One of the reasons this is able to happen is because modern Western capitalist society is geared towards making money with the ability to be a consumer seen as a key to social status. Roach who has her own struggle with Parkinson’s to contend with. The only person in the film who shows understanding towards Amelia is her elderly neighbor Mrs. Institutions (the police and child services in this film) are disapproving and seek to place blame, relatives take the ‘pull yourself together’ approach and stay distant. A vulnerable person develops mental illness and the wider society is unwilling to help. The Babadook is a scary film (some have called it the scariest of the year) because in many ways it is a realistic portrayal of how child abuse happens. Spoiler alert this is why at the end of the film we see that she is keeping the Babadook in the basement and bringing it food every day because you can’t get rid of the Babadook, only keep it under control. Amelia has to learn to compartmentalise her illness and not to let it run her life, her ‘real self’ has to want to be stronger than the Babadook in order to stop it from taking everything she cares about from her. The popup book states that ‘you can’t get rid of the Babadook’ just as you can’t fully get rid of mental illness you can only learn to cope with it. She and her son are isolated, with only each other for company the son’s presence is a constant reminder of the husband’s absence. The husband’s death coincided with the birth of her son. The figure of the Babadook represents mental illness Amelia isn’t coping with the loss of her husband. The Babadook wants Amelia to kill her dog, her son and then kill herself. Samuel is already rambunctious but after he finds a mysterious kids pop-up book called ‘The Babadook’ that gives him nightmares he becomes even more unruly leaving Amelia sleepless and vulnerable as the Babadook slowly starts to step off the page into the real world. The Babadook is the story of a single mother Amelia, played by Essie Davis, who is struggling to come to terms with bringing up her troubled son Samuel alone after the tragic death of her husband in a car accident. 2014 is well and truly over so I thought I would post my belated review of what emerged as the best original horror or the year The Babadook.
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