WEAPONS SPOILERS
Very very loose weapons analogy but if you squint this film is about school shootings and those that profit off of it. I’ll mention the points below, however one I understand Alex in the film is kind and a deeply sympathetic child and I did understand the actual narrative of this in no way am I saying Alex is evil etc.. secondly this obviously covers sensitive topics I have tried to be as eloquent as I can however I apologise if I miss speak. And thirdly DO NOT read this if you DO NOT WANT SPOILERS.
All the kids go missing from class except one aka the shooter if you are applying this narrative, the remaining kid, Alex, was bullied by the other children before they disappeared. A sometimes common trait or defence used for school shooters is that they were bullied by other children, quiet, had limited friends etc. In addition, some school shooters also target their parents and/or siblings first before making their way down to the school and Alex’s parents were the first to be used as conduits/ puppets.
Alex is the main focus of sympathy in the town as well and not the young teacher Justine, she is demonised and scrutinised by the parents and the papers, they are convinced she said something to the kids, is hiding information and cannot do her job properly. When reports of mass school shootings have been published it is not uncommon to see excuses/defences of the perpetrators and for teachers to be criticised for not doing ‘enough’ or ‘seeing the signs’ and not the actual shooter themselves.
The film is literally called weapons (however it could be argued the tools used in witchcraft are ‘weapons’ in this case) and when Archer has the dream about his son above the house is a MASSIVE RIFLE.
Now as we see in the film Alex is not the perpetrator of this kidnapping it’s his ‘Aunt’ aka the Parasite. At this point you can discard the theory a little bit however I saw this as the film showed itself to me, Alex himself is almost as much of a vessel as his parents and is being influenced by an older outside force.
Btw just before I make the next point I’m not trying to sympathise with ANYONE who commits atrocities like school shootings in real life however as Alex is sympathetic in the film I tried to look at the bigger picture on what this might tell us as his ‘Aunt Gladys’ is the main antagonist.
Gladys goes from town to town (we all know he’s not his actual aunt right?) to profit off of essentially murder right? And after a large tragedy has taken place and she is ‘found out’ if you like she moves to the next town to I assume repeat the same behaviours exactly like a parasite, does this not draw parallels with mass shootings? A mass tragedy occurs, the shooter is somewhat found out or more occasionally their motives are found out and the media and police try their best to bury a case. But then something similar happens at the next town and others after that.
However I don’t think Gladys is a metaphor for the tragedy of a mass shooting, Gladys instead reminds me of an arms manufacturer or like one of the heads of a weapons company. After all she does hold all the weapons.
We all know by now that the majority of weapons manufacturers will fight tooth and nail in order to keep what makes them rich which is selling more guns and unfortunately as we have seen by profiting off of any type of shooting and community division. These people will spend thousands to campaign against gun control betting innocent lives simultaneously.
I feel people don’t need this explaining as an old saying from republicans and gun manufacturers is well we should just arm the teachers in order to stop school shootings? Well if you feel unsafe in your community you could buy a gun just in case? Therefore more tragedy, more arguing and more profiting.
Is Gladys not creating a scene like this? The kids go missing bar one and she feeds off their lives - aka she’s profiteering off of this. The incident of the missing kids then creates division across the town. Instead of the town working together to find the children they fight amongst themselves and the longer Gladys gets to feed off the children, therefore still profiting off of the situation. The police do not help with the incident and don’t see the incident itself as a massive investigation a year after the tragedy and go about their normal lives when they should be actively investigation AND also get involved as a conduit/ puppets.