Thursday, July 18, 2019

The Birds (1963) pt 3 - Annie Hayworth & Cathy Brenner


On the surface, Annie Hayworth is a former resident of San Francisco. She has since moved to Bodega Bay to be a school teacher, a friend to Lydia Brenner & to remain a former love interest of Mitch.

Though Annie accepted the loss of Mitch’s father ending their romance, she confessed her motives for not simply staying in San Francisco when things with Mitch ended.

I wanted to be near Mitch. Oh, it was over and done with, and I knew it, but... I still wanted to be near him. I still like him a hell of a lot, and I don't want to lose that friendship... ever.

Annie - as symbol for strong, sacrificial platonic friendship deeply desirous of Mitch’s presence - is how Lydia feels about her son. All that Lydia prevented Annie from giving to Mitch is all that Lydia herself would not receive from Mitch.

Annie is the externalized inner-workings of Lydia’s mind while Lydia is incapacitated from taking conscious responsibility for her mental state. One might even rightly view Annie as a fractured personality - in human form - from Lydia’s divided mind.

Another, equally likely scenario is that Annie, like Norman Bates from Psycho, has been completely subjugated in her psychology by Lydia's domineering Mother personality.

Our basis for trusting Annie in her role for the unspoken content in Lydia Brenner's heart is the amount of spoken content that Annie parallels in Lydia. For example.

Upon Annie hearing the gift Melanie brings are lovebirds:

Annie:        Oh, pretty. What are they? 
Melanie:     Lovebirds. 
Annie:        ...I see.

Upon Lydia hearing the gift Melanie brings are lovebirds:

Lydia:        You did say birds? 
Melanie:     Yes, lovebirds. 
Lydia:         ...Oh, I see.


Later on, Annie assesses Lydia thus:
Annie:       She's only afraid of being abandoned.

Whereas Lydia, not long after, concurs:
Lydia:       But, you see, l -I don't want to be left alone.


Lydia's appraisal of Mitch...
I still wanted to be near him. I still like him a hell of a lot, and I don't want to lose that friendship... ever.

...seems to be summed up by Lydia later on:
Mitch is important to me.


Hitchcock uses these parallels to establish credibility for what Annie would surmise later on. Consider the following dialogue Annie has with Melanie:

So what's the answer? [regarding Lydia’s aloof behavior] A jealous woman, right? A clinging, possessive mother? Wrong. With all due respect to Oedipus, I don't think that was the case. 

Melanie, citing Lydia’s attitude towards Annie, disagrees:
That adds up to a jealous, possessive woman.

To which Annie - yet again - confirms her assessment of Lydia
No, I don't think so. You see, she's not afraid of losing Mitch. She's only afraid of being abandoned. 

This, from Annie, is what Hitchcock wants us to understand about the core of Lydia, the core of Mother. Once Lydia admits this herself later on in the film, Annie will be killed off, conveniently reinforcing the idea Annie merely expresses about Lydia whatever Lydia will not consciously admit of herself.



But Annie Hayworth is not the only one female in this type of role. Hitchcock also gave us a fractured aspect of Melanie Daniels in human form as well.


Cathy Brenner. Age 11, same age as Melanie when she was abandoned by Mother. It seems most clear that Lydia, even eleven years younger, would’ve been too old to have her.

Cathy deeply wants to connect with grown Melanie Daniels and - above all - cherishes the lovebirds which, as we’ll see, is a symbol for their relationship with Lydia.

This little girl represents what Melanie is to become: daughter (subservient) to Lydia. Mitch even says as much to Melanie at Cathy's birthday party:

You need a mother's care, my child.

Interesting that Mitch should address Melanie as "child" as if to reinforce Melanie Daniels being an eleven year old trapped in a grown woman in need of a Lydia.

Now, with all the key “birds” introduced, let’s begin.





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