The Birds

5 Pages 1319 Words

A Comparison Of The Film Version To The
Original Story Of “The Birds”
Afred Hitchcock’s film adaptation of “The Birds” takes the premise of Daphne Du Maurier’s original story and partially succeeds in creating a work that gives the audience the same sense of suspense and horror that Du Maurier’s original story does. Both work from the premise that normal birds, many types, which one views everyday, could suddenly and unexplainably band together and turn on humans. The sheer number of birds that exist on the earth and the many localities causes the reader to think twice of how it would be if this really happened. Working from this premise is one of the few similarities that Hitchcock and Du Maurier have in common. In comparing Hitchcock’s film version to Du Maurier’s original short story, we shall look at the changes Hitchcock makes in the plot, setting and characters, how the changes affect the audience’s sense of horror, and the expectations one may have of the film after reading the story.
In Du Maurier’s story, the original setting is Southern England. England is known for much rain and cloudy days, so this is usually a good setting for suspenseful stories. Many references are made to the cold. Du Maurier writes, “It was bitter cold,” and “ …the black frost that the east wind brings” (605). The bitter cold helps the reader feel the need for a fire later in the story when the family is shut tight in their house for protection. However, in the film version, the viewer sees that the weather is only slightly cool from the character’s dress and location in Northern California. So the scene where the birds attack the house in the screen version does not give the viewer the urgency for the need of the fire. The change in the characters is drastically different. In the original story, the story is told from the point of view of Nat, the father of a family. In the film the main characters are y...