Earlier this semester in my religious studies class, I was given the assignment to think of the most evil character I have ever encountered in a movie, in a book, fiction, nonfiction, reality --- anything that has been put out into the world that I consider to be the number one evil thing. I chose Mr. Babadook, a monster from the scary movie "The Babadook." The film is about a creature that haunts Amelia, a distressed single mother, and Sam, her 7-year-old, ill-behaved son. Years before Mr. Babadook enters their life, Amelia’s husband died in a car accident while driving Amelia to the hospital when she was in labor with Sam; she never fully recovers from this and subconsciously blames Sam for killing him and making her life miserable. Amelia attempts to push away the harsh reality that Mr. Babadook is real and intensely making his way into her and Sam’s life, but he returns claiming, “The more you deny, the stronger I get.” (Spoiler alert!) Eventually, Mr. Babadook gets so far into Amelia’s head that she goes on a possessed rampage in which she nearly kills her own son.
In Tim Teeman’s article, “Grief: The Real Monster in The Babadook,” he wrote, “The Babadook is the shape of grief: all-enveloping, shape-shifting, black, here intensely, terrifying, then gone.” Mr. Babadook symbolizes mental illness instigated by mourning and suffering, which I would characterize as being sinister, unforgiving, torturous. The major fear driving the honest scariness of this creature is that if you try to fight it but don't succeed, it comes back more powerful and catastrophic each time, slowly killing you.
I think this character is tremendously evil because it is a combination of extreme sadness and extreme ruthlessness, which attacks you from both ends of the negative emotional spectrum. In addition, we as humans are almost powerless in controlling how we feel and how we react to scenarios of tremendous tragedy, despite its major impact on our lives. In the conclusion of the movie, Amelia does not even manage to rid herself of Mr. Babadook, but rather has him live in her basement while she caters to his needs in attempt to keep him somewhat repressed, yet her life still partially revolves around satisfying his demands towards her—this symbolizes the life-long grip that grief has on people, and that no matter how much we move on from hardships, sometimes we never fully, permanently recover which is why I believe mental illness induced by grief is one of the most evil forces in the world.
