The BIRDS

The BIRDS
   Film (1963). Universal. Dir Alfred Hitchcock, starring Rod Taylor, Tippi Hedren, Jessica Tandy, Suzanne Pleshette. Screenplay Evan HUNTER, based on "The Birds" (1952) by Daphne DU MAURIER. 119 mins. Colour.
   Ordinary birds in a small seaside town suddenly and without explanation launch a series of murderous attacks on people. The appearance of menace out of a clear sky is paralleled, symbolically, by the eruption of strong feeling in the too-perfectly groomed heroine of the Freudian love story that runs through the film. It is the arrival of this woman which apparently precipitates the bird attacks, and she herself is later imaged as a bird in a cage. The attacks are set-pieces, and carry considerable conviction, achieved with skilled editing and through use of a combination of real birds, models and process work by the veteran animator Ub Iwerks (1900-1971), an early colleague of Walt Disney and co-creator of Mickey Mouse. Although very much more sophisticated than usual, this famous film belongs formally and classically to the MONSTER-MOVIE genre, where the fragility of human hegemony over Nature and the world is conventionally imaged by a tranquil landscape ravaged without warning by some monstrous, inexplicable fury. The film is not strictly sf, since interestingly it neither seeks nor provides any rational explanation for its furies in terms of scientific meddling, atomic radiation or anything else. But not only is its central metaphor of human control vs natural disorder central to sf, historically it was a focal point of the genre as the catalyst for a whole series of revenge-of-Nature films over the next two decades.
   PN
   See also: CINEMA.

Science Fiction and Fantasy Encyclopedia. . 2011.

Игры ⚽ Нужно сделать НИР?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • The Birds — may refer to: * The Birds (play), by Aristophanes * The Birds (story), by Daphne du Maurier * The Birds (film), directed by Alfred Hitchcock *The Birds (band), British * The Birds , by Ottorino Respighi * The Birds (musical), a play by David… …   Wikipedia

  • The Birds — bezeichnet: Die Vögel (Film), ein Spielfilm von Alfred Hitchcock aus dem Jahr 1963 The Birds (Japanische Band), eine japanische Band The Birds (Britische Band), eine britische Band der 1960er Jahre Diese Seite ist eine Begriffsklärung …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • The Birds —  Ne doit pas être confondu avec The Byrds. Pour les articles homonymes, voir Bird et Les Oiseaux. The Birds est un groupe de rock/rhythm and blues anglais formé à Londres en 1964 et dissous en 1967. Durant leur brève carrière, les Birds ne… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • The Birds (play) — The Birds Rider and birds Laconian calyx ca. 540 B.C. The Dramatis Personae in ancient comedy depends on interpretation of textual evidence.[1] This list is developed from D.Barrett s translation.[2 …   Wikipedia

  • The Birds (film) — The Birds Theatrical release poster Directed by Alfred Hitchcock Produced by …   Wikipedia

  • The birds and the bees — (sometimes expanded to the birds, the bees and the butterflies or the birds, the bees, the flowers, and the trees ) is an idiomatic expression which refers to courtship and sex, and is usually used in reference to teaching someone, often a young… …   Wikipedia

  • The Birds of Australia — (deutsch Die Vögel Australiens) ist ein Werk von John Gould, das in sieben Bänden zwischen 1840 und 1848 veröffentlicht wurde. Es war die erste Gesamtbetrachtung der Vögel von Australien und beinhaltete Beschreibungen von 681 Arten. 328 von… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • The Birds and the Bees (disambiguation) — The birds and the bees is an idiomatic expression that refers to courtship and sex.The Birds and the Bees may also refer to:* The Birds and the Bees (film), a 1956 remake of The Lady Eve ** (The Same Thing Happens with) The Birds and the Bees , a …   Wikipedia

  • The Birds of the Western Palearctic — [Its full title is Handbook of the Birds of Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa: The Birds of the Western Palearctic ] (often referred to by its initials BWP ) is a nine volume ornithological handbook covering the birds of the western… …   Wikipedia

  • The Language of the Birds — is a Russian fairy tale.ynopsisA merchant s son, Ivan, wanted to learn the language of the birds. One day while hunting, he saw four chicks about to be swamped by a storm, and sheltered them with his kaftan. When the mother bird returned, she, in …   Wikipedia

  • The Birds of Australia — was a book written by John Gould and published in seven volumes between 1840 and 1848. It was the first comprehensive survey of the birds of Australia and included descriptions of 681 species, 328 of which were new to science and were first… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”