The Birds

Film Summary
Spoiled socialite and notorious practical joker Melanie Daniels is shopping in a San Francisco pet store when she meets Mitch Brenner, who is looking to buy a pair of love birds for his young sister's birthday; he recognizes Melanie but pretends to mistake her for an assistant. She decides to get her own back by buying the birds and driving up to the quiet coastal town of Bodega Bay, where Mitch spends his weekends with his sister and mother. Shortly after she arrives, Melanie is attacked by a gull, but this is just the start of a series of attacks by an increasing number of birds

The Opening - The opening is very important to help emphasis the point in the rest of the film. At the beginning we see the birds caged and trapped by the humans. this goes with the narrative as at the beginning there are no obvious desires. as the film goes on the birds are the ones that are free, and trapping then humans (in houses, cars, phone boxes). this mirrors the desires of Melanie and Mitch who want a sexual relationship with each other. without the contrast of the opening the theme of desires being followed would not be as strong.

The Birds - The attacking birds represent the explosive outburst of maternal superego trying to prevent a sexual relationship between Mitch and Melanie. An indirect revelation of Lydia's character. She is a possessive mother, intent upon furthering a symbiotic, oedipal relationship with her son. whereas the birds themselves represent the id; the unconscious desires - in this case, not of one specific character.
The birds behaviour is very subjective and unpredictable, and this shows how the mind is unpredictable, and with all the desire suppressed by the superego can rear at any time, and attack the stability of the conscious mind.

Being Trapped/isolated - The theme of isolation runs through the film. both the main characters are isolated (Melanie - never seen with any family or friends, and when she visits Bodega bay, she has to make up that she is staying with a friend. Mitch - even though he has family and friends, they live in Bodega Bay, which is a small isolated town; and to further the families isolation they live out on some land that can only be accessed by a small dirt round or by boat.) The town itself is small and isolated, which causes the residents to become trapped when the birds attack. this image represents the isolation of the human mind and when the subconscious and desires of the id are followed the mind becomes trapped by the desires and under attack.

No Score - Throughout the whole of the film there is no non-diegetic music above the visuals, to provoke any emotions into the audience, like the rest of Hitchcock films do.
bird sound is natures music, so by not overwriting this with a score, it emphasises, not only the birds themselves, but the power of the birds, intern the power of the subconscious mind.
The subjective camera shots throughout the film build up the tension without the need for a score. an example of this is when lydia visits farmer to talk about the odd behaviour if the chicken and the broken china is seen in the shot.