Film Theory: What is the Bird Box Monster? (Bird Box Netflix)

Oh! Who even hangs pots and pans from the ceiling? That's so stupid. I just need to cut my sandwich in half- *cutting noise* Uhhh! That's going to leave a mark... Now where are those STAIRS- Oh! *growls in pain* *Makes monkey-like sounds while you can hear various things breaking* Ughh- I found them... Forget about this stupid

monster

, the most dangerous thing in "Bird Box" is the second story... Hello Internet, welcome to Teoría del Cine! Open your eyes to the shocking truths hidden in all your favorite movies. So Netflix is ​​really hitting it out of the park recently, isn't it?

Between the "Choose Your Own Adventure" movie "Bandersnatch" and the "Bird Box" rip-off, which is not "A Quiet Place," there have been a lot of theories that can be binged on the old *Netflix Sound DUN DUNH* AND While "Bandersnatch" may seem like the one that suits me best, considering the video game theme and all, it's actually "Bird Box" that I want to tackle first, especially since the movie had a question that I think we all want answered. :

what

the hell was the

monster

? To catch you up, "Bird Box" follows a group of people trying to survive a global catastrophe in which people are forced to commit suicide after witnessing something.

To survive, you have to keep your eyes closed or wear a blindfold, which leads to these iconic images from the movie and all these other really silly "Bird Box" challenge videos on YouTube... It's a really cool concept. . Just as noise was the dangerous element in "A Quiet Place," sight is

what

gets you killed in "Bird Box." But the frustrating thing about the movie is that you never get to see the monster. It's never made explicitly clear what exactly is driving everyone to this point of madness. So that's my goal today, to use all the clues we see (and don't see) throughout the movie to rip off the blindfold and expose the "Bird Box" monster once and for all.

Let's see what we know. From the first moments it is clear that when most people see whatever they are seeing, they lose control and, within a few seconds, they are looking for the nearest garbage truck to stand in front of, a burning car to get into. , or glass panel to jump. But this effect is not just limited to in-person appearances. Greg, in the highest stakes game of FNAF, watches the security cameras, sees the thing and immediately knocks his own block down. However, it is important to note that this is not true for everyone. About halfway through the movie, Gary told us that there are some people who have seen it and don't immediately go crazy. "These Northwood psychopaths..." "It's a mental institution for the criminally insane." "They took us outside and made us open our eyes so we had to look at the creatures." It seems that all these people are criminals or were already crazy before seeing the thing.

And instead of dying, they are left to worship it, serving as prophets who attempt to deceive or force everyone around them to open their eyes and behold this thing of beauty. So beauty must be in the eyes of the beholder, as these are the pictures Gary draws of the thing after seeing it. The other reactions we're getting from people watching this include: and It's not pure terror, it's just more confusion. And finally, we can deduce that whatever it is has a physical form, considering we see it actively casting shadows and activating a car's proximity sensors in an early scene, but it also has a limited ability to actually interact with the world. , considering he cannot open doors or remove blindfolds himself, but instead depends on his devotees to do the work for him.

So that's a lot of information, but where does that leave us? Well, the movie gives us a list of possible explanations to try in the form of Charlie. "You have world religion, mythology, it is full of mentions of demons or spiritual creatures, which take the form of your worst fears, your deepest sadness or your greatest loss." Except we know that's not true for the "Bird Box" creature, considering the first responses from and Those responses don't scream "Oh, this is my greatest fear!" or "oh, this is the worst loss I've ever experienced!" More like "oh, this is it, huh?" Maybe that one didn't work, but don't worry, Charlie has many more hypotheses that we can test. - mythology.

All different names, but the same: the end of us. Man Charlie, I know it's the end of the world and I know this is all because of your book, but you're even more melodramatic than I am. Many of the entities you just mentioned do not mean the end of us, plus you have lumped together many spiritual things that are very different and all very incorrect for the situation you are currently in, so let's quickly knock on the door. Em off the list one by one. Aka Manah comes from the Zoroastrian faith, one of the oldest religions still practiced today, originating in the Middle East, and according to the "Encyclopedia of Demons in World Religions and Cultures", he is the personification of desire sensual and lust.

He corrupts your morals and it is said that he makes people sit back and watch evil prevail. So if everyone in "Bird Box" was busy doing their "woohoo" in the streets, then maybe he'd be the one working here, but that's clearly not the case and therefore he's clearly not our demon. Surgat is another one he mentions that is also very easy to remove. Coming from Christian occultism, he is known as "he who opens all locks", which speaks directly to his demonic power: the ability to open any lock in the world. This makes him a fantastic Mr.

Beast to possess if you're clumsy with keys, but he's definitely not the culprit in a movie where the entity that's killing everyone is baffled by a simple door handle. Moving on, the Pooka is an Irish mythological creature that shapeshifts into different animals and plays pranks on humans, such as turning into a black horse and taking people on a spooky and terrifying ride, but beyond that, no It seems to be so violent. . Seeing it certainly does not cause immediate death, and there are many stories in which the Pouca actually brings good luck. Another easy elimination, leaving us with the Chinese Huli-Jing, and honestly this one seemed like a good fit... at first.

Huli-Jing are Chinese nine-tailed fox spirits with the ability to shapeshift, often taking the form of a person's dead relatives. They are able to make people believe the opposite of the truth, like a spirit that convinces you to take off your blindfold and see them because they are beautiful and immortal, but that immortality requires them to consume human souls. A lot of things could work here in the case of "Bird Box." It seems like you can make a strong case for them to be our mysterious entity, except here's the problem: they can walk through walls. Well, send another possibility through the shredder.

So Charlie in the movie took a lot of takes and missed all of them. He maybe he should abandon that writing project of his and go back to his previous work. He seems like he had a lot more success there. So now it's my turn and honestly, after observing the various behaviors of the "Bird Box" creature, no explanation can sum it all up. That said, I think we can identify the two traditions that have combined to create the apocalypse we see in "Bird Box." For the first, let's take another look at Gary's photographs. At first glance, these appear to be just a bunch of random creepy images, but upon closer inspection, you can definitely see some key themes emerging.

First, the idea of ​​exploding eyeballs, which is his artistic representation of the pupil fracturing process every time someone sees these entities. So, with those images removed, as well as those of generally scary or screaming faces, this is what we're left with: a bunch of monster images. Let's call them "Horny", "Tentacle Face" and "Elephant Nose". Let's focus on Tentacle Face first. He looks a lot like Davy Jones from "Pirates of the Caribbean," or he looks a lot like a creature one would describe like that. Quote: If you're familiar with your horror story, you'll know that Tentacle Face belongs to none other than the Lovecraftian nightmare of Cthulhu, a name I'm sure we're all vaguely familiar with, but may not know much about. about him, so let's take a minute to talk about him.

Cthulhu, created by author H. P. Lovecraft in his short story 'The Call of Cthulhu', is what is known as an Old One, a divine entity that came from space and now sleeps beneath Earth's oceans, waiting to be awakened. But the fish face doesn't just fit what we see in Gary's little art project, listen as the "Bird Box" creator describes the monster of it. "There is a teacher who mentioned that a man would go crazy, lose his mind, if he tried to fathom the infinite... ...it became a monstrous concept to me, okay. So, at some point I started thinking about the infinite." or something that the human mind cannot assimilate as a monster, and what if that idea was actually personified?

So, on your porch, infinity is on the porch swing outside swinging. Infinity is out there, and if you opened the door..." Of course, this interview is from back in 2015, from the first days when his book began to attract attention, and long before the author realized that he needed to be a little more mysterious in the way he talks about his story. So the monster, as he saw it in his original novel, was inspired by infinity. That's interesting, considering that the main theme of the Cthulhu mythos is human insignificance as he faces the idea of ​​infinity. Look no further than the opening lines of 'Call of Cthulhu', which describes this exact premise.

Quote: End of quote. Now, if it still doesn't seem like a match for "Bird Box," just wait. You see, in Lovecraftian stories, when humans come into contact with one of these infinite beings, like Cthulhu, they go crazy. Their brains are not able to comprehend the magnitude of what they see and they literally go crazy, but this does not apply to all humans either. A subset of people become worshipers of the Old Ones, as we see in "Bird Box." To quote 'Call of Cthulhu': And that's just Cthulhu. Lovecraft has a whole series of monsters in his bestiary that match the rest of the drawings we are seeing.

Elephant face? It looks very similar to Chaugner Faugn's design. Horny? Definitely close to the servants of the gods called Nightgaunts. So we have creatures based on the concept of infinity that are enormous in size, match Gary's drawings, inspire cults of devout worshipers, and possess faces that literally drive people crazy. The monsters of the Cthulhu mythos tick pretty much all of our boxes. Practically. You see, Cthulhu's explanation leaves out some important notes. First, humans are to Cthulhu what insects are to us: nothing. We can't be bothered. He's too busy living his best life under the sea alongside Aquaman and Ariel.

That would explain why he shows no interest or urgency in opening doors in "Bird Box", but you wouldn't find Cthulhu chasing some humans on a 42-hour boat tour either. It's just a waste of time, and frankly, of most other Lovecraftian monsters. However, the biggest problem here is the "Bird Box" creature's ability to harness the power of the dead. Up to this point, I've been mulling over one key issue: the fact that the entity can mimic the appearance and voice of family members. And not just the people he was responsible for killing. In the opening moments of the

film

, we meet and quickly lose a woman named Lydia.

When she sees the monster, she screams: The twist is that Lydia's mother has been dead for five years, long before this thing started attacking Earth. The

film

doesn't bother to explore this, but to me it's a great detail that's critical to understanding the story behind it. It is also essential to know that it is not limited to imitating only the dead. In an effort to trick the boy and girl into removing their blindfolds, the entity imitates the voice of Mallory, our protagonist, who is still very much alive. So what is going on here? But before I tell you the other half of this

theory

, do me a favor and take off those blindfolds long enough to hit that subscribe button.

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While a Cthulhu-like monster appears to be the physical being people see here, where do these additional powers and motivations come from? Well, there is strong evidence to suggest that these elements are inspired by The Rapture,the event of some Christian belief where the faithful, both living and dead, are brought to meet Christ. To use the original Bible verses, 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, verses 16 and 17, quote: Consider this: what if Lydia, calling for her mother, is actually seeing her dead mother in the beyond? And if Tom is really calling out to Mallory at the end of the movie, encouraging her to open her eyes and join him in the afterlife?

All of these souls seem to be trapped together, like in The Rapture, where they would be encouraging others beneath them to join in. If that were really the case, and you had all these worthy dead mixed together like a big ball of wool, it would be a beautiful sight, just as those left behind say even though their drawings suggest otherwise. Speaking of those left behind, why are only criminals left on Earth? Well, because they did not honor God's commandments and do not deserve to go to heaven. They are not the stuff of ecstasy, you might say.

And not only does it explain that, but this theory also illuminates a detail that's easy to overlook: why these delusional prophets insist on opening their victims' eyes instead of, you know, just killing them. I mean, if the monster really wanted these people to just kill the rest of humanity, why wouldn't they? Why resort to forcing them to open their eyes? It is so that the victims can give testimony. In the Christian faith, much emphasis is placed on bearing witness to the power of God. Isaiah 43, verse 10: Even Gary seems sorry for killing Douglas without him being able to SEE the entity. "I'm sorry I couldn't see it.

It's beautiful. So beautiful..." How's that about 'don't open doors'? Revelation 3:20: And I hear you, I also totally recognize the concern: what about everyone taking their own life? If this is a Rapture situation, isn't that a cardinal sin of the church? Yes Yes it is. Absolutely. However, we are possibly talking about a situation similar to that of the Rapture. Maybe the Rapture rules are in effect. I mean, think about it. Typical depictions of the event are a group of bodies simply rising into the heavens, but that doesn't really make much sense, does it? Perhaps true ecstasy is simply those who are chosen answering the call to release their spirits by abandoning the flesh, and doing things like jumping into a garbage truck is the quickest way to do it.

You may have also noticed the strange reason for pregnancy. You see it with Mallory. You see it with Olimpia. Is it a coincidence, then, that when referring to Rapture day, the Bible specifically refers to it coming as labor pains to a pregnant woman? 1 Thessalonians, chapter 1: It's a strange coincidence, isn't it? Now, obviously, there's an elephant in the room: why would the blind be left behind during a rapture scenario? And yes, the meek will inherit the earth. I don't know, it's not a perfect theory. Like I said before, I don't think there's any monsters or religious beliefs going on here.

A snatched Cthulhu – a literal octopus Jesus – is really the closest we're likely to get. There are just a lot of weird specifications this has to meet and in the end it's more of an original creation for the purposes of the story, which, I have to say, is never a bad thing. That? Do people come up with an original idea for a change? Go figure. And hell, at least my current explanation for an octopus Jesus is much better than the one they were going to put in the movie. Yes, that baby veiny reptile was one of the first versions of the monster that was cut down.

I have to admit, because as frustrating as it was to not see the monster, not seeing it was a hell of a lot better than that. But hey, that's just a theory. A cinematographic theory! Aaaand if you want to see more horrible action from Film Theory, click the box to the right to see how to beat Michael Myers. Or, if you want to see something a little closer to home, check out our series on Salad Fingers. It's the creepiest animated thing you'll see today. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a few more endings I need to get in "Bandersnatch." I will see you next week.