MovieChat Forums > Eraserhead (1978) Discussion > My plot theory...

My plot theory...

posted 9 years ago by JustusAnkka
5 replies | jump to latest

Henry is an alien.

*Arguments: His appearence. -> The aliens (the man watching in the planet) have been watching Earths news and other programs and made the conclusion that politicians and rock stars are the most important people shown. That's why has he wears his suit and his hair is "what it is" imitating all the punk rockers.
(IMO, he looks like one of the Leningrad Cowboys! :D)

* The weird alien child. -> Obviously, it is theirs and just not something random that Lynch put to confuse us. And the opening scene, where one of the sperm things comes from his mouth I think meant that the child was made.

*Lady In The Elevator. She is his real wife and the sperms reflect that Henry could'nt put her pregnant and is now haunting him.

*Man In The Planet is Henry's father-in-law (Lady In The Elevators father) or just someone who is watching how he is doing on the Earth. (Mission leader, friend etc.)

I have no idea what the erasers are for and the ending either. :D

What do you think of my theory? Is it invalid? Well, after all, it's only a theory that can't never be proven to be false or real.

Any theories of your own?

As the title says.

[–] !!!deleted!!! (24175281) 9 years ago

Well it's Lady in the Radiator.

But I like you're theory. Many people think the whole thing is just a metaphor for being scared of parenthood.

I think that maybe the combination of the industrial imagery and the kid is indicating the health hazards of living in a industrial area and damages it can do to you or your offspring.

I will say I'm not used to watching movies like this (pretentious in some peoples eyes) and because of that instead of interpreting it right away I begin to think that directors are just throwing random things in to confuse people or make them look good.

Oh and another theory is that the lady in the radiator is a sick interpretation of beauty standards and that's why she is smashing the deformed sperm and that's why at the end when he kills the deformed baby she embraces him in a 'you done good' type show of approval.

But what do I know, my favorite movie is Back to the Future

[–] ridge-m-1 8 years ago

Well, health hazards would exist in a post-apocalyptic world in which this film takes place. People should not be having "babies" after being exposed to such high levels of radiation over a protracted period of time. David Lynch is not guilty of "throwing things in to confuse people or make them look good" in his films. He is a genius which makes it extremely difficult for those with average intelligence and impossible for dummies to understand and appreciate his work.

[–] MoviemanCin 9 years ago

Your theory is as plausible as any.

Schrodinger's cat walks into a bar, or doesn't.

[–] jonathaneuropa 8 years ago

I think you make quite a decent argument with your theory.

Imo, Jack Nance and the baby are the same person. Note how the baby can be considered a failure: he looks ugly, he stinks, nobody loves him.

And note how Henry looks ugly as well with his hairdo, and nobody likes him either. Basically, when he wanna kill the baby, he really wants to commit suicide.

[–] merilee112 7 years ago

Not a bad theory. Though my own personal opinion is that the Man On The Planet is the actual alien. He's like the head of an Alien Race who wants to take over the Earth and he uses that machine in the beginning in their 1st step of his plan, to impregnante women with alien sperm. Which is what was happening in the opening sequence. As Henry was having sex with Mary, the Man used his machine to replace Henry's sperm with the alien one.

Not only that somehow the alien baby projects disturbing fantasties into the human brain in order to drive them mad. Again, part of the plan of the Man In The Planet. Turn humans mad, easier for them to take over.

The Lady In The Radiator was a human who found out about the Man and his plan and he captured her and trapped her in the radiator, which explains why she was stomping out the sperm. She was trying to stop more alien children from being born. That's also why she encouraged Henry to cut the baby. She knew if the baby died, the Man's Plans would be ruined, which ended up happening.

That's my theory, anyway.

Don't say anything bad about Jojo
If she's a disciplinarian, I'm the Queen Of England!- Stella