Can Hitchcock's The Birds Still Fly?

I recently had the opportunity to see Alfred Hitchcock’s 1963 thriller The Birds on the big screen in a theatre.  The anticipation and excitement in the Niagara Square Theatre was palpable despite it being only half full, but I was skeptical.  Initially, I went in expecting a film that wouldn’t hold up to 2016’s standards of an effective thriller, perhaps because my memories of seeing it before and its reputation for bad special effects.  What I found, however is that The Birds holds up to scrutiny fifty-three years after its release because of its old-fashioned special effects and the fact that it still speaks to the collective fear and paranoia at the heart of society’s collective consciousness.

The year 1963 was obviously a time that preceded the cinema of today’s use of CGI to make the impossible possible.  The Birds is painstaking in its manipulation of real birds, puppets and rear-projection to create the illusion of a massive bird attack on the small town of Bodega Bay on the coast of California. 

The problem with CGI in today’s cinema is that it takes the life and soul out of many films in its attempt to create a seamless depiction of reality.  Episodes one to three of the Star Wars franchise is an example of this claim that an overabundance of computer-generated effects created a world that felt artificial and soulless.  By contrast, episode four to six of the Star Wars films, before its digital makeover, was effective because it used special effects that weren’t added afterwards with computers, but were actually contained in the pro-filmic world of the movies.  Similarly, it is “refreshing” to see a film like The Birds where most of the special effects are achieved through things taking place before the camera.  The effects may be seen as somewhat dated and unrealistic.  There are scenes where it is clear that the birds are puppets or mechanical props.  But the majority of The Birds demonstrates a painstaking realization of real chaos.

The question arises as to why do films like The Birds with seemingly “unrealistic” special effects still manage to shock and terrify their audiences.  I believe the answer to this lies in the psychological investment that the viewer has in such films.  Filmmakers like Hitchcock were great at creating psychological identification with his characters and situations.  By building up character nuances, creating characters that the viewer can be sympathetic towards, and creating a realistic environment and relatable situation in which the characters exist, audiences may be able to look past an assortment of special effects that may, especially by today’s standards, seem quite “fake”.   An example of this would be the scene of the birthday party:  the children and some adults are enjoying themselves on a sunny afternoon when all of a sudden there is a frightening attack from a bunch of seagulls.  Some of the gull attacks look very phony:  a child is seen flailing about on the ground, kicking her legs while an obviously animatronic bird is pecking at her head.  The scene works however, because of our sympathy for children and adults who we had previously seen enjoying themselves.  The situation as well, is one in which we all can identify with and perhaps have participated in in our own lives.

Finally, The Birds speaks to the fear and paranoia in society’s outlook, then and now.  At the time of its release, there was a widespread fear of nuclear annihilation and catastrophe.  The film spoke to this underlying anxiety in its presentation of a modern day apocalypse.  From today’s perspective, the film still works in this regard.  We in Western society are still presented with a collective fear and paranoia at the constant threat of terrorism, global warming, police brutality, and war.  Thus, The Birds still is effective at speaking to our collective anxieties as a culture. 

The film is an allusion to the age-old philosophical theme of man versus nature (sometimes referred to the conflict between man and his environment).  In our culture’s collective consciousness and unconsciousness there is a pervasive fear of what our untamed, natural, and base surroundings can inflict upon us if we are not careful, prepared or respectful.  Perhaps the birds attacks in The Birds are a way to comment on the threat of our environment and natural world if we do not show respect or are constantly ignorant of things such as pollution, global warming and a lack of consideration towards our environment.

The Birds still works today for a variety of reasons.  With its special effects and commentary on society it is a film emblematic of a time in film history when filmmakers didn’t resort to a constant bombardment of thrills, gratuitous CGI, or vapid, two-dimensional commentary on society.  The Birds still resonates with viewers fifty-three years after its initial release.