by Josh Malerman
There are terrifying creatures that must not be seen. One glimpse and you can be driven insane and lead to a deadly situation. No one knows what it is or where it came from. If you feel their presence just close your eyes for you to survive.
According to Tallerico B. (2018), “Bird Box” intercuts between two time periods—about five years after the end of the world and in the first days when everything collapsed. It opens in the nightmarish present but actually spends more time in flashbacks with Malorie (Bullock), an expectant mother unsure about whether or not she’ll form a connection with her baby. She expresses as much to her sister Jessica (Paulson) on the way to a meeting with her obstetrician, as the two discuss reports of mass suicides on the other side of the world. And then “whatever” is happening over there comes home as people start to hurl themselves out of windows and into oncoming traffic. These early scenes of absolute chaos are well-handled by Bier and honestly terrifying. She captures complete chaos on what appears to be a relatively limited budget, realizing the power of stark imagery—a woman bashing her head into a glass window or another calmly getting into the driver’s seat of a burning car—over the CGI overload we so often see in post-apocalyptic movies. hen Sandra Bullock’s character in Bird Box tells her two children to “keep running and don’t stop til you get there”, it’s easy to understand director Susanne Bier’s vision for the movie as an allegory for motherhood. But while motherhood is undeniably gritty and challenging at times, it rarely involves literal monsters. It’s true – parenting has become increasingly more hectic and competitive in the last 40 years. In an age where meritocracy has been exposed for the myth it is; where a “fair go” exists only in private and selective schools in Australia, it is now up to parents, not society, to provide kids with opportunities (Reilly N., 2019).
Burke, K. (2019) stated that Bird Box sensitively tackles the question of mental health in society. It delves into how it is perceived from those directly affected, to those who view it, and how those attitudes are communicated. The movie suggests a split in society, an ‘us and them’ situation. And one wonders whether the film would have been such a roaring success if these themes had been addressed more directly within its narrative.
The novel gave a thrill to the readers in different ways like the creatures chasing the main character and her children, how people do crazy things when they are affected by the creatures that would lead to violence. There are so many plot twists in this novel and the personality of Malorie which is being brave showcased women's ability to be strong at all times especially when it comes to her son and daughter. One of the symbols presented in the story is the promised sanctuary, which represents hope for the future. There still hope in every difficult situation in life. Another one is the creatures in the story which can affect humans when the person sees them. These creatures are the manifestation of the ugly truths that people prefer not to acknowledge. In today's generation, we are experiencing hardships and in relevance to the movie all of us are finding ways to survive. The movie showed how people are terrified of the creatures they see and compared to our situation right now, we are also afraid of getting a covid virus that's why we chose to stay in our home. Also, the movie emphasized the importance of helping each other and to follow the rules set by the government or do our responsibilities to avoid a dangerous situation.
References
Burke, K. (2019). The Meaning of Bird Box. Retrieved from https://www.headstuff.org
/entertainment/film/film-features/bird-box-meaning/#:~:text=Bird%20Box%20
sensitively%20tackles%20the,' us%20and%20them'%20situation.
Reilly, N. (2019). Bird Box reflects a deeply insular, conservative and paranoid parenting
philosophy. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/jan/05/bird-box-
reflects-a-deeply-insular-conservative-and-paranoid-parenting-philosophy
Tallerico B. (2018). Bird Box. Retrieved from https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/bird-box-
2018
Comments