Cathy's maternal love. Annie is a very tragic character who comes to this town for Mitch. On the first night of chatting with Melanie, facing questions and loans from strangers, Annie could have turned her away. Opening the door to it is a manifestation of a desire to communicate, Annie does not like the idle life of the town, and every word and deed reveals the inner loneliness. She was the first woman to be tortured by Lydia, but chose to stay and watch Mitch silently. In the end, he sacrificed his own protection and guarded Cathy with a noble spirit, sublimating the propositional significance of the film "Flock of Birds" in the glory of motherhood.
The heroine Melanie grew up in the opposite background of Mitch, Melanie grew up to encounter her mother's abandonment of the family, she grew up under the doting of her father, her personality is naughty and loves mischief, and unruly is a catharsis from the depths of the heart. Melanie's father is the owner of a major newspaper in San Francisco, and the background of a famous lady has allowed the outside world to gather on Melanie for a long time. Maybe it's because of her naughty personality, or maybe it's because she's being smeared by others, she's a regular in gossip magazines, and the PR behind her sets everything right for her every time. So when she was attacked by the flock of birds alone, without any support, Melanie instantly lost the consciousness of resistance, and the excessive fright made her mentally completely collapse.
At the end of Flock of Birds, Hitchcock devised an open-ended ending, giving no clear answer as to whether the birds would continue to attack humans and whether humans would go to destruction. But what can be known is that after this catastrophe, the family has become more complete.
In the scene before the end of the film, Mitch drives three people out of Podgar Bay, carefully driving away from their homes by the bay, surrounded by flocks of birds but not aggressive. A wounded and frightened Melanie leaned on Lydia's shoulder, a moment of acceptance of each other, but also a return to maternal identity.
Since the release of the film, the discussion about the symbolic symbol "bird" has never stopped.
The "bird" in the movie means beautiful and dangerous, the love bird that runs through the whole film is not only the McGuffin of the film, but also the symbol of the beautiful and pure love of the hero and heroine, and about the direction of the disaster, many people think that it is the resentment of the mother Lydia, but in fact, it should be the loneliness of the self and the fear of abandonment.
Because in the movie, in addition to the people who have an emotional connection with Mitch, the residents of the town are also indiscriminately attacked by flocks of birds.
Melanie experienced her mother's abandonment of the family as a child; the death of her father at home made her mother Lydia afraid of being abandoned, and her affection for Mitch The hostility of women made Mitch unable to get the love she wanted; Cathy lacked the care of her father's love as she grew up; Annie had a regrettable past with Mitch, choosing to live alone in the town where he grew up, guarding Mitch and Cathy from afar.
Not only this family, but the whole town may have lost some of its subjectivity due to the geographical advantage of the Bay of Podega.
And each of us must have such a moment in life, facing emotions, facing work, facing all kinds of things from life that make us feel numb, and the sense of loneliness and powerlessness may have long been deeply buried under the subconscious.
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