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Essay / Femininity in Hitchcock's film
Through the perspective of the film, The Birds directed by Alfred Hitchcock raised the issue of femininity. In the opening scene, one of the protagonists Melanie Daniels meets Mitch Brenner. We deduce that he is a rich man who lives on the other side of the bay. While Mitch was in San Francisco searching for the Love Birds for his sister Cathy, this could be an analogy to the instability of female characters that was presented as he describes wanting to give Cathy birds that are not too destructive and which he describes as “friendly”. The film also makes Melanie seem like a figure rather than a person, implying that she must save the woman because she is in trouble. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay Even when Melanie had her running around town to find and introduce the Love Birds to Cathy to surprise Mitch as well. Her desire for him seems to grow as the film progresses. She wanted to make some sort of impression on Mitch. Arriving at the bay, where the film mainly takes place, she asks the postman for information about MIitch. Shas has to run to town to get his information. This leads her to meet schoolteacher Annie Hayworth while Melanie has to find out the name of Mitch's sister since the postman didn't know it. As she asks Annie, she felt like she was there to desire Mitch and a feeling of jealousy arose. She then tells him that Mitch is still a player and Annie describes that a lot of women intrigue Mitch. Later in the film, while Melanie is staying at Annie's house, when Annie mentions that she and Mitch were former lovers, but Mitch's mother, Lydia, was very overprotected after losing her husband and she and Mitch were also former lovers. She claimed she wanted Mitch all to herself. In a conversation between Mélanie and Lydia talk about the myth and the death of her husband. She told Melanie that she was afraid that if Mitch liked another girl, she would abandon him, leaving her even more alone. Mitch's jealousy of women plays an important role in the film. In the article “What is Hitchcock’s The Birds Really About?” Author Megan Burbague presents feminist critic Camille Pagila's statement on the theory of female anger. She proposes that the timing of attacks correlates with female anger. “The first attack occurs when Mélanie enters Cathy and Lydia’s territory, the second when she chooses to spend the night at their house. The main attack took place at the birthday party Melanie is attending, implying that she is not a welcome guest. The subject was that when females had a conflict, the birds attacked. It was the female characters who had the most traumatic reactions to the bird attacks. There was a scene where a woman claims that Melanie is evil, implying that she made the birds crazy, which may resemble female fear and hysteria. It is when Mélanie sacrifices herself that the birds remain calm, thus ending the scene. While the protagonist was involved or near the birds, we notice that Melanie is usually alone or protected from the birds. Examples include when the fire was started and Melanie got stuck in the phone booth, and another scene where she was in Mitch's attic and trapped herself alone as if she needed Mitch. In the article "The Inevitable Endangerment of Femininity in Hitchcock's The Birds" by Matthew Eng describes the envelopment as "Hitchcock and production designer Robert F. Boyle are united in imagining and assemblingtense and claustrophobic spaces in which to confine Mélanie during each scene of the film. climactic attack sequences: the cramped front row of a fully occupied car, as birds swarm the exterior from every angle; the tightly cluttered space of a phone stand, in which Hedren squirms helplessly during one of the film's most ironically macabre sequences. This could suggest showing her worth and wants to see Melaine struggle while waiting for the male protagonist to save her. It's when Melanie sacrifices herself and the lovebirds guide her to where the malicious birds attack her. That’s when the birds stopped attacking. I believe this speaks to the fact that she accepted her role without power, because throughout the film, Melanie was a new adventure for Mitch as he introduced another woman into his life. The way she presented herself as a prankster didn't impress Mitch but as the film progresses he becomes more and more in love with her and what if she needed a man to save her of the punishments she caused. There is also a lot of objectification. women and putting them in their place is in the film Vertigo also directed by Alfred Hitchcock. This is shown when female protagonist Judy Barnes disguises herself as Madeleine Elster in order to help Gavin Estler murder his real wife. This is done by Gavin having a retired detective John Fergeson, others prefer to call him Johnny O and his friends call him Scottie spy on Judy or so (Madeline). While following her, he notices her deliberately jumping into the river and Scottie saves her. She convinces him that she is possessed by her grandmother who also committed suicide. The problem was that Judy and Scottie eventually fell in love with each other and at one point convinced Scottie that she killed herself because of the spirit of Madeleine's grandmother. This was smart of Gavin because Judy was going up to the top of the church and knew that Scottie was afraid of heights and knew he couldn't go up there. Thus making the murder of Gavin's actual suicide public. Gavin also used women for his personal advantage. He used Judy to help him gain his innocence in the public eye by plotting her to have the spirit of Madeline's grandmother rest within her. When in reality he had killed his wife and needed a cover-up. Once it was established that the death was caused by suicide, Gavin then told Scottie that he was running away. Just as Scottie was left to mourn the death of what he knew to be Madeline, he runs into Judy. He sees a resemblance like he did with Madeline and decides to keep her in his life. He becomes rather possessive by making her dress like Melanie and also dye her hair. At one point, Judy comes back from the bathroom with her hair pinned up while pretending to be Melanie. Once he glances at her, he then begins to kiss her and he now begins to get a full picture of Melanie. He then sees Judy wearing a necklace that he knew belonged to Madeleine's grandmother and realizes what Judy's plot was. He then takes her to the church where the real Madeleine was found dead. At the top, Judy then confesses what she did. She then falls as was how Madeline died. Keep in mind: this is just a sample. Get a custom paper now from our expert writers. Get a Custom Essay In the film, this also relies on the case of birds as well as women. have no real sense of empowerment and cannot exist without a man. As shown above, After mourning Madeleine's death, Scottie sees Judy and makes her dress.