The Birds
This Alfred Hitchcock classic is a thriller where birds launch an all-out assault on people in a small coastal California town. It starts off with flocks of birds swarming the town, and residents wondering why the birds are acting strangely, and aggressively towards people.
At some point, a woman points out that birds probably have a good reason to act differently. “Birds are not aggressive creatures… they bring beauty to the world,” the woman says. “It is mankind, rather, who insists upon making it difficult for life to exist upon this planet.”
This movie was partially inspired by a real-life event: In the early 1960s, a toxic algal bloom poisoned sea birds and made them act strange, ABC News reported in 2011. These blooms are actually becoming more common, especially in fresh water systems, according to NRDC. The toxic blooms kill fish, hurt marine animals, and can even poison people. Some of the toxins in algae blooms attack the central nervous system and can also cause stomach issues.
