Has nobody mentioned where the name Babadook came from?
The Babadook = The Dada Book
shareBaba = dad in many languages.
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Anybody remotely interesting is mad in some way
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MovieChat Forums > The Babadook (2014) Discussion > Has nobody mentioned where the name Baba...
Makes sense.
shareJennifer Kent, writer/director:
"Some people go 'Babaâwhat? What are you calling your film that for?' But I wanted a name that was crazy and just sounded stupid and kind of made up. Because I was creating a myth of some sort with this film, so it was just an experiment. I wrote the film in Amsterdamâwell, part of it in Parisâbut I was staying with a Serbian writer, and I asked him, 'Whatâs Serbian for âBoogeyman?â He said 'Babaroga,' and I didnât think that sounded right. But I started playing with 'Baba,' and then 'Babadook' came up, and then it was just rhyming with everything, and it just felt right. But itâs stupid, itâs just a made-up thing."https://thedissolve.com/features/emerging/834-the-babadook-director-jennifer-kent-talks-about-dr/
"I wanted it to be like something a child could make up, like 'jabberwocky' or some other nonsensical name. I wanted to create a new myth that was just solely of this film and didnât exist anywhere else...
"I really wanted something that felt like we could create our own myth with it. The name didnât exist in any other context and so people would only associate the name with our story. It didnât have any previous meaning."
http://filmmakermagazine.com/88457-it-takes-a-lot-to-make-a-film-that-comes-from-yourself-the-babadooks-jennifer-kent/
http://ca.complex.com/pop-culture/2014/11/interview-the-babadook-jennifer-kent
"You must not judge what I know by what I find words for." - Marilynne Robinson share
Huh, interest. It's strange -- being very familiar with Eastern European culture, I thought the movie would have something to do with Baba Yaga. The word "baba" conjures an image of an old, creepy woman. So, the name definitely does have connotations.
shareI'm pretty sure that's part of where the Serbian Boogeyman gets its name. Eastern-bloc European nations are heavily Russian-influence, so Baba Yaga is going to see adaptations in those places.
shareYes, I know -- I was responding the filmmaker's notion that no one would have associations with the "baba" prefix. Because anyone familiar with Eastern Europe would have lots of associations.
shareSomeone said that "dook" sounds like the hindi word for "grief", making it: the father grief. If so, it's certainly fitting.
Either way you choose to look at it (Babadook/Dadabook/A bad book), it's a great name!
Someone said that "dook" sounds like the hindi word for "grief", making it: the father grief. If so, it's certainly fitting.
Either way you choose to look at it (Babadook/Dadabook/A bad book), it's a great name!
So you are ignoring the explanation posted in this very thread from the creators mouth with links.... lolz makes sense share
No, what makes you think I am?
shareWhat's it like to go through life without any common sense? Just because the director doesn't immediately think of every possible connection to or meaning of a word, doesn't mean that parallels and insights can't be drawn and seen by others. I love that you "lolz" at someone with a more insightful perspective than yours. You would rather attack someone than have a thoughtful opinion of your own. You, sir, are a waste of flesh. Good day.
shareBa-Badook is Hebrew for "it surely is coming", but I like your explanation too :)
shareobviously, it comes from australia. that country has got all sorts of wacka$$ names for their suburbs. i mean, damn, there's a place over there that's called woolengong, or however you spell it, for fcuck sake
sharewollongong is an aboriginal name. I actually did a semester there for study abroad :)
Babadook was a great name IMO. To me it almost sounds kind of voodoo and the name fits the character.
Kent: I wrote the film in Amsterdamâwell, part of it in Parisâbut I was staying with a Serbian writer, and I asked him, âWhatâs Serbian for âBoogeyman?ââ He said âBabaroga,â and I didnât think that sounded right. But I started playing with âBaba,â and then âBabadookâ came up, and then it was just rhyming with everything, and it just felt right. But itâs stupid, itâs just a made-up thing.
Artists, writers, poets often surprise themselves or rather they can be surprised by their own subconscious. Kent may have been drawn to Babadook for reasons she didn't fully realize herself--connections to meanings and sounds that she was only unconsciously aware of like baba being a nickname for father. So those seeing more in the name than just a stupid made-up thing aren't wrong. It just means that Kent's creative subconscious was doing more than she knew.
share