why were the birds attacking people
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tmaj48 — 11 years ago(February 13, 2015 04:47 PM)
There was no reason. The point of the movie was to show how people tend to take
any event, no matter how random or meaningless, and look for someone or something
to blamein this case, a beautiful stranger who appeared in town.
I'm not crying, you fool, I'm laughing!
Hewwo. -
euro4569 — 11 years ago(February 18, 2015 05:05 AM)
Well said tmaj48
Also, sometimes, many people feel that it is eerier and more horrifying if the reason for attacks, such as in The Birds and Night of the Living Dead, are left up to the viewer and not explained. -
Kawada_Kira — 10 years ago(May 05, 2015 09:07 PM)
Also, sometimes, many people feel that it is eerier and more horrifying if the reason for attacks, such as in The Birds and Night of the Living Dead, are left up to the viewer and not explained.
I agree with this. It's also why I like atmospheric horror films that leave a lot up to your imagination and prefer those over the more in-your-face stuff. Our imaginations scare us a lot more than anything we see with our eyes.
The people, and the people alone, are the motive force in the making of history.
-Mao Zedong -
rorysullivan07 — 11 years ago(March 28, 2015 07:17 AM)
The birds were a manifestation of Mitch's mum's fear of losing her son to another woman. She didn't want to let him go.
Annie warns Melanie that Lydia won't like it - or something to that effect, I haven't seen the film in a while. The bird attacks get worse the longer Melanie is in the town, and the closer she appears to get to Mitch. Lydia tries to accept it out of deference to her son, but she cannot control her inner anxieties. I like the way she has the appearance of a bird herself, the way she wears her cardigan over her shoulders so that the arms look like a pair of wings. (The lovebirds appear unaffected because they are a pair of caged birds.)
It all reaches a crescendo in the attic scene - and it seems that is the pinnacle of Lydia's black bile of anxiety. Once Mitch has saved Melanie from that situation, Lydia would appear to have calmed down and accepted the relationship between Mitch and Melanie - hence the calmness of the birds in the final scene.
Watch it again with this interpretation and it becomes not just a great film but a bloody great film. -
miosotide — 11 years ago(March 31, 2015 09:17 PM)
Then why was Melanie hit by the gull before Lydia had met her? Incidentally, have you ever noticed in the last view of the Brenner's home across the bay, as the postal clerk is pointing it out to Melanie, Lydia's blue pick-up pulls into the frame from the right?
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rorysullivan07 — 11 years ago(April 03, 2015 01:59 AM)
Lydia doesn't know she is influencing the birds - it is a general manifestation of her unease. That's why it emanates out and causes minor bird attacks elsewhere, but it is centered on Bodega Bay. That is why she is as shocked and sickened as anyone else by the bird attack on her neighbour.
Lydia doesn't need to meet a potential suitor, the fear is there constantly. Mitch only needs to take a romantic interest in someone and the anxiety is stirred up. -
moodie-1 — 10 years ago(April 13, 2015 09:55 PM)
I'm watching this movie right now on TCM and I can imagine something very similar to your (rorysullivan07) theory. The expression on Lydia's face the moment she first meets Melanie sparked my idea that she (Lydia) is actually a witch and since witches are supposed to have an unnaturally intimate connection with nature this caused her unease (at meeting a potential competitor for her son's attention) to transfer to the local wildlife, which in that area must have consisted mostly of birds. Melanie's later discussion with Annie only serves to bolster this theory. Of course Lydia may not have any idea that she's the cause of their bird troubles. She may not quite believe in the extent of her "powers". She may not even realize that she
is
a witch. -
ShooShooFontana — 10 years ago(April 14, 2015 02:40 AM)
Either the above posts are jokes or the posters missed the common knowledge answer that there IS NO explanation (on purpose!). Too lazy to read the FAQs right here or the numerous quotes/interviews with Hitchcock (and others) stating that there is no explanation and why!
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rorysullivan07 — 10 years ago(May 05, 2015 08:39 AM)
I know that Hitchcock says that there is no explanation. That's fair enough. However, a piece of art means whatever it means to you. I liked the film anyway, I have done for years without any explanation for the birds attacking. It worked well enough just on that level. I also know that thinking about it and giving it an esoteric, or philosophical/psychological explanation - whatever - has meant that I now enjoy the film even more.
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groucho3710 — 10 years ago(June 16, 2015 11:24 PM)
The movie was never intended to be science fiction, where there is usually at least an attempt to make an explanation, even if it's far-fetched or utterly lunatic. This is more horror than s-f. And the original story (which BTW bears absolutely no resemblance to the movie) gives no explanation that I can recall. The fun is in watching a group of people react to the new situation. You just have to suspend disbelief and jump in. When you have all the elements (script, director, actors) actually meshing togehter properly, it works. Having said that, I have to say not knowing what was behind the bird revolution has always bugged hell out of me. But that's just me.
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lizardness — 9 years ago(October 23, 2016 08:10 AM)
The birds were a manifestation of Mitch's mum's fear of losing her son to another woman. She didn't want to let him go.
Annie warns Melanie that Lydia won't like it - or something to that effect, I haven't seen the film in a while. The bird attacks get worse the longer Melanie is in the town, and the closer she appears to get to Mitch. Lydia tries to accept it out of deference to her son, but she cannot control her inner anxieties. I like the way she has the appearance of a bird herself, the way she wears her cardigan over her shoulders so that the arms look like a pair of wings. (The lovebirds appear unaffected because they are a pair of caged birds.)
It all reaches a crescendo in the attic scene - and it seems that is the pinnacle of Lydia's black bile of anxiety. Once Mitch has saved Melanie from that situation, Lydia would appear to have calmed down and accepted the relationship between Mitch and Melanie - hence the calmness of the birds in the final scene.
Watch it again with this interpretation and it becomes not just a great film but a bloody great film
Excellent analysis. My late mom, who passed away more than 21 years ago, had the same interpretation. As a kid I didn't like that idea and hadn't heard anyone putting forth that scenario, but now that I'm grown it makes sense. Plausible in that reality. -
greenbudgie — 10 years ago(July 20, 2015 04:32 AM)
I don't think there is any reason for mass attacks. But lone seagulls can be unpredictable. I wonder if birds do protect a certain area at times. A seagull has swooped down close to me on two occasions just lately. At the very same spot. I was just walking towards a plot where a path narrows. As I approached that spot, a sudden wailing sound made me jump. It seemed so close to me. I looked around to see what it was. Both times, as soon as I got past that narrow area, I saw a lone seagull perch on top of a nearby telegraph post. It seems, for all the world, as though the bird didn't want me at that particular point for some reason.