The Hidden Darkness Inside Us All
The
film that struck me the most in the past couple of weeks was The Babadook. As an active spectator, this film spoke volumes about the
struggles everyone faces when in stages of grief and trying to handle
everything else in their lives.
There is a hidden darkness within everyone and it varies person to
person as to how they deal with that darkness. This film is very important for this generation because
people find other ways to deal with their grief, which includes: violence,
drugs and alcohol, and suicide.
This film is very prevalent in our time and as an active spectator I was
able to apply the pain and struggle that Amelia was going through to my own
experiences. It made me realize
how dangerous it is to bury all the suffering down, something that I am still
struggling with.
The Babadook had a dream-like quality
when it came to shot composition and choices in editing. I found the editing style to be
minimalist and almost jarring. It
made me feel, as a viewer, that I was seeing everything via Amelia’s memory. For example, when Robbie brings her
flowers. Her and Samuel have a
confrontation and he runs away.
Then the film cuts to her walking down the hallway and Robbie is
gone. She is so sucked into her
cage of frustration that she doesn’t even seem to really take in that Robbie
had come by to check in at all.
The dream-like quality continues when we see her rustling around in her
sleep but it is combined with such an odd, whirring sound that it’s as if she
never went to sleep.
One
particular moment of shot composition was the dream of the car crash towards
the beginning of the film. The
music is jarring and ominous; it’s up close and personal. We see her fall into bed and it gives
the viewer a sense of falling down that dark whole of grief that is hard to
climb back out of. Whenever she is
asleep or trying to not fall asleep, the camera gets very close to her face and
it almost makes the viewer want to lean back to get away. It’s a great way to give the impression
that people are uncomfortable with those that are struggling and even feel
inconvenienced by the person struggling.
Amelia’s sister refuses to go to her house, finds Samuel to be a
terrible kid, and is irritated that Amelia is still depressed about her dead
husband after seven years.
This
brings the active viewer to the realization of how important that it is to
understand the importance of empathy and actively being there for someone that
is going through a rough situation.
The film could also be interpreted as how dangerous it is for those
stuck in an abusive household. The
scene where Amelia basically snaps and cuts off the phone line as well as shake
the large knife at Samuel is a real moment for many people in an abusive
relationship. Samuel is cut off
from the world, they are stuck in that dark house, and she has complete control
over him. She makes him take pills
to sleep and then turns around to make him stay up with her so she doesn’t feel
so alone.
Although
the Babadook brings on this behavior, the film can also be interpreted as
Amelia going insane with her grief and snapping after struggling for so
long. There is a short mention at
the birthday party that she used to write children stories and it is quite
possible that in her dark stages of grief that the viewer didn’t see, she could
have made this book to deal with her rage. She doesn’t want to let the pain come in, to fully move on,
but rather to lock it away in the basement. To bury that pain down, deep inside her created this monster
that bubbled up and over her consciousness until she was no longer herself. Of course, this interpretation can be
argued due to certain things happening like her levitating towards Samuel or
when she pukes up a bunch of black substance. But from a pure interpretation point, this is a concept that
an active viewer can experience and relate to.
There
was a strong presence of sound effects in the film that really brought power to
certain moments. One thing that I
noticed was that there was a buzzing, almost like a fly or vibration that
happened whenever she opened the book or when the Babadook was around. It’s this minimal sound that gives such
an intimidation to the viewer because it brings out so much fear of what is
about to happen. Also the music in
general, which is minimal, was almost stress inducing, putting the viewer
emotionally in the shoes of Amelia or Samuel.
Another
element that I interpreted from the film was the danger of isolation. Amelia and Samuel are isolated for the
most of the film in the house.
They are trapped with this depression, a dark grief that is slowly
overcoming them as human beings.
Samuel is struggling to find a happy balance, to be rid of his
fear. He turns this into trying to
create weapons to protect his mom from the darkness that is overtaking
her. He knows that the car
accident was a violent situation that could have easily killed both he and
Amelia. He knows how much it
upsets her when Oskar is brought up or when he gets into his things but at the
same time he is trying to break down these walls because in the end he loves
her and wants her to get past this.
However, Amelia’s tendency of isolation affects Sam. When they are at the birthday party, he
holds onto her until she forces him to go play. He decides to hide away in the tree house because he doesn’t
know what else to do with himself outside of his house, outside of his mother’s
hold.
Everyone
has darkness inside of himself or herself. Along with this darkness comes the technique on how to
handle it. The film, The Babadook, really delves into these
personal issues with close and personal shot compositions and dream-like
cutting between shots. The sound
effects paired with these makes the viewer feel like they are inside of Amelia,
just like the Babadook. As an
active viewer, I understood the interpretations of the gripping strength of
grief and the dangers of pushing it away in order to move on so people around you
don’t feel inconvenienced and push you farther away when all you need is a
loving hand to help you through. I
realized that I personally bury my problems because sometimes the pain is too
much and I don’t think people in my life care to keep hearing about it. But we all need to reach out and grasp
our darkness and gain control before it controls us to the point that we don’t
know who we are anymore.
The
values of subversive and challenging cinema are that it wakes people up. When I first saw film that wasn’t the
money-making-formulaic blockbuster, I realized how much a film gives a viewer. My mind expanded and I felt inspired to
find these films that challenged my preconceptions and to open my eyes to the
stories that aren’t told in major theaters. These films are important in
keeping the cinematic experience alive.
Art isn’t about entertainment; it’s about the ever-growing human
experience.
I
have noticed that these challenging films are getting more attention, starting
on the indie circuit or pay per view.
People are starting to get bored with the same old story told over and
over again. We are seeing this in
television with shows like Breaking Bad and Girls. People are becoming more open to changing it up and learning
something new, which I find to be a generational thing. The only issue is that with this change
towards a new form of storytelling, we can easily fall into the pattern of repeating
that process, which may happen with the new show Better Call Saul. We are moving forward, but we must be
sure to keep moving forward and not become stagnant. This industry is ever growing but it also can kill off
talent that could change the future.
Deal with the darkness, the hypocrisy, the fear of the future and we can
all move forward.
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