A lesson on woman's proper role

Rating: Null/10 (2 April 2002)

The macguffin' in Alfred's Hitchcock's The Birds is really not a mystery after all. The birds' behavior and their attacks are used to represent the various threats posed to the town by Melanie's sexuality and solitude. In this respect, the birds are representative of Melanie. However, in their eventual attack on her, the birds represent an extension of Lydia's will to make Melanie embrace her proper and acceptable role as a woman. The lovebirds serve as that ideal of proper womanhood that Melanie has attained by the final scene of the film.
Hitchcock establishes the link between the birds and Melanie's sexuality the first time she steps onto the scene. The birds begin to caw immediately after some ogling men whistle at her, foreshadowing the future encounters between the birds and humans caused by her sexuality. However, while in San Francisco there is no actual contact between the two, as exemplified by her unsuccessful attempt to catch a canary for Mitch. This is because Melanie poses no threat to Lydia's conception of an acceptable female while in San Francisco. It is only in Bodega Bay that Melanie becomes a threat and the subsequent attacks occur. Hitchcock further links Melanie to the birds in order to demonstrate that what is acceptable in the city, namely Melanie's solitude and freedom, is not acceptable in Bodega Bay. While she is in the bird shop during the first scenes, she laments that the `poor, innocent birds' are enclosed in cages, until one lone bird, representing her, does in fact fly free. Mitch catches and subdues that bird, as he would later catch a subdued Melanie. In these instances, Hitchcock establishes a strong link between Melanie's sexuality and solitude with birds.
These characteristics pose a threat to the town, and the birds' behavior and attacks demonstrate what those threats are. When the sparrows come down the chimney and destroy the house, it signifies Melanie's role as a home wrecker' if she should take Mitch away from his mother. The death of the first man is similarly close to Lydia. His death, significantly with his eyes plucked out, signifies fear of the gaze and the sexual attraction that Melanie elicits from men, especially Mitch. The birds' attack on the man in the boat is an attack on his livelihood, thus on male stability. The attack on the children coming from school signifies a disruption of the family ideal. Women are not meant to be sexual objects, but rather nurturing mothers. When the birds attack the man pumping oil, much more of the town is affected and destroyed, because Melanie's threat to the family has grown. She has insinuated herself into their lives by saving Cathy and helping Lydia in bed. It becomes Lydia's will to put Melanie in her place, and Hitchcock represents this lesson with the birds.
Because Lydia is scared that Mitch will leave her for the love of another woman, she metaphorically picks' at Melanie until she is as subdued and non-demonstrative as the lovebirds. The viewer knows Lydia mistrusts Melanie because of her outright declaration in the kitchen to Mitch. Following this first encounter, birds line the telephone wires as Melanie drives to Annie's. Further foreshadowing the attack on Melanie at the climax is the gull that swoops down on her when she first goes beyond the bounds of acceptable female etiquette. After she accepts an invitation to the party because she is interested in Mitch, a bird flies into the front door despite a full moon. As Melanie comes closer to the ideal, becoming more subdued and helpful to Lydia and Cathy during crisis, the birds attack and kill Annie since it is now her pining presence that is a threat to any serious relationship forming between Mitch and Melanie. However, just as Lydia is still wary of the lovebirds, and keeps them in the kitchen, she is also still not comfortable with Melanie. The birds attack Melanie in the attic with viciousness and Mitch has to save the helpless and disheveled Melanie from them. In an effort to drive her out of town, it is obvious that Melanie has not only gained Mitch's love, but also Lydia's acceptance. The lovebirds in the car, and peace of the birds right outside the house, attest to the proper role of women as desexualized, since Melanie is disheveled, and dependent on man and the family structure.
The birds in this film actually have a very symbolic and predictable role in establishing the moral. Sexual and solitary women are acceptable in the city, but are very threatening to the family structure of a small town like Bodega Bay. The birds are both linked to Melanie's character to symbolize the threat she poses, and to her ultimate downfall to symbolize the proper non-demonstrative role of a woman.