The monster/creature that plagues the world in Bird Box is terrifying even though (perhaps because) it has no physical form. The only indication that it's coming is a few blackened leaves suspending in the air and the voices the victims hear as it traumatizes them to an extent where they invariably kill themselves. It's fascinating to see how far horror movies have come - from disgusting and gory monsters who got their scariness primarily from their repulsive appearance we've reached a point where a truly fear-inducing antagonist does not even have a body. The idea of monstrosity has been evolving a lot lately, and so has the idea of what's scary and what's not.
The concept of monstrous also comes in when you consider the 'insane' people in the story, the ones that are immune to the creature because of how their minds are wired differently. We are told that they've been ostracized from society even before the monster - they are those who have been locked up in the local asylum - the already monstrous and feared fit in perfectly into the horror narrative the survivors put together, the immune are crazy and they are the other. The only clear physical manifestation of the monster is visible only through these immune insane people - their glassy green glazed eyes are unblinking and unwavering and they are terrifying without doubt.
ALthough the fantasy element in Bird Box is overshadowed by the genre of horror it belongs to, its portrayal of the monster is fascinating.
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timeasmymeasure
Bird Box and its Monsters
Date: 2019-07-31 12:50 pm (UTC)The concept of monstrous also comes in when you consider the 'insane' people in the story, the ones that are immune to the creature because of how their minds are wired differently. We are told that they've been ostracized from society even before the monster - they are those who have been locked up in the local asylum - the already monstrous and feared fit in perfectly into the horror narrative the survivors put together, the immune are crazy and they are the other. The only clear physical manifestation of the monster is visible only through these immune insane people - their glassy green glazed eyes are unblinking and unwavering and they are terrifying without doubt.
ALthough the fantasy element in Bird Box is overshadowed by the genre of horror it belongs to, its portrayal of the monster is fascinating.