Relationship Advice from Alfred Hitchcock - The Birds

This is the conclusion to this series:
Part 1 - Rear Window
Part 2 - Vertigo
Part 3 - The Birds

The movie The Birds (1963) presents, what in many ways is typical of a great Hitchcock film, a brilliant relationship study set against a backdrop of extraordinary, horrific, and deadly events. The film begins with Melanie Daniels in a pet shop. This starts with a short game of foiled deception with Mitch, centering on the topic of lovebirds and thus immediately suggesting the the subtext of a possible love relationship. During this encounter, they are held in frame together through a series of over-the-shoulder reverses that immediately begin to create a sense of connection. Finally, with the escape of a canary, which Mitch catches and then refers to as Melanie Daniels as he returns it to its cage, the relational subtext is fully confirmed. In the final verbal confrontation in this sequence, Mitch's shot also contains Melanie, signaling his desire and intent to catch her. The reverse of Melanie frames her alone, suggesting her freedom and authentic outrage at Mitch.

This defeat leads to Melanie attempting to pull one over on him by bringing him the two love birds he claimed he wanted. Thus, in the world of the film, their relationship is sealed. Melanie drives up to find Mitch in Bodega and tracks down Annie Hayworth to confirm Mitch's sister's name for whom the birds are for. Annie appears in a red sweater, already marked for death, and is helpful if perhaps aloof and judicious. Melanie enters into the Brenner house successfully, delivering the surprise love birds. This intrusion foreshadows the birds' later invasions of the house. Melanie escapes back across the bay and as she approaches the dock, and is greeted by Mitch, who has raced around the bay to meet her, a sea gull swoops down hitting her head. This is the first of the mysterious and terrifying bird attacks. While no direct explanation is given, at this point it appears to be a manifestation of Annie Hayworth's conscious or subconscious jealousy. The gift of the love bird, which is tantamount to a relational proposal, is an explicit intrusion and cannot be tolerated. However, it may be in response to the both physical and relational invasion of the Brenner house. Mitch then questions her presence and accuses her of liking him. She feigns to have disinterest and the pretext of having been old college friends with Annie and coming up for a visit with her. It is at this moment that Mitch's mother enters. Perhaps to increase the Oedipal tension, she looks strikingly like an older version of Melanie. The rest of the conversation that occurs with Mitch is framed with his mother and Melanie framed alone with occasional reverses to Mrs. Brenner, spelling out visually for the audience exactly what the relational dynamics are. The blocking of the scene before dinner with Mrs. Brenner on the telephone is also masterful. While Mitch and Melanie are able to share the background space briefly, when they finally settle into the room, Melanie sits on one the couch framed to the left of Mrs. Brenner and Mitch stands by the fireplace to the right. Mrs. Brenner stand talking on the telephone in the foreground as a wall between them. However, before the phone call is over, Mitch moves across the room again and, sitting down, is now framed with Melanie.

Mrs. Brenner is Mitch's domineering mother, a figure not uncommon to Hitchcock films. Most notably, Psycho (1960) alludes to this sort of figure, as well as Marnie and Notorious, both to a lesser degree. Slajov Zizek argues that the birds represent a foreign dimension that literally tears apart reality. In this sense, he suggests that they are manifestations of the the mother' raw, incestuous energy attempting to prevent the sexual relationship between her son and Melanie.1 It should be noted that throughout, Melanie is wearing a green skirt suit, highlighting her positively. In contrast, Mrs. Brenner's bedroom is that repeated yellow. This seems to signal the aggressive subtext of jealousy, mistrust, and aggression below the relatively benign conversation, which sends Melanie off to the school where she encounters a large group of crows, aptly named a murder of crows.

Within the film itself, it is suggested that the birds are a plague and a sign of the apocalypse. Furthermore, P. Adams Sitney has noted that the names Melanie (in Greek) and Daniels (in Hebrew) have the combined meaning “the blackness of God's judgment.” 2 The birds provide a terrifying sense of “The Other” ominously watching, often from above, referencing again the theme of voyeurism. Thus, the trademark high angle anxiety shot, which are used to spectacular effect in this film find their fulfillment in The Birds. Hitchcock's Catholicism obviously allows for the possibility for this to be interpreted as God. During the attack in the town, people identify the attacks as beginning with Melanie and thus accuse her effectively of being Jonah. However, Hitchcock has clearly taken pains to identify Melanie with the birds, beginning with the opening scene and including a reference to her breaking a window, which the birds then do in the movie. Thus we must understand the birds as generally manifesting in physical symbolism, the destruction of reality that Melanie represents for Mrs. Brenner as well as Mrs. Brenner's response. The echoes of Psycho support this dual representation, as the stuffed birds in Norman's office represent both his mother, whom he has killed and effectively stuffed, as well as the aptly named Miss Crane, whom he is about to kill and whom he compares to a bird. The final moments of horror in The Birds are those of Melanie again entering the mother's bedroom, only to find it filled with birds. What follows is best described as a crucifixion scene as Melanie receives innumerable wounds as well as the distinct emphasis on the piercing of her outstretched hand. She appears to die due to these attacks. However, Mitch and his mother rescue her and she is revived. Whether it is that God is satisfied with Melanie's sacrifice, or nearly the dead girl snaps the mother's super ego out of its jealous rage, Melanie is finally allowed to be integrated into the family as is noted by the shared hand squeeze with Mrs. Brenner, shown in a close cut in, before they all drive off to the hospital. Mrs. Brenner has come to accept that she is not going to be abandoned and embraces Melanie as a new daughter, being able also to be the mother that Melanie never had. As the new family escapes taking along the love birds that started it all, Mitch and Melanie's love and fidelity throughout the film is highlighted. Thus with relationships established and resolved, there is a happy ending that was not possible in Vertigo, or Psycho.

Hitchcock placed a great deal of priority on relational dynamics in his films. By examining his body of work, we see clearly that people cannot succeed or, at least not well, on their own. The trap of independence is one that men are particularly susceptible to as is clearly shown in Vertigo and also addressed in Rear Window. It is the strong, independent women such as Midge, Lisa, and Melanie that Hitchcock truly honours, perhaps because this is how he viewed his wife and the amazing partnership they shared in their work. Ultimately, it is the truth of these relationships that allow us to weather life's storms. Hitchcock reminds us that life is short and fleeting, with death lurking in every corner and on the end of every telephone call. However, it is precisely our insecurity which must energize us to commit deeply to that love relationship now, rather than waiting for the perfectly “compatible” person or for financial circumstances to create a false sense of security (a la Psycho). It is the outrageous grace of the love relationship in Spellbound (1945) that vindicates an innocent man and convicts the guilty. If only more characters were so faithful, perhaps less people would wind up in the awful predicaments they do. However, our voyeuristic appetites and creativity would be sadly disappointed by such a turn of events.

1Sophie Fiennes, The Pervert’s Guide to Cinema, Documentary, 2009.

2Kent Jones et al., The Hidden God, First Edition. (The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 2003), 249.