Who Is The Monster In Jennifer Kent's Babadook?

On the surface, Jennifer Kent’s The Babadook (2014) is a horror film that uses a mythical monster to torture an already broken family. It presents the creature as a monster that one could picture originating from Grimm’s Fair Tails. Kent introduces the idea of the Babadook monster through a twisted children’s pop-up book. In the keeping with the troupes of the horror film genre, the book appears on the Samuels Vanek’s (Noah Wiseman) shelf from an unknown place. When Amelia Vanek (Essie Davis) tries to remove or dispose of the book it returns to them. As The Babadook further explores the world of Amelia and Sam, the highly inhibiting feelings of grief in Amelia are revealed. They stem from the death of her husband, Oskar Vanek (Benjamin Winspear),

Kent cut’s to Sam looking down at Amelia’s soup bowl, following her hands movement. Sam is a pail, anxious looking boy wearing blue-grey pyjamas. His clothing matches the sad colour tones of the house. The camera cuts to the point of view from Sam watching his mother spoon soup into her mouth and then cuts to a close-up from the point of view of Amelia looking at her hand as it spoons soup out of the bowl. This close-up gives significance to the soup. Drawing our attention to the spoon that now, unknown to Amelia, holds a shard of glass on it. Kent cut’s to a mid-level two shot of Sam and Amelia sitting in the kitchen. This is a confining shot, as both people feel walled in by their surroundings. The table is black, and the wall a pale grey. The only bright objects within the shot are the bowls of soup, further emphasizing their significant roll in this scene. Traditionally kitchens are well-lit rooms, however, just like the rest of the house, it is cast in darkness and feels like it is a place of mourning. Amelia bites into something that creates a sharp diegetic cracking sound. The film cuts to a close-up of Amelia pulling something from her mouth and then a close-up point of view of her looking down at her hand. A bloody shared of glass is in her hand. Amelia pulls Sam’s soup away from him to check both bowls, but she only finds glass in her soup. Kent uses a shot reverse shot sequence between Sam and Amelia as Sam blames the Babadook for placing the glass while Amelia orders him to go watch his DVD. This is the second time the film shows shards of glass. The first time is part of the opening scene where Amelia relives the car accident that killed Oskar. Small pieces of glass, similar to what she finds in her soup, flew into her cheek during the accident. Like the glass of the car, this is the moment when Amelia’s life shattered. Amelia cannot move