The Birds, 1963
Preserved in the Library of Congress's National Film Registry for its "cultural, historical, and aesthetic significance" (LOC, n.d.), Alfred Hitchcock's 1963 film The Birds is hard to ignore in an eco-horror marathon such as this. While I neglected to include other popular eco-horror films such as Jaws and Jurassic Park, I wanted to take the time to cover The Birds, as it's ideal for multiple ecological and psychological interpretations. The film is loosely based on Daphne du Maurier's 1952 novel of the same name, a horror story about birds who attack Britain after World War II. Du Maurier was said to be inspired by the real-life sight of a farmer being attacked by a flock of gulls (Maunder, 2007).
Although many theories around the meaning of the birds' spontaneous attack in the film exist, from motherly rage (Cinema de Merde, 2010) to female sexuality (Paglia, 2009), an environmental interpretation is equally apt. Hitchcock himself mentioned in an interview that the birds are punishment for humans taking nature for granted (Paglia, 2009). With this interpretation in mind, I found the opening scene of the film telling. Melanie, played by Tippi Hedren*, is in a pet shop purchasing a bird. Mitch, played by Rod Taylor, walks in and says to Melanie, "Doesn't it make you feel awful keeping these poor little creatures caged up like this?" Fast forward a few scenes to Melanie delivering the purchased bird, and the first seagull attacks her, striking her in the head and causing her to bleed. This is particularly ironic given that many of the birds used in the film were real, captured from the wild (Moral, 2015).
Midway through the film, sitting in a restaurant with others, a policeman says, "birds just don't go around attacking people for no reason." Why would they? Despite their reputation, it is well documented that even by human-centric intelligence standards, birds are incredibly smart (Stymacks, 2018). Yet, even the ornithologist in the film doubts them, saying about crows and gulls, "I hardly think that either species would have sufficient intelligence to launch a mass attack." However, she goes onto say--giving us perhaps more evidence for a human punishment by nature narrative--"it is mankind rather who insists upon making it difficult for life to exist on this planet."
We make it difficult, indeed. Climate destruction and habitat loss are two of the greatest threats to birds today. 1 in 8 bird species globally is facing a high risk of extinction, and that number will keep growing as long as no dramatic environmental changes are made (King & Finch, 2013). This is not only an incredibly traumatic decline in biodiversity, it is also a loss of important ecosystem functions that birds perform such as decomposition, pollination, and seed dispersal (to name just a few). Just as with many other forms of environmental violence, animal agriculture is chiefly to blame. According the American Bird Conservancy, "The equivalent of 130 Yellowstone National Parks—more than 290 million acres—of grasslands have been converted to agriculture in North America. . .Millions of public and private range-lands have been damaged by overgrazing. . More than 85 percent of the globally threatened birds in Latin America have been impacted by large-scale logging and agricultural operations."
We shouldn't wait for the birds to plan their mass revenge on humans. Instead, let's try to make better environmental choices as individuals and as a species (find out more about why and how here). Otherwise, we are all in trouble. Take cover!
*After Hitchcock's death, strongly corroborated allegations of sexually inappropriate behavior toward Tippi Hedren were brought to light (Mason, 2014).
References
Cinema de Merde, director. The Birds: Explained! . Cinemademerde.com, YouTube, 2010, www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNGDa6Xpu_0.
“Habitat Loss.” American Bird Conservancy, abcbirds.org/threat/habitat/.
King, David, and Deborah Finch. “The Effects of Climate Change on Terrestrial Birds of North America.” The Effects of Climate Change on Terrestrial Birds of North America | Climate Change Resource Center, 2013, www.fs.usda.gov/ccrc/topics/wildlife/birds.
LOC. “Complete National Film Registry Listing : Film Registry : National Film Preservation Board : Programs at the Library of Congress : Library of Congress.” The Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/programs/national-film-preservation-board/film-registry/complete-national-film-registry-listing/.
Mason, Fergus. The True Story Behind Alfred Hitchcock's the Birds. CreateSpace Publishing, 2014.
Maunder, Andrew. The Facts on File Companion to the British Short Story. Facts On File, 2007.
Moral, Tony Lee. The Making of Hitchcock's The Birds. Kamera Books, 2015.
Paglia, Camille. The Birds. BFI, 2009.
Stymacks, Amelia. “Why Ravens and Crows Are Earth's Smartest Birds.” Ravens, Crows, Parrots, and More-Meet the Most Intelligent Birds, 26 Mar. 2018, www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2018/03/year-of-the-bird-brains-intelligence-smarts/.
