The 2018 horror thriller film Bird Box, directed by Susanne Bier, centers around an unseen presence that drives anyone who looks at it to quickly commit suicide. The film follows a woman named Malorie as she flees with two young children down a river in hopes of finding a safe community isolated from the deadly phenomenon. Throughout their journey, they must blindfold themselves to avoid glimpsing the supernatural entity that stalks them. The nature of this deadly creature is left ambiguous, leading many viewers to speculate about what it could symbolize. Here are some key questions and analysis about the possible meaning behind the unseen monster:
What are some clues about the creature’s nature?
– It drives people who see it to immediately die by suicide, implying some profound psychic or existential impact on the viewer.
– Animals can sense its presence and become agitated or dangerous, suggesting it has a tangible impact on the physical world.
– It seems to spread rapidly around the world, indicating an uncontained, viral-like proliferation.
– Some characters describe it as bringing about the “end of humanity,” evoking biblical-style apocalyptic themes.
What theories have fans proposed about its meaning?
Some popular theories put forth by fans include:
– Depression/Mental illness – The creature makes people lose the will to live, paralleling the darkest thoughts of depression and emotional despair. Blindfolding oneself to escape it mirrors the idea of ignoring or not looking directly at one’s own negative thoughts.
– Climate change – The inexorable encroachment of the entity and its catastrophic global impact are metaphorical for the climate crisis destroying human civilization. Not “looking” at climate change allows some to deny it even as it wreaks havoc.
– Social media/Information overload – The saturation of digital stimuli and conspiracy theories spreads rapidly online, causing some susceptible people to descend into chaos. Avoiding the monster represents the need to occasionally unplug from media overload.
– Political partisanship – Extreme political polarization tears loved ones apart as they fall prey to disinformation or hateful ideologies. The blindfolds shield people from corrosive rhetorical manipulation.
– Death/Existential dread – The creature embodies the intrinsic horror of human mortality. Viewing it induces suicidal despair, but those who refuse to confront their inevitable death can persevere.
What statements from the director and writer support these ideas?
In interviews, director Susanne Bier and writer Eric Heisserer have hinted at the creature’s symbolic significance along these lines:
– Bier described it as “the force of negativity” that can consume people. This supports notions of depression, climate despair, information overload, and political animosity as negativity phenomena.
– Heisserer noted the story was partly inspired by incidents of parents murdering their children and said the monster brings out one’s “worst fears, greatest loss, [and] deepest sorrow.” This evokes themes of mental illness, climate disaster, societal breakdown, and existential angst over death.
– Bier highlighted Malorie’s backstory of losing her sister to suicide years before, suggesting the theme of depression.
– Both Bier and Heisserer made comparisons to social media addiction and political polarization in society.
Analysis of Thematic Theories
Now let’s dive deeper into analysis of each major thematic proposal for the unseen entity’s meaning:
Depression and Mental Illness
This theory holds weight given the clearly suicidal reactions of people who view the creature. Losing the will to live immediately after encountering the entity mirrors the onset of severe depression. Avoiding looking at it represents the maladaptive tendency to suppress negative emotions and harmful thoughts that characterizes mental illness. Malorie’s trauma of losing her sister to suicide years prior also hints that the creature symbolizes such psychological demons. People who heed warning signs and support each other, represented by Malorie and the children in blindfolds, can persevere through such darkness. However, depression often hits those who cannot anticipate it, reflected by victims who suddenly take their own lives without warning. Just as society stigmatizes and fails to grapple with mental health issues, characters struggle to even comprehend the inexplicable plague.
Climate Change and Apocalyptic Threats
The global scale and catastrophic impact of this invisible phenomenon mirrors themes of climate armageddon and humanity’s self-destruction through environmental exploitation. Those who acknowledge the reality of human-caused ecological breakdown must band together like Malorie and the children fleeing blindly down the river. The blindness represents how much of society closes its eyes to the coming climate devastation, preferring blissful ignorance over confronting harsh truths. Like the suicidal victims, climate change deniers find the truth too much to bear, so they continue to look away even as the evidence mounts against them. The creatures’ mysterious viral spread evokes the unstoppable advance of rising sea levels, runaway carbon emissions, mass extinctions, and all the interconnected consequences of climate change that civilization has set in motion. Just as Malorie desperately seeks sanctuary, our only hope may be to salvage remnants of humanity if we act now to build climate havens. But the narrowly avoided fate of the creatures catching Malorie at the end may symbolize it being too late.
Information Overload and Social Media
The addictive and anxiety-inducing nature of digital media overload mirrors the way the creature drives its viewers to insanity and suicide. In today’s digitally saturated world, more people than ever suffer from depression and attention disorders, suggesting information and social media addiction may erode mental health much like the fictional phenomenon. The compulsion to constantly check notifications and feeds, regardless of the content, parallels the compulsion to look at the entity even knowing it will destroy you. Its rapid spread symbolizes how viral misinformation and sensationalism dominate the Internet, pulling people into polarized camps like those taking their own lives in Bird Box. Malorie’s blindfold represents practices like digital detoxing, Internet moderation, and fact-checking as ways to cope with toxic information contagions. But avoiding sensory overload entirely proves increasingly impossible in modern society, just as Malorie and the children cannot live in blindness forever.
Political Tribalism and Partisanship
The way the entity divides society into Blindfolds versus sufferers/suicides mirrors political polarization. In recent years, allegiance to partisan identities has risen to cult-like fervor, with families torn apart and extremism leading to violence or depression. Social media echo chambers and partisan cable news profit off stoking hatred, anxiety, and disinformation about the “other side.” This breeds an addiction to outrage similar to the compulsion to gaze at the entity even if it kills you. Those who see the other party as literal enemies imperiling the country may feel driven to desperate acts, much like the creature’s victims. Maintaining relationships requires willfully ignoring hostile partisan rhetoric, symbolized by the blindfolds. But when Malorie considers leaving the children behind to reach safety, it shows how collective survival requires suspending personal political views for the greater good ??? a necessity made harder when everyone sees the situation differently.
Existential Dread and Death
The entity evokes unavoidable mortality itself ??? looking at it induces suicidal despair, driving home the fleeting fragility of human existence. Its shadowy invisibility speaks to the unknowable mystery of what lies beyond death. The characters’ desperate flight down the treacherous river symbolizes human life, with people tumbling blindly toward the grave while trying to blot out thoughts of their inevitable end. Those who lose faith in finding meaning amidst their sufferings hurry their demise like the suicide victims, whereas Malorie perseveres in protecting life and future generations. Her seeking refuge represents the quest for purpose that wards off existential dread. But the story’s ambiguous ending hints that safety from our own mortality may prove elusive. The will to move forward in darkness parallels how existential philosophers urge living passionately without illusions, even if we cannot see where we are heading.
Conclusion
The metaphysical monster in Bird Box defies singular interpretation, provoking fans to construct diverse symbolic explanations. Its sheer mystery speaks to the openness of great horror narratives to widely resonant interpretations. Just as classic stories like Frankenstein and The Invisible Man evoke universal themes through their human-made monsters, the unseen entity in Bird Box taps into many of humanity’s deepest fears. Depression, climate catastrophe, information disorders, political strife, and existential angst all find compelling expression through this apocalyptic threat that strikes utter despair in those who confront its gaze. Ultimately, the creature symbolizes the timeless struggle to find meaning and forge human connections amidst forces beyond our control that wait to extinguish life and hope. Malorie’s desperate journey down the river represents our shared quest to build a future worth living even as threats beyond our comprehension darkened the horizon.