Diana is depression. Which makes the end quite hopeless because the only way to get rid of it is to kill yourself...?
Oh well, i liked the movie anyway, but battling with depression myself, i hope i won't get to this point!
That's not funny. Btw., whoever -really- is - just gotta say that it won't (like, 100% without a doubt! :))
*Because, you know, it isn't real... Freddy isn't REALLY coming if they sleep.
Edit: It's a film, goddammit.
Sorry your post doesn't mean anything. I just don't understand there's no sentence
shareThat's not funny.
Btw., whoever -really- is -
just gotta say that it won't
(like, 100% without a doubt! :))
*Because, you know, it isn't real... Freddy isn't REALLY coming if they sleep.
Edit: It's a film, goddammit.
She doesn't kill herself because she is depressed, she kills herself because a ghost has latched onto her.
Big difference.
You guys don't see the metaphore being the monster?
It's not always subtle. She stopped taking her meds and thats when it came back haunting her, at the end she tries to take her meds back but it stops her.
It's been told that the husband was killed by that thing because "he wanted to help her getting better"
That thing attacks everything in her life that could help her get better. Her husband, her children, her meds. It makes her live in the dark, of her mind.
It's depression, not an actual ghost. At least if you reas between the lines!
And she kills herself at the end so she kills it with her...
So yeah i stand on my grounds
That sounds like an interesting concept, but is the movie really worth seeing in your opinion?
Is this to be an empathy test?
I have an unlimited card so i didnt technically pay for it. I wouldn't have paid for it, because there's better movies on the screen. It's a 6.5/10
You to judge :)
I dunno, maybe interpret the movie in a better way next time.
shareMe ? The interpretation couldn't be more crystal clear. The monster is her depression.
I don't think the director wanted to give that final message about how to get rid of depression but after all she did kill herself to kill the demon
she just couldn't live with the monster
I find that somehow an ok description
Live with the monster inside, or end it
Your interpretation will most likely not even be close to what the director/writer meant to make. You're reading way too deep into this. How do I know this? Because this movie started as a short horror, written and directed by the same person, and that short horror made no entendre in any way that there was a metaphor to be found. It was just a monster/ghost-movie and this movie is just a feature-film length of that. If the director didn't have a message or metaphor to convey in his short film, I seriously doubt he suddenly shoe-horned that in in the full-length movie.
shareSorry but your argument is absolutely useless. "If the director didn't have a message or metaphor to convey in his short film, I seriously doubt he suddenly shoe-horned that in in the full-length movie"
Really? So you think the transition between a short film and feature is "sudden"?
Even Kubrick was re-writing his movies during the shooting so i can tell you A LOT can happen between the making of a short and a long.
On top of that, if you read other post and replies to mine, you'll see there is a lot of people with the same interpretation than me, because it's not a "deep" one, it's actually very not subtle which is what makes this movie average
Sure, a lot goes on between the shift from short-film and full length movie. However, it is very clear that the director had no intention to give this any subtextual layers. In interviews he literally talked about creating and expanding a mytho's around this monster. He literally talks about a monster and never even drops anything about depression, which other directors (like both the director and actors of The Babadook talked about the actual metaphor), the makers of this movie talk about it as a horror/monster movie because that's what it is.
It's not because something involves morals, or sickness that it automatically has a deeper meaning. People interpret even the Bible wrongly very often because they just see what they want to see. The makers have been 100% clear that they wanted to make a scary horror movie with a new monster, and that's exactly what they did.
No, that interpretation is pretty much dead on. It's very obvious subtext.
shareYour interpretation is incorrect.
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The spirit of abysmal despair
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This isn't The Babadook. There are no layers. No metaphors. Her depression attracted the ghost. It's not supposed to be some sort of metaphorical manifestation.
who's scruffy lookin?
Of course Diana is a metaphor for depression. What some of those on this thread don't get, is that metaphors should be read on two different levels. Diana is also a demon or a ghost.It's both of those things. Just like the dementors in Harry Potter are the guards of Azkaban, but also a metaphor for depression. When a muggle is clinically depressed they feel the same as when a dementor attacks a magical person. The Shining, some say, is about American imperialism, particularly in regard to the victimization of Native Americans. But it is also a ghost story.
I disagree that the moral of the story is that people with depression have to kill themselves to get rid of their depression. They can and do, unfortunately. But as one person on this thread said, it is not meant as a prescription for depression but as a description of depression. As such, it is a very powerful one, that those who struggle with this problem should appreciate. It doesn't sugar coat it that's for sure.
The metaphor was like a more obvious version of the Babadook (with less plot holes). I usually take the film for what is presented to me rather than sketchy web-theories and even I reacted on the metaphor and the contrast to the ending.
I feel more as if the writers knew what story they wanted to tell but either had no idea how to end it, or had some studio suit telling them what to do.
So if you're depressed you should kill yourself
Again, check my answer above. You're just stating the obvious, make it too simple.
I'm talking about the meaning of the movie.
That thing is a personification of her depression
It's both. The creators of the film crammed so much backstory about Diana into the movie that she is a an actual "monster"and not merely an allegory. Contrast this with the Babadook where it is pure allegory.
Especially sine they just green lit a sequel odds are that Diana is probably what made the light in the Ambulance flicker.
There won't be any sequel. Not good enough
shareThe sequel was greenlit the day after the film opened in the US. The film made back its budget in 1 day.
shareNope you're just simply overthinking things. Regarding the movie..there is no deeper meaning and things are as they appear...not sure why you cant accept this...
Everything in moderation...including moderation..
Im not overthinking because it became so big after just 20min and im not the only one with that interpretation
Sorry but if you THAT goes over your head, you're clearly not a good film critic because that's a very simple movie. And it's not even subtle
I totally agree with you, RendezvouswithU! People nowadays tend to "overthink" horror movies and watch them seeking for "hidden messages and meanings"... Like in Babadook, which I thought it was "what you see is what you get" movie, but people fight all over the internet about its hidden meanings and psychological theories... zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz Imagine having to do this with the classics, A nightmare on Elm Street, Halloween and Friday the 13th, for instance... Bo-ring!!!
shareIt's not boring it's the essence of cinema. Some movie don't have a message and i like them just as much (ex. Death proof) Some movie have a message and are brilliantly made (ex. Dallas buyers club)
Some movie try to have a message but it's so big it's cheesy as *beep* (ex. This one)
You're taking it all first degree. Obviously the director meant to make a metaphore about depression. I could bet a million dollars if you ask him. They're so many signs, like "when she takes her meds the demon goes away"
When her kids are around cheering her up the demon goes away thats why it's pushing them out?
Come on, if that's how you interprete a movie then Melancholia is just about a planet crushing to Earth? No, it's not that simple
Obviously the director meant to make a metaphore about depression
I get what you're trying to say but even in that context I don't think it's urging that suicide is the only option for depression.
The mother only did it when her child was in extreme, real physical danger from Diane.
the only way to get rid of it is to kill yourself
I understand your point but you can't really say they're ignoring her illness when they decide to move in with her. The son clearly says to her sister "im not going to leave her alone"
It took some time (first there was fear) but the kids eventually tried to support the mother. But it ended that way anyway
That were my exact thoughts after I leaved the theater. And I'm pretty sure many people suffering depression would have a similar interpretation.
Even thought if Diana is a "real" ghost it doesn't change the fact that they implied that depressive people are scary, ruining their family and to say the least and inconvenience. I mean the only good thing the mother does is killing her self... I'm sure the director doesn't intends to trow mentally ill people under the bus, but indirectly it kinda does. And unfortunately that's a pretty wore-out cliché by now.
Totally agree! Thank you!
shareYeah im not sure why so many people are disagreeing with you. The movie is very obviously using Diane's Ghost as a metaphor for depression. The movie was resolved by Sophie killing herself and preventing Diane (her depression) from affecting her children any more.
You could easily interpret that as "suicide is the only solution that will solve things" for someone with depression. I really doubt that the studio was going for this message, but it is a very feasible interpretation for the movie.
I agree. It definitely is a movie that accurately represents some aspects of depression. As I sat in the movie theater and I watched how the mother would lock herself in the dark, it quickly reminded me of my own depression. Although, her cause and effect started back when she was a child.
Here's my theory, I think the dark figure was supposed to represent the thing that made her depressed, so in this case, the little girl she befriended as a child. Weird how her daughter would see the same figure but wasn't affected by it.
Another possible theory is, the little girl she supposively befriended never existed in the first place. So, the dark figure that was consuming her family members, the first being her husband, was supposed to represent what can happen with a person in a depressed state. You push family members away and sometimes it can get to a point where it's too late to make amends and ask for forgiveness. I for one did not like how she committed suicide but that was the only way too stop the dark figure from harming the rest of her family.
Exactly. Thank you. The only people understanding the message in that movie are the ones who've known depression.
Others don't get it, it's insane.
It tells you how people don't understand this disease until they experience it
I'm 44 and I have depression since I was 18. I agree with you that only people who experience depression can relate to others who have it. It's a fact! But I simply didn't see the "monster/ghost" allegory for depression at all. Sorry... Sometimes, what you see is what you get, mainly in a horror movie. Simple as that. Remember: It's a horror movie.
shareMaybe you haven't had temporary severe depression like I have. The one where you loose 20kg in a month, stop eating, stop drinking, stop getting up, and just let yourself slide towards death. It's more like a pic after a trauma, than a long term disease.
shareOf all genres, horror is the one that deals most in allegory.
shareReally? Because as someone diagnosed with depression I'm not seeing your "message". How did the dad die then? Did the depression manifest itself into an entity and go kill him? It couldn't of been the mom because she was at home talking to herself. It had to be the Diane monster.
shareI don't have a message. I'm just talking about the clumsy message in the movie.
When you're severely depressed you get to hurt the ones who try to help you the most. The dad wanted to help his wife, but her "depression" killed him, she put him away, rejected him, like a depressive person would do. It's all figurative, not literal. Of course the movie shows a monster, and the da is getting killed. But for me it's all just a metaphore. Depression is that monster inside you, and the ones who try to help, mostly your family, get hurt, because a depressed person can be a violent, or cruel person sometimes. I know I was. That's a way to get people to leave you alone.
Holy *beep* are you people *beep* dense? Do you not understand that all good stories explore themes? The obvious in this case being depression and the destructive effect it can have on people and their loved ones. Just because the ghost is a literal entity on one level doesn't mean it isn't a metaphorical stand in on a different level. Good stories function on multiple levels.
shareNumber one, you can calm down. Number two, so you're saying it was a "literal entity"? Because I was talking to people who thought it was just depression and not an actual "ghost". That's how I took what they were saying anyway.
shareIt's both. The story functions on two levels. On one level it's a ghost story with an actual ghost that manifests and terrorizes the characters, on another level the story serves as a metaphor for the destructive nature of depression. It's not that the ghost is depression, it simply serves as a symbol for depression. The text is the ghost story, the subtext is the statement the film is making about a more abstract concept. This kind of thing is very common in horror films. Michael Meyers from Halloween, for example, is at once a physical being and a character in the film, but metaphorically he stands in for a more abstract concept - evil. Or, for a more popular example, look at something like The Dark Knight. The Joker is the Joker, but he's also a stand for and a personification of the very concept of chaos and/or anarchy.
shareAnother possible theory is, the little girl she supposively befriended never existed in the first place.
Maybe it's not meant metaphorically?
Maybe, in fact, she wasn't depressed at all? Maybe she was actually being haunted by an actual monster and the lack of people believing her led to all sorts of misdiagnoses, like depression, to say nothing of actual depression (not the clinical kind, but the kind with a really good reason that can only be resolved by handling the reason)?
Maybe it's just a literal monster movie with a literal monster that does a bad thing to a good person, expressly attracted to the kindness that person possesses?
I did think of your interpretation while I was watching the movie, and I felt that the movie tried really hard to steer me away from that metaphor, by being so very literal at every step. For example, the stepfather was murdered, literally, and remotely from the mother, and apparently because he's trying to help her. So much turns up to validate her (literal) fears and grief at every step. Also her final act was one of literal heroism, whereas suicide is not (and can't be, outside of very peculiar contexts like this one).
But even if it were a metaphor, why take it as prescription? Maybe it's meant descriptively, i.e., "this is how depressed people behave"? Why take it as "this is how depressed people behave, and you should, too?" Maybe it's meant to say "Handle the monsters before things get desperate"?
I mean, if it is a metaphor, it's almost certainly in there because someone making the film has personal experience, too, either experiencing depression firsthand or losing (or nearly losing) someone to depression.
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http://moviegique.com/
I go to the movies more than you.
They never mention depression in the movie
sharewhat movie did you watch? It was mentioned many times and was the cause of Sophie going to the mental hospital in the first place. And you are accusing others of taking it too literally (and to some extent I agree) but you are taking it too metaphorically. The depression made her weak and thus vulnerable to Dianna. Dianna was a manifestation of her illness once she died but was obviously very real and powerful responsible for several murders. And yes, depression (or substitute some other illness--whatever made her weak and susceptible) made suicide the best solution in that case at that time to save her children. This movie was indeed very much about depression. But the last thing Sandberg is trying to say is that suicide is generally the best solution to depression.
I would say my memory is not what it used to be. But I don't remember what my memory used to be.
This???? After all your proselytizing, and your patronizing attitude towards those who don't share your point of view, you post that comment???
Makes me think you didn't watch the film at all.
Ignorance is bliss... 'til it posts on the Internet, then, it's annoying.
the stepfather was murdered, literally, and remotely from the mother, and apparently because he's trying to help her.
So it strains the depression metaphor.
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http://moviegique.com/
I go to the movies more than you.
How?
shareWell, I'm willing to hear counter-arguments but it seems to me that depression shouldn't be moving remotely from its source, against someone who's identified it and taking positive action against it.
If, for example, the guy had been going the other way—wallowing in self-pity, maybe drugging or whoring—and then it got him, I'd see a stronger connection.
What do you think?
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http://moviegique.com/
I go to the movies more than you.
I thought it was meant to represent how mental illness can alienate sufferers from their loved ones and also how a person's best efforts to help someone with depression might be futile. He was trying to help her but the thing she was fighting was too strong and it wound up destroying their relationship (by murdering the husband). Also the proximity doesn't really bother me because the on the surface it is still just a ghost story and the ghost can apparently travel at least some distance from its host.
shareYeah, I guess it comes down to where (or when) you draw the line. Analogies are imperfect by nature. You can always say, "Well, at this point, it's literal, and at this point, it's metaphorical."
The thing I find highly improbable is that it was made with the intent of prescribing suicide for the depressed, per the OP. For me, the literalness is important at that point.
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http://moviegique.com/
I go to the movies more than you.
Yes, I don't think that was the filmmakers intention at all but that was still the impression I came away with.
I mean, suicide is portrayed as being the solution to the problem. While you can look at the ending as a tragedy or a warning that depression can often end in suicide, that suicide is a way out that people suffering with depression choose far too often, that doesn't change the fact that the resolution - the thing that stops the bad guy - is suicide and that it's portrayed as a heroic act. Even though there are some flickering lights at the end that indicate that maybe the suicide didn't solve anything after all, that's the end of the movie and it's not explored any further.
But I don't blame the filmmakers for this because the movie ends the way it does in its current version due to test audiences and studio interference. Basically the entire movie is an allegory for depression, but the ending they had planned that fit with that allegory tested poorly and they had to change it to an ending that was actually contrary to the themes the rest of the movie seemed to be driven by. The original ending sounds much more apt and much less problematic.
You've probably read this, it sounds like, or something similar:
http://www.avclub.com/article/lights-out-director-david-sandberg-defends-ending--240341
Sounds like the "kill yourself" ending emerged from studios changing the metaphor to a literal reality, and then audiences taking it literally and not liking the more correct-for-the-metaphor (i.e., suicide isn't the answer) ending, and that ending being removed.
So suicide isn't being advocated but you can certainly see how this arose.
And thus, an Internet argument was happily resolved with no one being murdered.
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http://moviegique.com/
I go to the movies more than you.
And thus, an Internet argument was happily resolved with no one being murdered.