It is precisely because of these controversies that Birds is more intriguing, but it also has some subtle and fascinating feelings. Withstood the test of doubt and time, birds are becoming more and more classic.
Many comments on "Birds" will quote a famous American "variety show" to comment on this film as "sheer nonsense" ... just to scare people ". The appearance of this evaluation stems from the fact that the film does not explain whether birds attack humans crazily in their careers or whether Mickey's family can escape from danger or how to deal with it in the end. The seemingly incomplete plot is accused as a loophole or fault in the narrative, which also raises the question that the whole film is just "scary for the sake of scaring people"
We can easily find the dual narrative structure of people and birds in the film, so we can't simply look at the film from the old-fashioned people-centered standpoint. Careful understanding, people and birds are not even equal in actual narrative effect.
The protagonist in the film is still alive and dead, and he has not explained it. Humans are always helpless in the face of birds. The birds in the film, from hovering in the air in San Francisco at first, to ruthlessly attacking the townspeople, and finally to occupying the land in Bodega Bay. The spatial position of birds from the sky to the ground is decreasing, and they have the upper hand in the relationship with people. On the contrary, they constitute a complete narrative of time and space. So, from a bird's eye view, it doesn't matter what the relationship between Lydia and Melanie is, and whether Mickey and Melanie can fall in love or not. The story of birds is not incomplete, but it can be called a truly complete movie about birds.
Hitchcock's classic films often reveal a strong psychoanalytic meaning, and this film does depict Mickey's relationship with his mother Lydia and his girlfriend Melanie, which also makes many traditional interpretations of birds focus on Freud or Lacan's psychological interpretation. Some scholars even take "Lydia is the only one in the film who has not been attacked by birds" as an excuse, and think that the bird's attack on Melanie and Anne is the externalization of Lydia and her son Mickey's resentment against the "third party" because of the Caster complex. It just feels too far-fetched.
If the film takes birds as the narrative angle, then the setting of the relationship between characters in the film is more like a fool who is used to reading his own film with psychoanalytic theory, rather than a symbol of psychoanalysis in Birds. The host's joke is also reflected in Anne's conversation with Melanie: "What's the answer? Jealous woman, right? A possessive mother? No! Speaking of Oedipus complex, I don't think so. " With all due respect, Oedipus, I don't think so. Therefore, the psychoanalytic perspective of Oedipus complex may not make much sense at all.
The interpretation of the theme of birds has been controversial. In addition to psychoanalysis, many critics have introduced this film into the perspective of thinking about environmental issues and the relationship between man and nature. But in fact, as long as you know Hitchcock's work style a little, you will find this analysis more far-fetched than psychoanalysis.
However, if "Birds" is divided into genre films, there is no need to say more about thriller and suspense, and "Birds" can also be called a real disaster film. The definition of disaster films has been criticized by critics from the perspective of psychoanalysis, but once again, we focus on the protagonist bird in the film, and we can find that the bird itself has many remarkable characteristics:
(1) External aggression
The reason why the birds in the film can cause human panic is that birds have obvious foreign aggression. The hole left by birds pecking at their eyes is an aggressive manifestation of this direct violation of human rights. One of the reasons why the images of eyes and emptiness appear repeatedly in the film is that if people are deprived of the right to see, they will completely lose their ability to fight against birds, and the aggression against human integrity and sovereignty is also the premise of the film's horror.
(2) the number is huge
In the film, except for the first time Melanie was attacked by only one seagull, birds attacked humans in droves. In the discussion in the coffee shop, the lady majoring in ornithology said that the number of birds is huge, and even has a completely overwhelming advantage compared with the number of human beings, which implies that the attack of birds has completely expanded to all mankind. This also completely broke the sense of self-superiority that everyone thought was safe, indicating the seriousness of the incident.
(3) Irrationality
In human cognition, birds have no language behavior, that is, they cannot communicate. We can't understand the meaning of their behavior, nor can we understand their purpose. We think they are irrational beings. At the end of the film, there is no explanation for attacking the bird, which makes people always at a loss and can't predict how things will develop.
(4) Before human beings existed.
Another point I discussed is that birds came to this earth before humans, that is, the occupation of birds is reasonable. This kind of cognition is not a physical or power violation, but a psychological frustration.
The bird attack in the film is not selective, no matter good or bad, it will not be different because of any appearance characteristics, and it has obvious destructive power and absolute advantage, which makes people helpless ... What other violence is so indiscriminate, nothing more than the Black Death, fire, flood, earthquake and war! If this is not a disaster, then what is a disaster?
In the conversation in the coffee shop, what the most professional and credible old lady of ornithology said seemed ridiculous and unreasonable at this time, while what the most untrustworthy alcoholic said became a symbol of truth-"The end of the world is here ..."
From every feature of the above birds to the choice of bird description themes, the shadow of the master's handwriting is revealed.
From the beginning of the film, the couple love birds came to this town with Melanie, and each of us can never forget that love birds is also a bird. When all kinds of birds in the town are madly attacking human beings, we will remember that there is a pair of love birds in the kitchen, and until the end of the film, this pair of love birds is still carried by the Mickey family, because "nothing is wrong". As a potential risk factor, no one knows whether they will also bring disaster. Even if we confirm that the birds in the town have completely become human attackers, the incident has not become known, and the hanging heart still cannot let go.
Hitchcock will also let birds suddenly enter the picture from behind the camera, which can also be regarded as a bird's perspective. Zizek believes that the significance of this shot lies in "Hitchcock evokes fear when the distance separating the audience-he/she is a safe position for pure gaze-and the narrative reflecting reality disappear;" The stain blurs the external/internal dividing line that brings us a sense of security. "The disappearance of the dividing line means that we are no longer just a safe bystander.
There is also a metaphorical image in the film. Birds keep hitting the window. As Hitchcock explained in another classic, Rear Window, each of us is peeping and being peeped. Here, every viewer is no longer a person peeping through the window, but a person who may be hurt by birds that break through the window at any time. It is no longer birds but human beings who are snooped.
The film begins with Melanie's sight, and we see birds hovering in the sky, and there are birds in cages in pet shops. However, at the end of the film, the audience stood at the same angle as the birds and watched the Mickey family fade away. Here, the subject of watching has completely become a flock of birds.
It's not just a change of perspective, from the beginning when people choose caged birds in pet shops to the later when birds attack and you are forced to stay at home, cafes, cars and telephone booths ... At first, Mickey and Melanie came to this town, and finally, Melanie and Mickey's family left the town under the watchful eyes of birds. From being completely independent to being an expelled group, human beings have a sense of fear.
Obviously, there is no answer to everything, but the highly symmetrical perspective and plot setting make people feel completely subverted and the story is so complete. Exquisite conception and precise control, how can we say that this is not a classic written by a master?
Birds is a controversial work, but these controversies can make us think about this film better. It is also a classic and deserves more scholars' comments.