Reel Disorders - The Babadook (2014)
Following grief and sorrow, us humans engage in numerous coping mechanisms to deal with the pain. Whether it’s popping in a Cure album, watching the same 90′s RomCom, or killing a pint of Ben and Jerry’s, we search for that thing to fill the void.
“Today, I will be a burrito”
But what if you have never dealt with your grief? what if you pushed it aside and hid it deep down, let’s say, in your basement? The Babadook is written and directed by Jennifer Kent and Stars Essie David (Amelia) and Noah Wiseman (Sam) as a family dealing with the turmoil of death and loss. 7 years prior, Sam’s father (Oskar) dies in a car accident while driving a pregnant Amelia to the hospital. As the anniversary of Oskar’s death approaches, a series of stressful events coincide and a menacing entity forms with the goal of destroying the family.
This film is chalk full of metaphor in order to describe the manifestation of stress, anxiety, and sorrow and if we begin to analyze it from a psychological standpoint, we might just understand the frailty of the human psyche. The Babadook it’s self is an outward manifestation of emotion that offers Amelia an escape from her responsibility as a struggling single mother and the grief of losing her husband.
As she never fully dealt with her previous trauma (not speaking about the accident with anyone), she spends her days coasting in life with hopes that it will suddenly get better. However, when intimacy does occur in her life (Sam hugging her too long, attempting to sleep in the same bed as her, the friendliness of a co-worker) Amelia pushes these feelings away in a somewhat self-flagellation enforced by her low self-esteem.
“Plus, kids sometimes kick in their sleep. Who wants that?”
Sam, throughout the film, is designing weapons to fend off monsters. he realizes that his mother deals with her own personal demons and attempts to protect her from being consumed by them in the only way he knows how, physically protecting her. in a climactic scene during the 3rd act, sam tells his shackled mother that he realizes she cannot love him because of her overabundance of grief.
This grief displays in other scenes as well. throughout the film, Amelia massages her right molar as if in pain. In psychology this is referred to as a psychosomatic pain, in which intense emotions can manifest in the body through physical ways. A soldier who mistakenly shoots a civilian may not be able to bend his trigger finger or a survivor of sexual assault may experience pain during intercourse. In Amelia’s case, her right molar corresponds with her being in the passenger seat when the car accident occurred 7 years prior.
“It’s Australia. Everything is Backwards.”
When Amelia ends up killing her dog and finally pulls out her tooth, she no longer has that aching pain. At this moment, she realizes that killing her family will help her avoid the pain further. This is akin to the police reports of homicidal mothers who drown their children in order to release them from their earthy burdens.
Another theme during the film is insects. Bugs will make your skin crawl, will pop up in all sorts of places, and will always leave you with the eerie feeling that they are still on you. This swarming manifestation is similar to anxiety, which leaves an individual with the intense feeling to douse themselves in bug repellant. the hallucination of insects crawling over her body, out of a festering wound in her kitchen, and eventually making up the corporeal form of the Babadook, are all pointing to the creepy crawly anxious feeling we get when insects are near.
“Bleh!! Fuck you Fear Factor!”
But where did the initial red book come from? What dick of a publishing company makes a children’s pop-up guide to murdering your family? Bedtime stories are a common theme throughout the film as Amelia engages in the nighttime ritual with Sam every night. As fairytales are allegories for deeper meanings, the appearance of the Babadook suggests a way for Amelia to release the pain and resentment she feels by allowing an outside entity to “control” her actions. This provides Amelia with two things:
1) If she is being controlled, she does not have to deal with the guilt or responsibility of her actions (killing Sam).
2) By calling him “The Boy” instead of his name, she de-individualizes him, so that killing him will be easier.
“No No. See? It says right here I can murder you. It’s fine.”
The reality; Amelia created the book herself. It is revealed at her niece’s birthday party that Amelia used to be a children’s author, but has not worked recently. We witness Amelia sleep walking and waking in confusion over what she was just doing. And, later on when she reaches the police station and talks about the book appearing on her doorstep, she has dirty fingers stained with what looks like charcoal or ink.
“Just... and art project. Nothing sinister, promise.”
When the Babadook finally possesses her, Amelia engages in the activities that she wishes to do without repercussions. Oversleeping, eating ice cream for dinner, watching TV all night, and sitting in a bathtub full of water while still in her clothes. Her actions now seem to be influenced primarily by her Id (Freud’s concept of juvenile indulgence for immediate satisfaction). It’s when real responsibilities get in the way, such as her hungry child or her employer angry over her absence, that she lashes out violently.
“How can you say this isn’t a balanced meal?!”
Towards the end of the film, Amelia is finally able to confront the Babadook and expel him from her room. In fear, the entity escapes to the one place he still has power, the basement amidst Oskar’s belongings. The movie ends with Sam and Amelia collecting insects and bringing them to the Babadook in order to feed and keep the grief at bay, locked away below the stairs.
“It’s okay Babadook. Maybe one day you’ll become a Wizard!”
According to Amelia’s behaviors, thoughts, and emotional expressions, it is obvious that her previous trauma has deep influences on her present state. This is why Posttraumatic Stress Disorder fits her behaviors best before the possession.
The resentment towards Sam’s father dying, the recurring dreams of the accident, difficulty sleeping, and the feeling of detachment from others are all signs of PTSD. Even the Psychosomatic disorder (right molar causing pain) could have manifested due to her previous trauma.
Of course, If the authorities has arrested Amelia, they would not have believed her Babadook story, and they would have sent her to a padded cell where a long bearded shrink would have asked her why she had a fascination with bug people in black cloaks.
“Can you say a little bit more about your interest in tall, dark, mysterious men?”
If she was indeed hallucinating the whole ordeal, I would also like to tac on some extra diagnoses that might be given to her based upon her psychotic tendencies. Brief Psychotic Disorder can account for the delusions and hallucinations while Borderline Personality Disorder can speak to the angry outbursts, unstable affect, and paranoid ideation.
Overall, a wonderful film that displays the outward manifestation of one family’s grief and the trials of battling that entity in order to save each other.