It's easy to get lost in a film. It's easy to fully immerse yourself in the plot, feeling horror and joy alongside the characters. However, it is important to look beyond the screen when analyzing a film. Someone created what audiences see on screen, and sometimes it's important to ask why a movie looks or sounds the way it does. There are no accidents in the cinema; every aspect is carefully placed by the filmmakers. In most cases, the people behind the creation of a film are men. Therefore, a film is not a projection of what reality is, a film is the creator's vision of reality. With feminist film theory, one can analyze how a film's female characters are treated while recognizing that those who created the female characters and their stories are men. Hitchcock's films The Birds and Vertigo both show how men can create stories in film specifically to punish women they view as unruly or deviant. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay The Birds, while following a mostly female cast, is a film about men. Men invade the entire film, both on screen and behind the camera. The film's female protagonist, Melanie Daniels, and the film's two women, Lydia Brenner and Annie Hayworth, are all consumed by the main male character, Mitch Brenner. Melanie falls in love with Mitch during the film and she pursues him throughout the film. Lydia, Mitch's mother, clings to Mitch as the last male figure in their household after the death of her husband. She is afraid of being abandoned and surrounds her whole life around Mitch and, therefore, the women around her. She begins to despise the women who Mitch is attracted to out of fear and jealousy. Annie Hayworth, a teacher, is one of Mitch's ex-lovers. She moved from San Francisco to Mitch's hometown only because she couldn't stand being away from him, even when they were no longer romantically involved. Throughout the first half of the film, this conflict between the three women over the male protagonist dominates the screen. This shows how important Mitch is, even off-screen. However, the filmmaker's male presence in the film is far more prominent, and this is best seen through the treatment of the leading lady, Melanie Daniels. Melanie is playful and deceitful, and the first scene of the film shows the audience this as she directs Mitch around the store, posing as a bird seller but knowing nothing at all about birds. Her confidence in her lie is shaken when Mitch asks to see one of the birds, which she reaches inside the cage and fumbles embarrassingly. Mitch, throughout the encounter, never loses his composure. Melanie's punishment for trying to show her power over a man by playfully cheating on him is quickly punished by the men behind the camera, and this only foreshadows what is to come later in the film. Melanie, now intrigued and attracted to Mitch, buys both. lovebirds he asked for in the store with the intention of delivering them as a prank. This leads her to the film's main setting, Bodega Bay. Her whole plan to deliver them goes well, and she's cool and collected the whole time. We follow Melanie's point of view, watching from her point of view as Mitch races to find who delivered the birds. At this moment, Mélanie wins a small victory. They both find themselves on the docks, Mélanie with a smileconfident and cunning, which is quickly replaced by shock when a seagull flies by and pokes its head at him. This small moment of power in the hands of a female character is swept away in an instant, replaced by the status quo, as Mitch takes the injured damsel back to a restaurant to have her head checked. The action intensifies as the audience learns more. on birds. They are violent creatures with no explanation for their attacks. Truth be told, it's not necessary, and in the end, it didn't even have to be birds. The birds, through the lens of Melanie and her suffering, are merely the tool by which the filmmakers punish its female protagonist. As the film progresses, the main character becomes much more active, fighting birds and playing the "male role" of protecting the women in his life: his lover, his mother, and his sister. The house is locked and birds attack the house, leaving all the female characters in a state of panic and shock. Unsurprisingly, the male protagonist doesn't hesitate to take action by fixing up a boarding house after the house. It is after the attack that the filmmaker's punishment finally takes place. Melanie hears the flapping of birds' wings and investigates, leading her to the attic where the birds have broken through the roof. Before she can react properly, the birds are upon her. The scene is framed in an erotic and vicious way, with images of her being attacked by birds, cut up and bleeding, with the sounds of her moaning and calling Mitch's name nearby. For the remainder of the film, Melanie's previously witty and compelling character is regressed to a doe-eyed, voiceless character struck by the trauma of the event. The filmmakers rightly punished Melanie and put her where they think she belongs. This trend of a deceptive female character being "put in her place" doesn't just happen in The Birds. The female lead in Vertigo gets the same treatment. In Vertigo, the main female character, Judy Barton, disguises herself as Madeleine Elster in order to help Gavin Elster murder his real wife. Gavin wants to make it look like a suicide and he decides to trick retired detective John Ferguson (or Scotty) into witnessing his untimely demise. Judy, disguised as Madeleine, and Gavin convince Scotty that Madeleine's great-grandmother is possessing her and causing her to commit suicide. After following Judy for some time, he becomes convinced of the story and eventually falls in love with her. As the hour of murder has come, Judy runs up the stairs leading to the church tower. Scotty, feeling dizzy due to his acrophobia, is stopped in his tracks, and can only watch in horror as Madeleine (the real one) falls from the top of the tower. After her death, he is obsessed with her, and stops Judy, now out of her disguise, in the streets. He convinces her to have dinner with him because she looks so much like Madeleine. He begins to change parts of her appearance – her clothes, her shoes, her hair – in order to make her look more like Madeleine. It wasn't until Judy put on a piece of jewelry that Scotty knew Madeleine owned that he began to understand Judy's plans. He forces her to drive with him to the clock tower where the real Madeleine died, making Judy relive those same events. At the top of the clock tower, Judy confesses everything, but at the last minute she falls in the same way as the real Madeline when she is frightened by a nun also appearing in the clock tower. His death marks the end of the film. The audience sees Scotty looking over the ledge, the nun rings the church bell, and the Paramount logo appears on the screen. Death is important to Hitchcock, but with the death of., 2005.