Attack #7: Annie is discovered killed after the school attack at 1:13:28.
Lydia, returning home after finding Dan, lies in bed discussing her deceased husband Frank with Melanie. As her seeming concern for Cathy mounts, she confides quite openly about her character shortcomings largely paralleling all that Annie has said of Lydia.
[Lydia Crying] But, you see, l - I don't want to be left alone. I don't think I could bear to be left alone! [Sobbing] Oh, forgive me. Oh, forgive me. This business with the birds has upset me, l... I don't know what I'd do if Mitch weren't here.
This is not confession, but manipulation... of the most skillful kind.
Agreeing to go to sleep, Lydia falls into an unconscious state. Melanie agrees to check on Cathy at school who - for the moment - is the responsibility of Annie's.
With Lydia asleep, her subconscious is yet again unleashed. The last such unleashing resulted in Dan Fawcett's death.
If the Crow represents Lydia's subconscious & Lydia is asleep at the time of the school attack, what bird ought we expect to be at the school?...
No seagulls or sparrows - just crows. This should indicate something more severe as it's coming from the true & unrestrained passions of Lydia's subconscious.
Significance of this attack? Likely three-fold:
1) Lydia admits her flaws to Melanie plainly before going to sleep. This, in the scheme of Mother, is bestowing a new role upon Melanie right before removing that same role from Annie.
2) Retribution. Annie, like a dog biting its master, has betrayed Lydia (see Attack 3). The dead seagull at Annie's door heralded this consequence. Time for Lydia to make good on this threat.
3) Replacement. Knowing the time has come to put Annie down, Mother has decided to replace Annie with Melanie beginning with the first duty Lydia dumped onto Annie: caring for Cathy.
It is reasonable to assume the information Annie shared about Lydia was given to her by Lydia in friendship in precisely the same manner Melanie received the same information during her friendly tea chat with Mother.
Lydia literally sends Melanie to take Cathy from Annie. Note that the bird attack does not occur until Annie has left her school and note Cathy's description of how Annie met her end:
All-All at once the... the birds were everywhere! [Sobbing] All at once she [Annie] pushed me inside... and they covered her!
Not until Cathy was safe did the crows then swarm Annie. From here, Melanie stays very close to Cathy. Almost as if Lydia wanted it so.
Attack #8: Bodega Bay is attacked by birds at 1:24:38.
It's only seagulls attacking the town: an unconscious response to a conscious reaction of Lydia to her public environment.
What then is Lydia reacting to?
Very likely, the attack on Dan Fawcett and the attack on Bodega Bay are two parts of the same attack: Mother's anger against the men of her community.
But whereas Dan's death was more personal and far more severe, the attack on Bodega Bay would be less so & would not make the same point had it occurred during the night.
In this attack, only men are harmed. There is a fatality: a man drops his cigarette onto some gasoline on the ground (which of course turns his car into an immediate fireball) but no bird was involved in him creating the explosion.
And this is a huge clue.
All the men in the restaurant scene, all of whom run out to combat the bird attack, have various forms of contempt for Mother (or birds).
1) There is a bible-quoting drunkard who views the birds (Mother) as the end of the world.
2) Mr Sholes is irritated with birds for their being a nuisance to business. Furthermore, Sholes sees no point in exerting any effort to address them.
3) There is a travelling salesman who despises birds & thinks they should all be destroyed.
4) There’s the male staff who are simply clueless and
5) There’s also an ornithologist who, although a female, is very dispassionate & intellectual - a more stereotypical male quality.
The only man not harmed in the attack was Mitch: the one man Lydia wouldn't have held her grievance against: none of the men of Bodega Bay supported Lydia in her time of emotional need, especially Dan Fawcett.
To make matters worse, rather than providing emotional strength, they dismissed her contemptuously.
Interestingly, in this part of the movie, there is a mother of two small children who at first is on Melanie’s side when Melanie insisted birds attacked the school.
If the young lady said she saw the attack at a school, why don't you believe her?
After the next attack, however, this same mother of two has a different view of Melanie.
Why are they doing this? Why are they doing this? They said when you got here, the whole thing started! [Crying] Who are you? What are you? Where did you come from? I think you're the cause of all this. I think you're evil! Evil!
With a slap, Melanie ends the mother’s rant & it is immediately noted that the attack had ended and the birds were leaving.
Who is this mother of two? And how does she fit in this scheme of things?
This mother clearly represents the women in Bodega Bay. Though this particular woman seems only a visitor, she's clearly involved enough to know the gossip regarding Melanie.
The town attack represents Lydia’s disdain for the emotional contempt of Bodega Bay’s men. In the same manner, Melanie, who has been wrongly judged since the beginning of the movie (starting with Mitch no less) also stands up for herself against such unfair treatment.
So why - exactly - does the attack end with Melanie slapping this judgmental woman?
Lydia, having accomplished her most recent transition of Melanie into Annie's shoes, now sees through Melanie's eyes.
With the men chastised and the representative of the judgment women silenced - the attack ends in accordance with Lydia's approval.
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