Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

Optymistyk t1_iwdshzf wrote

I think this was the scariest movie I've ever seen. Or at least that's just how I remember it

25

SP4RK4RT t1_iwedie4 wrote

When the monster is revealed to be the manifestation of mental illness, and you realize the monster doesn't just exist in the "reel" world, but the "real" world, that's when the movie terrified me, and became one of my favorite horror movies.

32

fluency t1_iwfuet1 wrote

It’s not about mental illness, it’s about unprocessed grief and trauma.

12

Bronsteins-Panzerzug t1_iwg5jlq wrote

„It’s not about coughing and sneezing, it’s about catching a cold“

13

fluency t1_iwga66g wrote

Unprocessed grief and trauma are not the same as mental illness, and calling them the cause of mental illness is a gross oversimplification. They can be a cause, but rarely on their own.

10

JohnnyBlaize420 t1_iwh0ztq wrote

It’s about both in a way, her grief turned to hatred of her own child so much so that it developed into her hating regretting and despising her child because he’s all that is left after the loss of her husband, this is why the kid appears extra annoying to us it’s because we see what she sees. At the end she realizes that it’s apart of her for she’ll always miss her husband so she feeds it and keeps it at bay and controls her hate and anger and sadness. Very impactful and beautiful film tbh.

7

Bronsteins-Panzerzug t1_iwgaf39 wrote

They suffer from extreme paranoid delusions lol

1

fluency t1_iwgapkm wrote

Thats one interpretation. Another, perhaps more powerful one, is to view it as a metaphor.

2

Bronsteins-Panzerzug t1_iwgawn1 wrote

…for mental illness

5

fluency t1_iwgb7er wrote

No, a metaphor for unprocessed trauma. The ending where she accepts the Babadook, keeps it in the basement and feeds it, the line «you can’t get rid of the Babadook,» all of it presents as a metaphor for the process of working through trauma and grief. In the end, she accepts the darkness of her trauma as a part of herself.

2

GoddamnJiveTurkey t1_iwgechw wrote

You can’t get rid of it, but you can learn to tame it. And it’ll flare up, act angry, try to take over your life again, but you learn to put it back in that basement time after time.

1

GoddamnJiveTurkey t1_iwge3l4 wrote

Absolutely. The movie was about grief and loss - it wasn’t necessarily a horror movie. I watched it expecting something spooky and got something completely different. People that watched the whole thing and still didn’t get the message make me want to bang my head against a wall.

0

BobTheBogan t1_iwehjks wrote

that and it's just marilyn manson with a huge mouth and a coat

6

goodlittlesquid t1_iwhs36c wrote

The design is actually based off Lon Chaney's London After Midnight

1

gbru015 t1_iwhiuvu wrote

Me too. I don’t know exactly why it scared me so much. I watch a lot of horror and haven’t been actually scared to be in the dark afterwards since I was maybe 12. I was 33 when I saw Babadook and I slept with the lights on for 2 weeks.

1