Brianna Madigan
Chris Carlsen
English 101
October 5th, 2022
A Reflection of Today’s Society
The text that I will be analyzing for the mini project is the Netflix movie, Bird Box. Bird Box is a
post-apocalyptic horror-thriller film directed by Susanne Bier starring Sandra Bullock as the main
character, Malorie Hayes. The film is set in California and opens with a prolepsis scene of the dangers
they are eventually going to encounter. Five years after an ominous, unseen force decimates a majority
of the population by suicide, there is one rule, if you open your eyes and see it, you die. Prior to going to
her obstetrics appointment with her sister Jessica, they see the news about mass suicides happening in
Romania and Russia. At the hospital, Malorie watches a woman violently bang her head into a glass
window after she saw the creature. On their way home from the appointment, a series of scary events
occur causing people to suddenly commit suicide upon visual contact with the monster. Malorie ends up
stranded at a stranger’s house with other survivors. They must get creative to avoid seeing the monster
that is killing everyone. Some keep their eyes closed while others black out their car windows so that
they can travel. The movie flashes back and forth between that and the present day. In search of safety
and a new beginning, Malorie and her two children, boy and girl, embark on a dangerous journey
through miles of wooded forest and a hazardous river with treacherous rapids to arrive at a place they
heard about through a transistor radio. In order to make it, they must keep their blindfolds on to protect
them from the strange creature that has been killing so many people. After the harsh two-day journey,
Malorie and her children arrive at shore and must follow the sound of the birds chirping. Once they
reach the safe haven, Malorie finally realizes that it is a school for the blind and that their disability put
them at an advantage in this new society. Blindness, which is typically thought of as a disability, turns out
to be the ultimate protection against the vicious monster. The movie ends as Malorie names her kids
Olympia and Tom and accepts her motherhood after her battle with balancing survival instincts and
raising her children. Bird Box shows that in order to overcome any obstacle or challenge, one must
continue to have faith and believe that they will find their safe haven.
With the use of clever symbolism, Susanne Bier effectively gets her point across. The characters
in the movie who are not scared by the unseen monster willingly stare at it and are not afraid to watch
others do the same. The film presents these characters as the protagonists, and they should not be
trusted and avoided at all costs. The scene that takes place in Douglas and Lydia’s house is a perfect
example of this. After Malorie was stranded inside with other survivors, she heard someone knocking on
the door. To avoid risking their lives by seeing the viscous monster, they refuse to let Olympia come in.
After begging to be let inside, they all cover their eyes while they open the door for her to enter. Olympia
reveals that she is pregnant just like Malorie.
I first watched this movie as soon as it came out on Netflix in 2018. The director did just enough
to keep me on the edge of my seat for the entire 120-minute thriller. Personally, I felt like the most
engaging part was that the strange creature that killed so many people was never revealed. All you
witness throughout the film is a frustratingly faceless, invisible, black shadow with a strong wind that
causes you to consider committing suicide and can kill you in a matter of seconds. After viewing this film,
I pushed myself to figure out the deeper meaning behind it. Given how emotionally captivating it was, it
was obvious that there was greater importance to it. I was curiously challenged by why we couldn’t
physically see the monster and we could only see the effects of it, for example, suicide. It led me to the
realization that suicide and mental illness do not have a face. It can affect anybody, and you may not
even know it, which is the unfortunate reality in most cases. In the scene in the kitchen with Malorie and
Tom, Malorie says “My sister would have never killed herself. She wasn’t like that.” In modern society, we
have instances like these of people who were clearly exemplifying suicidal tendencies before they took
their own lives, however the stigma surrounding suicide and mental illness often causes people to hide
those feelings rather than talk about them. The monsters in the movie represent our personal demons
that only we are able to see, for example, when we compare ourselves to others, downgrade ourselves,
or see someone pass away that we once hurt. The reason we cannot see them is because nobody else
can feel our pain or see the things that we feel insecure about. This is closely related to our inability to
connect has human beings. We do not take the time out of our day to ask people how they are doing,
what is going on in their lives and we certainly do not take the time to listen or care enough. As a society,
we have become extremely selfish, and we tend to think the world only revolves around ourselves. If we
took a step away from technology and social media for once and truly saw the world for what it is and
tried reaching out to those around us, then it is possible we would not be so lonely. Charlie made a
reference to this in the film when he said that “demons come in all shapes and sizes…that once judged…
will be the end of us as humans.”
This movie also emphasizes a deeper meaning behind the school for the blind. It represents the
power of blind faith, which Malorie exhibited when she decided to take on the two-day journey through
the rapids with her children while being blindfolded. That decision put them all in danger, although she
was willing to put her life at risk in reward for finding safety. Blindness, which is typically thought of as a
disability, turns out to be the ultimate protection against the monster. Not only are Rick and the other
blind people immune to the effects of suicide, but they are also well prepared for a world where the
ability to operate without sight is a key survival trait.
My audience for this text analysis is anyone who may have been in this position at some point in
their life. I feel like I connect so deeply with the underlying message of this movie because I have been in
this situation before. There was a time in my life when I thought things genuinely could not get any
better and was extremely depressed. While suicide was never something I considered, I struggled with
my mental health for a while. Fortunately, I had the resources to get help and improve my mental health,
but it is important to recognize that I would not be anywhere close to where I am today if I had not gone
through what I experienced at that point in my life. Like the victims in this movie, nobody knew what I
was going through. I did not talk to anybody about my feelings because I was insecure about the
response I would get from others and feared sympathy from those I was close with. Bird Box served as a
good reminder to always check up on those around you and to be kind, no matter what your relationship
is with them, because you truly never know what someone is going through.
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