Free Essay On Alfred Hitchcock The Birds

One of the first horror movies to hit the screen, the Birds certainly makes a big impact on the viewer. This isn’t our common horror movie. The fright that the viewer reaches during the movie has a much deeper meaning that any of the “alien-attacking” movies of today. It is as though the nature, that we have been trying to dominate for so long, suddenly breaks loose and we lose control. At the same time, every scene in the movie is there to create suspense. It is a combination of suspense and fear both that may help the viewer reach the state of catharsis. To my opinion, the movie is there to show just how much we fear the unknown and just how much unknown there is in the world. The characters and their behaviors are linked to that of the birds, however unexplained the phenomena of birds attacking might be.
As a horror movie, the Birds reaches out to our deepest fear – the fear of the unknown. It seems that humanity has existed for quite some time, that we have solved many mysteries of the surrounding world and have set it into the proper place with fences and cages. However, loss of control over this system without any explanation is completely shocking both for the movie characters and the viewers. Perhaps the point of the movie is to show that we cannot control the world. Putting things in cages and surrounding them with fences will not give us power over the uncontrollable and the unexplainable. The actions of the birds challenge the point of fences and cages in our society as these things can no longer protect us from invasion, as seen in the movie.
However, it is not only the birds that draw our interest. The story of Mitch’s and Melanie’s relationship also keeps us interested. It is curious how with the development of their relationship, the attacks from the birds grow more and more fierce. Melanie is seen as an outsider in this little town. She was in control in the bird shop in San Francisco, but not here. Consequently, she is attacked on the first evening here and the longer she stays, the stronger and more aggressive do the attacks grow. Mitch on the other hand is more accustomed to this area. He does visit his mom, Lydia, here almost every weekend. Nevertheless, he himself is as if in a cage created by Lydia. Moreover, he is even to a point satisfied with his verdict and does not try to fight it. On the other side, Mitch does become the protector. The attacks of the birds awaken the fear of becoming pray and survival instincts kick in. While Melanie motherly protects Cathy, Mitch, as the man of the house, does everything possible to protect the premises and women as well.
I believe that the idea of the movie is to remind the viewer about the unknown and the unexplainable. The world is still very much undiscovered and we really do have a lot to fear both from nature and from ourselves. This movie was shot during the Cold War and consequently the birds may very much be an allusion to the possible nuclear bombs, which if come, will also be very much unreasonable and will take everyone by surprise. Humanity cannot control everything. To me this movie showed that we must understand that not everything is under our control and be ready to cope with the unreasonable and unknown.