Suspense In Daphne Du Maurier's The Birds

Movies, books, and short stories all create and utilize suspense in many different ways, shapes, and forms. From the tension and worry feeling shown in movies, to foreshadowing about what will happen in literature. Author Daphne du Maurier and filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock both used many ways to create suspense in their takes on the horror story, “The Birds.” However, only one author utilized suspense the best. Between du Maurier’s short story and Hitchcock's film, Hitchcock’s film did a better job of creating and utilizing suspense with the use of the element of sound, camera angles used in scenes, and the emotion shown through the actors/characters. Using the element of sound, Hitchcock's version of The Birds did a great job of creating suspense. For example, there is a scene where one of the main characters, Melanie Daniels, is sitting on a bench outside of the Bodega Bay schoolhouse. …show more content…
An example of this is at Cathy’s birthday party when the seagulls start to attack the attendees of the party and everyone is rushed inside. After everyone gets inside, Mitch and Melanie start talking about the attack. During their conversation Cathy and a friend look up at the two in fear of the birds. The viewer can realize that the situation is very serious and could even lead to something bigger. A final example is the last scene in the movie, everyone is packed in the car and Lydia and Melanie are in the backseat. Melanie is starting to bleed out from a past bird attack and Lydia is showing concern for her. This is suspenseful throughout the film Lydia is shown not to like Melanie and doesn’t seem to care for her at all. This sudden change of emotion makes the viewer ponder Melaine’s well-being because of the sudden change in Lydia’s heart. With the emotion of the actors Hitchcock creates and utilizes suspense in his film The