Going into the bedroom
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — The Birds
craiggors — 12 years ago(April 13, 2013 01:02 AM)
I just can't get past this. There was no reason for Melanie to go into the bedroom at the end. None at all. So she heard some flapping. Obviously a bird had gotten in, so, hey, probably not a good idea to go in there right now. Apparently Tippi Hedren even pointed this out to Hitchcock and asked why her character would ever do that and he just said "Because I told you to." Weak storytelling.
Does this bother anyone else? For me, it's why I hate the ending. Not because of the ambiguity and the continuation of suspense and sense of dread when they drive off, but because this decision to have Melanie go upstairs so was illogical and pulled me from the world of the film. -
holchie — 12 years ago(April 18, 2013 04:43 PM)
It didn't ruin the movie for me, but I agree with you about the whole scene in the bedroom. It's kind of like in spooky movies when there is a monstrous killer on the loose breaking into houses and someone is alone at home and hears a noise in the basement and goes to see what it is.
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kniesers — 12 years ago(June 26, 2013 03:51 AM)
There is a lot of illogical behavior in this, but going into the bedroom is the most ridiculous. I suppose if the characters had all gone into a bathroom, windowless cellar, etc, it would have been a boring movie.
I couldn't see a teacher sending all the kids out to be attacked. Again, the drama/horror would be lost if she had corralled them all into a safe room, or escorted them one by one to Melanie's car for a ride home, or called their parents and asked what they would prefer. Sending them out with the only instruction of "run down the hill!" ?! -
Stevicus-2 — 10 years ago(May 23, 2015 06:53 AM)
Before filming the final attack scene when Melanie goes upstairs, Tippi Hedren asked Alfred Hitchcock , "Hitch, why would I do this?" Hitchcock's response was, "Because I tell you to."
Well, at least he didn't say "It's just a movie!"
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oknar1977 — 11 years ago(September 04, 2014 12:50 PM)
Maybe she went to check if the birds are running aloose at the first floor and maybe she could alarm Mitch if she saw a broken parts that needs to be fixed? She didn't know if that is so, so that's why she didn't wake up Mitch.
This is the only explanation that is rational to me, why she went inside. -
leekingswood — 11 years ago(October 25, 2014 04:39 PM)
Even though she clearly heard wings flapping, and thus the reason she went up there in the first place??
Terrible script writing/directing. Yet another reason to dislike the movie, and quite honestly, the overrated director. -
Adler-99 — 11 years ago(October 25, 2014 05:03 PM)
It's a typical horror movie trope a character going somewhere he/she shouldn't, while the audience is thinking or saying, "NO, DON'T GO IN THERE!"
Of course it doesn't make sense. Going in the bedroom in "The Birds," going in the attic/basement/shed/whatever in other horror movies. -
InherentlyYours — 10 years ago(May 28, 2015 09:24 PM)
'Even though she clearly heard wings flapping, and thus the reason she went up there in the first place??'
You are assuming she 'clearly' heard wings flapping. To her, from the distance she was, it sounded like noise, not necessarily wings flapping. When she entered the room she didn't know there would be 200 birds there, or she would be not have entered. It was not terrible directing/ writing.
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film-collector — 11 years ago(February 13, 2015 02:31 PM)
This from an idiot who wastes his time wondering if Neil Patrick Harris is a top or bottom. Time to get off the govt. dime and educate yourself.
In the frozen land of Nador they were forced to eat Robins minstrels. And there was much rejoicing.
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ShooShooFontana — 10 years ago(April 14, 2015 02:50 AM)
It bothered me but what bothered me more was that she never once screamed! Hello?!?! You're getting attacked by a roomful of birds and the only peep you make is a little moaning? I would think anyone in that situation would scream involuntarily; I know I wouldn't be able to NOT scream! I guess it didn't fit the plot (i.e. if Mitch had heard her and rescued her sooner they wouldn't have needed to leave in order to get her to a hospital).
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miosotide — 10 years ago(June 01, 2015 01:44 PM)
Her behavior is completely in character. In the first twenty minutes she is shown to be a risk taker and assertive; she went along with Mitch thinking she was a shop girl, she gets her father's employee to track down Mitch's identity, she buys the love birds and decides to drive to Bodega Bay to deliver them, she gets the postman and the schoolteacher to reveal details about the Brenner's, she can handle an out board motor with lan, she doesn't hesitate entering the Brenner's home, and she drives a remarkable Aston Martin. Just the type to investigate a strange sound.
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Beau_Buffet — 10 years ago(March 03, 2016 07:32 PM)
It was a form of self-sacrifice.
"
Evan Hunter, the film's screenwriter, has expressed his understanding that when Melanie enters the attic, it is an act of self-sacrifice
".
https://goo.gl/bhV5WO
I guess she started to believe the mother, in the restaurant, who was yelling that it was all Melanie's fault. -
ztmillers-2 — 9 years ago(October 28, 2016 07:19 PM)
^My thoughts as well. Guilt is a common motivator in Hitchcock's films, after all. Melanie pursues Mitch into Bodega Bay because she feels marked by her history as a spoiled prankster and wants to prove to herself that she isn't that girl. I also thought that the mother's rantings in the restaurant must have had an effect on Melanie, like a darker version of Mitch tormenting Melanie when they first meet in the birdshop. Melanie goes into the bedroom aware that something could be there, but feeling that if she can take care of it on her own she has paid for her sins, both as a prankster and the cause of the harm she feels she's brought on the Brenners.
Half-Blood 15
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