MovieChat Forums > christomacin
christomacin (4654)
Posts
What should happen when the French admit that Jerry Lewis wasn't funny?
What should happen when they admit the moon is made of green cheese 🧀?
Constitutional Crisis if Biden Dies/Resigns Before Election and PRESIDENT Harris wins?
Waco Parallel?
"The great nations have always acted like gangsters, and the small nations like prostitutes"- Kubrick
Both 1 & 2 were violent, so why is this one so much more repellent?
Bonobo no show?
A glorified Adult Swim episode...
Williams: the most successful career of anyone in cinema history?
Two Minute Black Die Hard Sunday Rollercoaster Warning...
View all posts >
Replies
Heading? It's been on since 2014.
So, my reading of the film was seemingly correct, even if the timing of the Cuban Missile Crisis was coincidental. That being said, the events of 1962 must have made a significant on Hitchcok, as he returned to that very topic a few years later with "Topaz". I had no idea Hitchcock even made those statments. So, thanks for bringing that to light.
Regardless, I think there must be something deeper Hitchcock had in mind with The Birds that isn't discussed a great deal. I mean, the love birds being the only avian creatures that don't attack has to mean SOMETHING. The "it's the end of the world!" segment in the diner is pretty on the nose, surely. The god-like view of the town of Bodega Bay going up in flames is very suggestive, as well. The end of the film with the ray of sunshine peeking through ominous clouds makes a lot more sense when you look at it through the lens of apocalypse and (maybe, if we're lucky) salvation.
It's the only Hitchcock film that doesn't have any logical explanation for it's events, and almost invites such interpretations. Well, perhaps Hitchcock teases us in "Family Plot" as to whether Blanche has psychic abilities, but that's done so tongue in cheek it's hard to take it seriously. Many of noted in other films Hitchcock's sense of guilt, and transferrance of guilt, which probably does have something to do with his upbringing. However, only a handful of Hitchcock films deal with spiritual themes more directly, such as "I Confess" and "The Wrong Man". Maybe we could call those two plus "The Birds" his "Catholic Trilogy"?
P.S. I'm not Catholic or even particularly a believer of any kind of religion at all, but I know Hitchcock was, so I don't think it's unreasonable to look for hints of it in his work, the rare times he let it peek through. This is I why I got so cross with the poster above and said some things I probably shouldn't have been baited into.
No, but he is familiar with a certain green substance.
You forgot Lolita: Humbert, Lolita, and her mother.
I think only Danny from The Shining and Helena from Eyes Wide Shut are truly significant characters as far as Kubrick's themes are concerned.
For what it's worth, Kubrick's household was four people: Kubrick, wife and two daughters.
If this really was a prophecy, it was a truly cruel and false one. I guess back then people were still under the delusion that "good always triumphs", with a nice three act structure and everything all wrapped up with a pretty little ribbon. It doesn't.
Regardless of how one feels about Trump, it's abundantly clear now this is NOT a prophecy. Hollywood fantasies about "good always winning out in the end" always were a lie anyway, so no surprise.
And the fact that Cushing himself was dealing with his wife's death in real life at the time, making it especially poignant.
They had a name for it in the British film industry back then: "Kensington Gore".
How did Magee know Major Rogers had a valuable picture on his wall if he couldn't see?
No. Most normal adults don't by merch from politicians. Cultists, on the other hand....
View all replies >