The Birds (Alfred Hitchcock, 1963)

The Birds

51.52

Another great example of neurosis on film. a 1963 horror film directed by Alfred Hitchcock 

We see here Hitchcock's iconic use of the camera. That moved in a way that mimics the person's gaze. 
So he was very good at perfectly marrying the cinephile gaze, the desiring gaze of the cinephile who watches intently engrossed with the movement of the camera and there's a perfect show of it in the film that you'll see as Tippi Hendren's boat pulls into Bodega Bay, CA. 

You know you know so Tippy Hedren play a socialite called Melanie Daniels. Who meets a bachelor called Mitch Brenner played by Rod Taylor. Who lives with his mom but he's a hunk. They meet each other in a San Francisco pet shop. She then goes visits him in Bodega Bay. 

That's a huge red flag to me personally, but i guess maybe it's just because I'm a Freudian and I found out that a grown adult was still living with their mom a lot of red flags would come up. There are exceptions where there is nothing pathological about it. Certainly in the case of this film, there is a problem. 

There really is a problem and we know that Hitchcock was a dedicated student of psychoanalysis.
He was very well versed in Freudian writing in particular.  So he was intentionally highlighting the kind of obscene maternal figure, the Oedipus complex gone wrong here. So we will be exploring that. 

The drama takes place in Bodega Bay which is suddenly and for unexplained reason the subject of a series of widespread and violent bird attacks over the course of a few days in this film. Which on a surface level it seems so surrealistic like . Wait, what is a bird attack have to do with this couple and their romantic journey and him living with his mom, like make it relevant. 

But of course, there is a very stark meaning here. One reviewer said that Hitchcock successfully turned birds into some of the most terrifying villains in horror history and I would concur. 

So let's take a look at just a couple of scenes from the birds: 

55.59