Summary
Children play in the backyard of the Brenners’ house while Melanie and Mitch ascend a hill behind the house. They both carry cocktail glasses and Mitch carries a liquor bottle. At the top of the hill, we get a view of the house and the surrounding countryside and ocean in almost all directions. Mitch pours a glass for each of them, and Melanie tells him that she should not drink that much more because she needs to be able to drive back to San Francisco. Mitch tells her that he was hoping to convince her to stay for dinner, but she declines. In trying to convince her to stay, he asks her what is so important that she has to rush back to San Francisco, and she tells him she needs to make it to work the following morning. He is surprised that she has a job and presses her on what it is, and she tells him that she works at the traveler’s aid office at the airport on Mondays, takes a class on semantics twice a week, and has meetings about fundraising for a Korean boy she is helping to put through school. Throughout her explanation, she jokes about ways she could make mischief in each of those occupations, to point out the way that Mitch was too quick to judge her. She turns away from him and goes on to talk about the summer in Rome when she was pushed into the fountain, and how it was easy to get ‘lost’ there, explaining that she wanted to do something good when she came back.
She mentions the bird shop again and explains that she was buying a myna bird for her aunt, who is very prim and proper. It turns out she still likes to do pranks in her free time, because she plans to teach several swear words to the myna bird, so that it will shock her aunt. Mitch laughs, and jokingly tells her that she needs a mother’s care, which causes Melanie’s face to drop. She turns away from him, and mumbles “not my mother.” She explains that her mother left their family when she was 11 years old, and she has not seen her since. As she tells him that she does not know where her mother his, her voice begins breaking. She pauses and then faces him again, says maybe she had better join the “other children,” and begins walking back down the hill toward the house.
In the backyard, Annie spins a blindfolded Cathy around in a circle and sends her off to play the game. Annie looks up the hill to see Melanie and Mitch coming down and her face drops as she lets out a defeated sigh. Lydia comes out of the house carrying a cake and also looks up the hill to see Melanie and Mitch, and a worried look comes across her face. A boy shouts for everyone to look up, and we see a seagull rise and dive at Cathy. Suddenly, several other seagulls start attacking the party as well and the kids start screaming and running. Cathy is knocked over and Annie runs over to help her up, then sends her inside. A boy is knocked down into the sand, and a seagull grabs onto a girls collar and starts pecking at her head from behind as she runs away. Annie yells to get all of the children inside, and Mitch runs to save the girl who has been attacked by the seagull. Another girl lies on the ground face down, kicking her feet as a seagull packs at the back of her head, and Melanie runs over and chases the gull away.
Once everybody is back inside the house, Mitch and Melanie stand at the door to watch the gulls fly away. In the background, someone says that only one girl got a scratch down her cheek but other than that, everyone is ok. Annie says to Melanie that the attack at the party makes three attacks, and Melanie explains to Mitch that a gull crashed into Annie’s door the night before. She asks him if he thinks there is something strange going on, and he asks her to stay and have something to eat before she heads back to Annie’s house. At the end of the scene, two little girls walk up to Melanie and Mitch with tears in their eyes to gaze up at the sky with them. In the next scene Lydia, Cathy, Mitch, and Melanie are eating dinner. Cathy is disappointed that Annie could not also stay for dinner, and comments on the mad chirping of the lovebirds in the cage in the house. Lydia compares it to the birds going crazy outside and seems eager to send Melanie on her way, but Cathy wants her to stay.
They talk about the best highway route for Melanie to take, and the lovebirds’ chirping grows louder. Cathy comments on their chirping as Melanie notices a sparrow in the fireplace. Suddenly, hundreds of sparrows fly out of the chimney and start attacking the family. Mitch yells for everyone to cover their eyes and faces, and he runs to open a door to try to shoo them out, and blocks the fireplace with a table. He takes the cloth that had been draped over the lovebirds’ cage and beats at the sparrows with it to try to scare them away. Melanie takes Cathy and Lydia to another room and Mitch escapes out another door while beating back the sparrows. In the next scene, they all stand in the destroyed room with the police officer, Al Malone. Al picks up a dead bird and confirms that it’s a sparrow, and asks if they left a light burning at night. Mitch is dismissive of Al’s theory that the birds came in because they were attracted by light, and Al is skeptical of Mitch’s theory that the birds attacked on purpose. Mitch tells Al about the attack at the party and the attack on Melanie on the boat, but Al tries to come up with explanations for the attacks that do not blame the birds or assume they have some agenda. Lydia tells him it was a deliberate attack, but Al still does not believe their story, and the family becomes frustrated with him. Lydia tries to tidy the room but seems very distressed. so Melanie volunteers to help by taking Cathy up to bed. Melanie suggests that she had better stay the night, and Mitch agrees. As they walk out of the room, leaving Lydia behind, Lydia turns to face the camera and looks frightened and sad.
The next morning opens on Mitch doing yard work behind the house before cutting to Melanie putting on makeup in the guest room. In the background, we hear Lydia telling Mitch that she will drop off Cathy at school and then head over to Fawcett farm to see Dan, who has also been having trouble with his chickens. In the next scene we see Lydia approaching Fawcett farm in her pick up truck. She parks and asks a farmhand if Dan Fawcett is around, and he tells her that he has not seen Dan yet today but thinks he is inside the house. Lydia goes up to the door and knocks, but when there is no answer, she lets herself in. She enters through the kitchen calling after Dan and gets no response. In the kitchen, she notices several hanging mugs that are broken in a similar manner to the way dishes were broken in her house when the sparrows came down the chimney, and she begins to look worried. She hesitantly walks down the hallway toward Dan’s room, and finds the door open. When she turns to look into the room, she sees a dead seagull smashed through the window. The camera pans around the room to show several more dead birds (seagulls and crows), feathers everywhere, broken furniture, and general disarray. One of the windows is broken, and wind blows the torn curtain back and forth.
As Lydia looks around the room, shocked and frightened, her eyes land on someone’s bloody feet sticking out from behind the door. She steps further into the room to see around the door. A wide shot shows Dan Fawcett’s dead body laying against a wall in the corner of the room with his eyes pecked out. This shot lasts only a couple of seconds, before cutting to a medium shot of his head, and then a close shot of just his face in quick succession, with no music or sound in the background. The camera cuts back to Lydia as she runs out of the room and slams the door. From down the hallway, we see her frantically run out of the room and toward the camera, dropping several items on the way. Outside of the house she runs past the farmhand toward her car and stops next to him but is unable to say anything, only gasping in shock, before running to her car. She speeds home with a shocked expression on her face the whole time. Melanie and Mitch are in the driveway when she gets home. She parks, climbs out of the car, and leans against the side of the car while crying. Mitch and Melanie run over to her to ask what is wrong. Lydia calms for a second and then looks at Melanie, becomes upset again, pushes them away, and runs into the house. Mitch follows her.
In the next scene, Mitch is putting on his coat as Melanie makes tea. Mitch tells her that Al Malone, the policeman, wants Mitch to meet him at Fawcett farm to take a look at the scene and tell him Lydia’s account. He asks Melanie if she is going to be ok staying at the house, and she tells him yes, and that she was just about to bring Lydia some tea. Mitch kisses her on the back of the neck as she prepares the tea, and she turns around, puts her hands on his chest, and asks him to please be careful. He hugs her and they walk out of the kitchen holding each other. He pulls away and tells her to be careful as well, and they kiss. He leaves the house, and Melanie looks calm and pleased. She returns to preparing the tea, and brings it to Lydia’s room.
The scene in which Mitch and Melanie kiss and embrace in the kitchen is the most physical affection between them in the film; it is a brief moment when they have gotten closer but before the bird attacks throw everything into chaos. It shows us for a moment Melanie’s achievement of her driving motive from the start of the film, and also seems to refute the theory that the birds are attacking as retribution for her forwardness, as no attack follows or is connected to this event.
Melanie knocks on the door to Lydia’s bedroom, and Lydia asks if it is Mitch. Melanie enters, announcing herself, and tells Lydia that she has brought her some tea. Lydia sits up in bed to have the tea and thanks Melanie, before asking where Mitch has gone. Melanie tells her that Al Malone wanted to see Mitch at the Fawcett farm, and Lydia is worried that no one believes her story. Melanie tries to ease her worries by saying that they called the Santa Rosa police, and are taking the issue seriously. Lydia pauses, and asks Melanie if she thinks Cathy is safe at school. Melanie tries to ease her mind by assuring her that Cathy is safe, but Lydia says she cannot stop thinking about Dan’s face, and how the birds got in through the window. She tells Melanie that the school has huge windows. She tells Melanie that she wishes she were a stronger person, and begins talking about her husband. She expresses sorrow that she depended on her husband for strength, and now that he is gone, she is both alone and weak. Melanie listens with understanding. Lydia asks again if Melanie thinks Cathy will be alright at the school. She tells Melanie that she usually is not so worried, and does not usually fuss and fret about her children. She continues to talk about her husband, and how good he was with the children. She goes on to talk about how much she misses him, and how some mornings she wakes up and forgets that he is gone. She expresses relief that Mitch stayed, because she feels safer with him around.
Melanie asks Lydia if she would like to rest, but Lydia asks Melanie to stay. She tells Melanie that she feels like she does not know her at all, and wants to know and understand her. Melanie questions whether it is really important for Lydia to like her, and Lydia insists that it is important because Mitch is important to her and she wants to like whichever girl he chooses. Melanie questions Lydia about what would happen if Lydia decides she does not like her, and Lydia says that she does not think it would matter to Mitch, but Melanie disagrees. Lydia tells her that Mitch has always done exactly what he wants to do, but then begins crying and exclaims that she does not think she could bear being left alone. Melanie rushes over to the side of the bed to comfort her, and suggests that she go to sleep for a little while. She asks again if Melanie thinks that Cathy is alright at the school, and Melanie offers to go to the school to get Cathy if it will make Lydia feel better. As Melanie leaves the room, Lydia thanks her for the tea and they smile at each other.
Analysis
On the hill behind the party, we are again shown the beautiful surrounding landscape just before an attack, further connecting the attacks to an environmental agenda. We also learn much more about Melanie’s background, as she expands on her defense of herself the previous night and explains the work she spends her time doing. Though Mitch continues to tease her somewhat, he is more reserved and she plays along, using the opportunity to contrast his perception of her with the good things she actually does with her time. The audience’s sympathy for her grows in this scene, as well as our understanding of her charm and intelligence as she uses sarcastic self-deprecation to redeem her character in Mitch’s eyes. Additionally, Hitchcock provides a psychoanalytical explanation of some of Melanie’s wild or reckless behavior, by having Melanie explain that she grew up without a mother, who left when she was young. In this scene, we also see a rare moment of vulnerability as Melanie discusses her mother.
Annie’s and Lydia’s expressions are placed next to each other to highlight the way they mirror each other after they see Mitch and Melanie on the hill together. This points to a similarity between the jealousy of the two, and the film’s secondary conflict of competition between these three women for Mitch’s attention. However, their two reactions are also slightly different, in that Annie sighs in resignation while Lydia appears more determined, which reflects their attitudes toward Melanie: Annie is warming to her and does not blame her for her interest in Mitch, while Lydia still maintains a coldness toward her. Again, however, any bad feelings toward Melanie are quickly overshadowed by the bird attack on the party.
The attack itself is a chaotic frenzy, and the editing is intended to mirror this and elicit feelings of panic in the audience. Hitchcock accomplishes this by using rapid cuts between the gulls and their victims, and sweeping tracking shots that follow the birds through the sky, to discombobulate the audience. He also uses the setting of a child’s birthday party to heighten the audience’s fear by showing the birds as attacking some of the most vulnerable people in the town. This tactic is used again when the birds attack the school, and the images of screaming, frightened children running from the attacking birds have become some of the most powerfully fear-inducing images of the film. Meanwhile, Annie and Melanie are shown working together heroically to save the children, solidifying the audience’s view of them as part of the group of protagonists of the film, who must work together to avoid disaster despite their differences. Mitch too, of course, is shown heroically saving children from harm, and the image of the three of them lifting Cathy from the ground together solidifies the audience’s view of them as a team united in resisting the birds. After they are inside, Hitchcock again closes out the scene with several people looking skyward, and attempts to draw out an emotional response in the audience by showing the crying faces of two injured girls, who look up with confusion, shock, and sorrow.
At dinner, the mad chirping of the lovebirds foreshadows the coming attack of sparrows through the chimney and provides evidence for a couple of theories about the attacks. First, it can be seen as supporting an environmental reading, in which the local birds’ attention is again drawn to the house by the chirping of this alien or caged species (depending on whether the environmental reading one chooses focuses on the problems with invasive species or the ethical problem of keeping birds caged). Second, it may also be read as evidence for a theory that the lovebirds themselves issue the attacks by communicating with and controlling the local birds. Though this second theory is perhaps the most weakly supported, it is not without some convincing evidence, and is often cited by critics as a potential explanation in close readings of the film. Like any of the theories about the birds’ motives or the ending of the film, it also has several holes, and it is more likely that Hitchcock wished to offer evidence for several different theories while also offering evidence to disprove each one, in order to make the central questions of the film unanswerable.
In this sparrow attack scene we are also given another clear example of Melanie’s competence when compared with other women, as she saves Lydia and Cathy and brings them to another room (while Mitch is still shown as the most competent, and the central hero of the disaster, as he blocks up the fireplace and takes several other measures to try to solve the problem). Again, Hitchcock uses rapid camera movements and short cuts to create a panicked atmosphere for the viewer. When Al shows up, he represents the inability of authority figures to take the matter seriously, which comes up again later when Mr. Sholes and the ornithologist refuse to believe that there is a serious attack. This failure to take the matter seriously is part of a foolhardy human attitude, often articulated as an inability to conceive of birds as smart enough to intentionally harm humans, which can be seen as a type of hubris. This hubris may be linked to human hubris in thinking we can continue to do environmental harm to the planet without repercussions (and in fact, Mrs. Bundy, the ornithologist, will later solidify this link), again supporting a potential environmentalist reading of the film.
The next morning, we see a normal, everyday scene (Mitch doing yardwork, Lydia taking Cathy to school), which calms the audience after the drama of the previous day. But this only sets us up to be more vulnerable to the shock of Dan Fawcett’s death. In Dan Fawcett’s house, however, the tension immediately begins to build when Lydia does not hear an answer and sees the broken teacups in the kitchen. Still, the normalness of the morning has had the effect of limiting the audience’s expectations for a massive escalation from the previous attacks. It soon turns out, however, that the attack on Dan is indeed a massive escalation, and the birds have claimed their first human life, as far as we know. The shock and fear that the scene elicits are made substantially stronger by our reduced expectations, as well as the lack of any music or sound over the dramatic reveal. Further, the editing of the reveal of the body is likely intended to resemble Lydia’s perspective, so it first focuses on the entire body, and then focuses in more on the most horrific and disturbing aspect of the corpse, the missing eyes. This places the audience in the scene and makes Lydia’s fear and shock our own. The near-total silence, and especially the lack of any dialogue, over the next several shots as Lydia runs in shock from the scene and drives home allows the audience to sit with the image of Dan’s body and our own shock without any verbal distractions, which heightens the impact of this death and further aligns our emotions with Lydia’s. Melanie’s concern for Lydia helps us to sympathize with Melanie as she tries to help and care for Lydia, despite Lydia’s coldness to her.
Next, we see an important moment of connection between Melanie and Lydia. Now that we have learned that Melanie never really had a mother, and craves one in many ways, it seems somewhat natural that the two might begin to bond. Melanie herself pointed out earlier in the film, to Annie, that Lydia would be gaining a daughter if Mitch married a young woman, which also helped to prime us for the development of a closer, mother-daughter relationship between the two of them. We are shown that the disaster has opened a vulnerable side of Lydia, who has let her guard down and is being open with Melanie about her husband’s death and its effect on her—perhaps the first time she has been this open about it since he passed away. Though Melanie does not say much, she is shown to be empathetic toward Lydia, and Lydia’s newfound trust in her is intended to mark a major step toward a better relationship. With this explanation of Lydia’s psychology, and Melanie’s empathy for her, the audience also gains an understanding of the root of some of Lydia’s coldness and protectiveness, which helps to resolve any negative feelings the audience might be holding for Lydia based on her treatment of Melanie and Annie. This change in the audience’s attitude is important, as Hitchcock aims to unite the main characters against the birds, and cause the audience to root for the survival of all of the Brenners and Melanie as a cohesive family unit. With a newfound understanding of each other, the smile at the end of the scene between the two women closes the scene by suggesting that all conflict between them has been resolved, and indeed we cease to see the same concerned or cold looks over the rest of the film that we saw in the first half.
