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The Birds
BFI Film Classics (Related to this series)
- Author
- Camille Paglia
- Narrator
- Gabrielle Glaister
- Publisher
- Bloomsbury Publishing
- Publish Date
- 11 December 2025
- Run Time
- 3 hours
- Format
- Audiobook
- Genre
- Films, cinema
What to expect
Drawing on Daphne du Maurier's short story and contemporary newspaper reports of bird attacks in California, Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds (1963) featured Tippi Hedren in her first starring role. Camille Paglia's compelling study considers the film's aesthetic, technical and mythical qualities, and analyses its depiction of gender and family relations. A film about anxiety, sexual power and the violence of nature, it is quintessential Hitchcock.
Camille Paglia's foreword to this new edition reflects upon the relationship between Hitchcock and his leading lady Hedren in the light of recent debates about male power, female agency and the #MeToo movement.
Critics Review
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The slim book is Paglia at her most discerning, precise, and enjoyable.
Electric Ghost
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Characteristically provocative and engrossing.
The Best American Poetry blog
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Camille Pagilia remains one of the most intellectual and challenging voices in academia and popular culture ... [S]he elevates The Birds up to the position it often gets denied: As a mid-career highlight of one of the world's greatest directors and a piece worthy of critical and intellectual examination.
The Comic Crush
User Reviews
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Details
- Author
- Camille Paglia
- Narrator
- Gabrielle Glaister
- Duration
- 3 hours
- Release Date
- 11 December 2025
- ISBN
- 9781805750987
- Format
- Audiobook
- Publisher
- Bloomsbury Publishing
- Genre
- Films, cinema
Synopsis
Bloomsbury presents The Birds by Camille Paglia, read by Gabrielle Glaister.Drawing on Daphne du Maurier's short story and contemporary newspaper reports of bird attacks in California, Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds (1963) featured Tippi Hedren in her first starring role. Camille Paglia's compelling study considers the film's aesthetic, technical and mythical qualities, and analyses its depiction of gender and family relations. A film about anxiety, sexual power and the violence of nature, it is quintessential Hitchcock.Camille Paglia's foreword to this new edition reflects upon the relationship between Hitchcock and his leading lady Hedren in the light of recent debates about male power, female agency and the #MeToo movement.
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