Birds symbolize women?

Rating: 8/10 (27 June 2005)

This movie is not just about birds that attack humans but about many things. The birds themselves may be a metaphor rather than just a peaceful creature gone bad.
What might these birds symbolizewomen ("bird" is British slang for a young woman), peace (doves), love (love birds), nuclear war (a bird is a guided missile and always ready to be fired), or maybe humans who are no longer rational and go into panic mode (like birds that are no longer peaceful and become ruthless predators)? Has anyone ever flipped you the bird?
There seems to be the strongest connection between the birds and the women in the film. The movie begins with a boy whistling at Melaniethe human equivalent of a bird mating call. Mitch has three "birds" circling himhis mother who wants no other women in his life and to rule the roost, Annie who longs for Mitch to return to their nest and Melanie who is really, really, really cooing for Mitch. (Melanie's chasing of Mitch makes one wonder if she is wearing a testosterone patch or maybe has ingested the same thing that make the birds so predatory.) At the birthday party when the real birds first attack en masse we see a shot of the mother, the new girlfriend and the old girlfriend and how they have changed from lovely ladies to conniving females--just as the birds have changed from docile creatures to deadly predators. The "bird as human female" analogy continues with Melanie longing to return to the nest since her mother flew the coop when Melanie was only 11. In the end though Mitch triumphs over all these various bird incantationsyea Mitch!
Remember the movie begins and ends with the love birds"love thy neighbor" being the second most important commandment according to Jesus.
For those who have trouble with the idea that a bird would ever attack a human being, please get close to a Mockingbird's nest or have food around an Ostrich or EMU. Still not convinced? Then may I suggest you go get your car washed and then park it under a tree filled with birds? They do attack you from one end of their bodies or the other!
Alfred Hitchcock does have style. Even when Melanie's face is bloodied by the bird attacks he still uses a soft focus lens to make her look beautiful. Ahh beauty and the bloodied, bird pecked face--not an easy thing to pull off.
The sound effects are ethereal and there is no music like in the rat movie "Ben". Too bad. "Ben" produced a hit for Michael Jacksona scary story in itself.