The Babadook and the Uncanny

This movie makes me sob every time I watch it. It's less scary as it is psychologically and emotionally exhausting to watch. Anyway, on to the theory. 

One thing I noticed in relation to Freud’s conception of the Uncanny (das unheimliche) is how the viewer is never quite sure if the monster exists, and if it does, we never know what it is. There is a sense of familiarity to the Babadook, as it seems to know Amelia and Samuel intimately, but is the monster a product of Samuel’s imagination, of Amelia’s imagination, or is it a representation of her grief? The film provides no easy answers, and although they are able to “tame” the Babadook by the end of the film, and seem to have some knowledge of what exactly “it” is, the viewer is never clued in. The question of the Babadook’s very existence also complicates this, because if Amelia and/or Samuel is the real monster, then how does that inform our knowledge of how the Uncanny operates in this film, not to mention Creed’s idea of the Monstrous-Feminine? 

Amelia certainly performs monstrous motherhood throughout this film, and the film is skillful at upsetting our sympathies. In the first half of the film I found it hard to blame Amelia for treating Samuel the way she does because he is just so awful, but found myself overcome with guilt at feeling that way when she starts actively abusing him in the second half of the film. And that brings up the idea of the “knowing child” (not sure if that term comes from one of the readings or from Amy), in that Samuel knows there is a monster, but is he projecting his own superstitions of The Babadook so as to negate the fact that the real monster is actually his mother? How much does Samuel actually know?

Thinking about the Uncanny as it relates to Home and its denial, the film manages to find Samuel and Amelia trapped in their physical home in the last third of the film, but their home feels increasingly hostile. It is hostile because Amelia’s behavior becomes more violent as she literally traps Samuel in the house. Samuel finds that his mother cannot provide the Home that he thought, the denial of the womb and maternity complete when Samuel starts to fight back against her. Her maternal benevolence is restored when Samuel manages to kick the Babadook out of her, and she in turn rescues Samuel from being taken by the unseen monster. The Babadook is trapped in the basement, and they feed it and nurture it. She becomes the monster’s mother, in a sly turn on the idea of the Monstrous Feminine, and The Babadook, in turn, becomes their Home.