Archetypes And Symbolism In The Movie Babadook

Myths are written and spoken throughout history as a way for us to view how people of the past experienced the reality they lived in. In film, myths have been extensively adulterated with the use of computer-generated imagery. However, in some cases there are movies that use myths and symbolism to create imagery. The audience becomes actively engaged through a psychological connection with the use of archetypes (Chang et al., 2013). The movie Babadook is an example of an archetypal symbolism. This movie tells the story of single mother, Amelia, who is struggling to find peace after the death of her husband. Her son, Samuel, desires attention, but is unable to successfully receive and as a result he continues to be disobedient. Amelia appears to have difficulty with the daily stressors of life on top of her depressed state. She then finds a book titled ‘Mister Babadook’. It has eerie characteristics such as, its crimson color, pop-ups, and evil images. As she starts reading the book, Samuel becomes scared and truly believes that there is something out to kill them both. The reading of the book was the start of the frightening experience that Amelia would later have to overcome in order to save her and her son (Kent, 2014). This paper analyzes Babadook through application of archetypes and symbolism. …show more content…
There are eight archetypes identified as essential in making a film and do not have to be mutually exclusive and include: anima, animus, mentor, mother, shadow, hero’s departure, hero’s initiation, hero’s return (Chang et al., 2013). The predictability can be identified with the overuse of an archetype. However, the complexity of using just one archetype at time for specified sequence can have lasting impression. For example, contradictory archetypes—mother and shadow—have a better complex characteristic that improves the mystery or suspense of the