As the crows lay stagnant on the playset, children begin to run away from the school house under the advisement of their teacher, causing the birds to follow in hot pursuit of the children. The movie involved stronger features in its literary elements including plot, characters, and setting. As the film produced substantial differences in both the characters and setting revealed in the short story. A major distinction between the two works is in the characters.
In the film, the main characters are Melanie Daniels and Mitch Brenner, who stay together in the town Bodega Bay with a majority of their time spent in Mitch’s mother’s home during the attacks on the city. While in the story, the main character is Nat Hocken who focused on protecting his family and home during the Kamikaze attacks from the birds. An additional literary element that generated an impact larger in the film was the setting. The film took place in the small town of Bodega Bay while the story took place in a small town outside of London.
In the seminal film and short story, “The Birds”, the film conveyed a deeper and stronger meaning in comparison to the story using setting, characters and plot. Throughout both of these works, the story and film, the literary element of setting in the film stands out as a prominent one. The setting of the film took place in both a city scene, San Francisco and a rural, Bodega Bay, about 66 miles from San Francisco. Along with being in a different location, the film takes place about 20 years after the story.
The setting in the film allowed for a different set of events to occur, such as the birthday party or school yard due to the time and place in which the story unraveled. For instance, in the very rural area that Nat and his family lived in, it would have been impossible to get a scene with such intensity like the one containing the schoolhouse. The problem with the setting in the story is how small of a town and population the rural area had. Although the film had a great setting, the story should not be totally disregarded.
The story had advantages as the family began to batten down the hatches to their home, no one believed them as Nat vocalized that the birds were attacking. No one believed Nat due to the lack of individuals that happened to see the attack, improving the impact of the stories setting in relation to the film’s. If the story had intended to make a mark on the setting, it stuttered while the film exceeded in an exciting fashion. The setting in the film allowed for the story to come to life in a way that was unexpected after reading the story.
Ultimately, the setting featured in the film was clearly one that left a stronger impact on the reader or viewer. In both the film and story, plot played a major role in the impact that the story held. The biggest distinction between the story and film is that the film begins with Melanie Daniels helping a man, Mitch Brenner finds a bird for his sister’s birthday. Their relationship blossomed and as Mitch headed north to Bodega Bay, Melanie followed, accompanied by lovebirds that she planned to give to Mitch’s sister.
Mitch and Melanie, were very surprised by the erratic behavior of the birds in Bodega Bay. As the birds began to plummet down on the residents of this small town, Mitch began to batten down the hatches and prepare for the attacks to follow. The short story, had a very well thought out plot with very pronounced scenes. The short story starts with a man, Nat Hocken, living in a small town outside of London. As the short story begins to unravel, he begins to notice that the birds around the town had been acting differently in the days leading up to the first bird attack.
Following the bird attack, Nat began to fortify his home to protect both him and his family. Both of these works had the plot, ending with the parties protecting themselves in their homes after creating a safeguard against the birds. Although both of these stories had very similar plots, the film created a stronger impact due to both Melanie Daniels and Mitch Brenner meeting only a few days prior to the attacks on Bodega Bay. The final literary element that added a large impact to the film was the setting.
In the film, the setting occurs in both a big city, San Francisco, and a smaller town, Bodega Bay. Having the film take place in Bodega Bay gives the story a sense of isolation due to the lack of population throughout the town. In the story, although, the setting is much more concealed compared to the film. The short story starts with the line, “On December third, the wind changed overnight and it was winter. ” This line was followed by a deeper description of the setting.
For people unaware of the area in which this story occurs, there is information that can apply to areas of Europe, the New England region as well as Northern California in the United States, Du Maurier makes frequent references to London throughout the story. For example, when the wife of the story’s main character, Nat, has been listening to news reports regarding the agitated behavior of the birds “It’s not only here, it’s everywhere. In London, all over the country. Something has changed in the birds.
Nat works on a farm, which hints an area with lots of farmable land. Concluding that this story takes place in a rural area close to London, which creates an eerie and spooky setting due to how often it is foggy in England. Having both the story and film take place in a very secluded small town, it makes the stories turn out very similar. Although the short story presents an improvement over Bodega Bay, the setting in the story suffers due to the association that the reader can have with a well-known place in comparison to a town that we never understood the location.
Throughout the groundbreaking film and movie, “The Birds” and The Birds, three literary elements: setting, plot and characters. These elements create a provoking influence improving the film over the short story. Despite the stories attempts to overcome the film’s ability to succeed in creating an impact in elements including setting, characters and plot, the film created a greater impact in comparison to the stories mediocre impact. Clearly throughout both works, the film shined brighter than the story when it comes to the impact that they unleashed upon the reader/viewer.
