Source: Essay by student, UC Berkeley Accelerated Reading and Composition
Tags: feminism, gender roles, The Babadook, Jennifer Kent, subversion of gender norms, emotional expression, societal expectations, horror film analysis, feminist film theory, monster horror subgenre
The 2014 film The Babadook, written and directed by Jennifer Kent, uses the horror genre to challenge deeply embedded societal expectations placed on women and mothers. The protagonist Amelia expresses rage, frustration, and grief in ways that contradict the "warm and nurturing" stereotype assigned to women. The film treats these emotions as valid rather than deviant, making it a case study in feminist subversion of gender roles.
Feminism
The set of beliefs and ideas belonging to the broad social and political movement to achieve greater equality for women (Fiss, 1994). In film analysis, feminism is used as a lens to examine how gender expectations are reinforced or challenged on screen.
Gender role subversion
The deliberate reversal or contradiction of behaviours, traits, and emotional expressions that society traditionally assigns to a particular gender. In The Babadook, this appears through Amelia's "unfeminine" emotional outbursts and Samuel's open vulnerability.
Societal expectations (gender expectations)
The unwritten rules about how each gender should act, behave, or respond in different situations. For women and mothers, these typically include warmth, compassion, nurturing, and emotional restraint.
The Babadook (as symbol)
The supernatural creature in the film functions as a physical manifestation of Amelia's suppressed grief, trauma, and pain following her husband's death. It represents the internal emotions that society pressures women to hide.
Social isolation (Durkheim's theory)
Drawing on Durkheim (2013), the essay argues that when individuals become isolated from society, they risk mental struggles and internal crises. Amelia's grief and single-mother status isolate her from her peer group.
Society consistently associates women and mothers with compassion, comfort, warmth, and companionship.
These expectations confine women to a narrow band of "acceptable" emotional expression, mostly positive.
In The Babadook, Amelia expresses rage, delirium, anger, and accumulated frustration, all of which contradict the expected emotional profile of a mother.
These negative emotions are directed at her son, at the people around her, and at her circumstances more broadly.
The film frames these emotions as valid responses to grief and hardship, rather than as failures of character.
Amelia behaves in ways that society would not consider "motherly" during a children's birthday party, a setting that typically demands performed warmth.
She is surrounded by other mothers who have not experienced her level of trauma or grief.
The scene validates the expression of frustration and anger as a legitimate part of the maternal experience.
During the birthday party scene, another woman mentions she works with "disadvantaged mothers," implicitly categorising Amelia as inferior.
This comment reveals a power imbalance among mothers: married mothers with spousal support versus single mothers navigating alone.
The expectation that women and mothers should always uplift one another is shown to be a myth in this scene. Support is withheld, not given.
This lack of solidarity among women is itself a subversion of the gender stereotype that women are inherently supportive of one another.
The camera angle in the birthday party scene positions the married mothers standing above Amelia, who is seated.
The standing mothers wear fashionable, colourful clothing; Amelia wears dull, colourless pieces.
This visual contrast emphasises both the power imbalance and the socioeconomic gap between the women.
The "looking down" framing makes the hierarchy literal, reinforcing the essay's argument about discrimination against single mothers within the broader category of motherhood.
⚠️ The Babadook creature is best understood as a metaphor for suppressed grief and trauma, not simply as a horror villain. Exam answers should connect the monster to Amelia's psychological state.
⚠️ Gender role subversion in this film operates on two levels: Amelia's behaviour contradicts expectations for women, and the lack of female solidarity contradicts expectations about how women treat each other.
⚠️ Durkheim's theory of social isolation is applied here to explain why Amelia's mental state deteriorates. Be ready to connect sociological theory to character analysis.
⚠️ Camera angles and costume design are used as evidence of power dynamics. Visual film language (mise-en-scène) is as important as dialogue when building a feminist reading.
Q: How does the birthday party scene (28:56–32:10) demonstrate the subversion of gender roles?
A: Amelia expresses frustration and anger in a social setting where mothers are expected to be warm and composed. She also receives condescension rather than support from the other mothers, subverting the expectation that women instinctively uplift one another.
Q: What does the Babadook symbolise in a feminist reading of the film?
A: The Babadook represents the physical manifestation of Amelia's suppressed grief, trauma, and pain. Society pressures women to contain these emotions; the creature embodies what happens when that containment fails.
Q: How does the film use costume and camera work to reinforce its feminist themes?
A: Amelia is dressed in dull, colourless clothing while the married mothers wear fashionable outfits. Camera angles place the other mothers above Amelia, visually encoding the power imbalance and socioeconomic disparity between single and married mothers.
Q: How does Durkheim's theory of social isolation apply to Amelia's character?
A: Amelia's grief and single-mother status separate her from the other mothers in her community. Durkheim argues that social isolation can lead to mental struggles and internal crises, which is exactly the trajectory Amelia follows as the film progresses.
feminist film theory, gender role subversion, The Babadook 2014, Jennifer Kent director, motherhood in horror, societal expectations of women, emotional expression and gender, social isolation Durkheim, mise-en-scène feminist analysis, single motherhood stigma, power dynamics among women, horror genre gender norms, monster as metaphor, suppressed grief, maternal rage