Review of The Birds (1963) by Deanomite — 08 Jan 2020

It plays very well, I could not imagine how some crows could be scary-nobody ever tries a knife on them, strange considering Psycho was Hitchcock's movie before this. What struck me most is the scandal behind the story about how Hitchcock got obsessed with Tippi Hedren.

Obsession is my greatest fear, much worse than birds or monsters, to be stalked by someone, what do they care so much for about someone who is not interested in them? Also, I had not realized how much of this movie found it's way into Jaws, the crazy mutilated head early on, the town being a prominent character.

Jessica Tandy was the most interesting person, her fear of abandonment (the most common primal fear) destroying the lives of everyone around her, this was more terrifying to me than the attack of crows, probably because it is so familiar, there are so many people who destroy the lives of those around them just so they will be too crippled to leave.

There is a conversation about it, the schoolteacher says the she was not chased out because of any dislike, but of jealousy, selfishness. Hitchcock put much of himself into the Jessica Tandy character, probably why she felt so real, and why this movie is so powerful today.

The birds were said to be symbols of nature attacking. He said the characters in the movie were attacked because they disrespected nature, I imagine Hitchcock felt his passion for Tippi was nature and when rejected, he felt nature was disrespected.

A real master of craft puts himself into his art, an act of pride and humility at the same time. I think they were symbolic of destruction of human nature. The first scary attack was at the fireplace, a symbol of romance.

Then the home was torn to pieces, all well done symbols of destruction caused by obsessive natural jealousy. I think the lesson is that the only way to deal with crazy people is sneak by quietly and never get their attention, a good scene is when the police are notified, and all they do is blame the victim, the townspeople are the same, they all blame Tippi because the problems arrived when she did.

I am sure there is some truth, Hitchcock was not obsessed until he saw a pretty girl, the logic follows it is the girl's fault when a crazy person gets obsessed. Once Tippi knew what she was up against, the obstacle becomes staying cool.

All in all, an excellent movie.