Source: Essay by student, UC Berkeley Accelerated Reading and Composition
Tags: female sexuality in horror, objectification, appearance and modesty, motherhood expectations, parenting and grief, The Babadook, Jennifer Kent, feminist film analysis, Jennifer's Body comparison, Freeland feminist frameworks
The Babadook deliberately avoids sexualising its female protagonist, using dull and modest clothing to redirect audience attention toward themes of grief and motherhood. The film also challenges the societal expectation that mothers must always prioritise their children above themselves, showing Amelia making decisions that serve her own survival. Both choices mark a departure from how women are typically presented in the horror genre.
Male gaze / sexualisation of women in film
The tendency in cinema (particularly horror) to present women's bodies as objects of visual pleasure for a presumed male audience. The Babadook rejects this convention entirely.
Objectification
Using a woman's body, sexuality, or appearance to attract attention, often at the expense of her agency or narrative depth. Freeland (1996) discusses how horror films frequently use women "to bolster men" (p. 743).
Modesty as visual strategy
In The Babadook, Amelia's plain, colourless wardrobe signals that the film prioritises her internal experience over her external appearance. The costume design is a deliberate feminist choice, not a budget constraint.
Maternal self-sacrifice (societal expectation)
The widely held belief that mothers should prioritise their children and family above their own needs at all times. The film treats this as an unrealistic and potentially harmful standard.
In many horror films, women's bodies are used to seduce or attract the male audience, or a woman's sexuality is weaponised against her (as in Jennifer's Body).
Freeland (1996) identifies this pattern: women in horror are frequently positioned to "bolster men" rather than to carry their own narrative weight.
The Babadook does the opposite. Amelia is dressed in dull, humble, colourless clothing throughout nearly every scene.
The mundane wardrobe ensures no aspect of her appearance attracts the audience's gaze in a sexualised way.
This redirects the audience's full attention to the film's core messages: grief, motherhood, and emotional struggle.
At the birthday party, Amelia's drab clothing juxtaposes with the colourful, fashionable outfits of the other mothers and the joyous party setting.
This visual contrast strengthens the emphasis on grief's harsh reality, making it feel more visceral against the cheerful backdrop.
The producers intentionally chose this wardrobe to subvert the monster horror genre's convention of presenting women as visually appealing above all else.
The lack of sexualisation challenges the assumption that a female protagonist's appearance must be a focal point.
Society expects mothers to prioritise children and family before themselves at all times, an expectation the essay describes as "nearly impossible."
Amelia subverts this expectation in several concrete ways:
She snaps at her son out of frustration.
She exclaims harsh words driven by the pressure of her circumstances.
She obtains prescribed sleeping pills from a doctor to sedate her son so she can rest.
Using medication to manage her child's behaviour is presented as a desperate but reasonable response to extreme circumstances, not as negligence.
The sleeping pill incident illustrates how grief infiltrates and distorts family relationships.
Motherhood in the film is portrayed as a source of stress and anxiety, in direct contrast to the warm, fulfilling image society projects.
Amelia's parenting methods diverge from the "norm," but the film frames this as a consequence of unprocessed trauma rather than moral failure.
The essay argues that these portrayals show how grief embeds itself deeply into daily interactions and family dynamics, making the emotional horror more frightening than the supernatural one.
No formal equations, but the conceptual framework is worth noting:
Suppressed grief + social isolation + impossible maternal expectations = emotional breakdown (symbolised by the Babadook's growing power over Amelia)
⚠️ The rejection of sexualisation is a deliberate directorial choice, not incidental. Contrast with Jennifer's Body or similar films to illustrate the point.
⚠️ Freeland's framework (1996) is the key academic source for discussing how horror films treat women's bodies. Be able to cite the "using women to bolster men" line (p. 743).
⚠️ The sleeping pill scene is the strongest example of Amelia breaking the "selfless mother" expectation. Frame it as reasonable under extreme grief, which is how the essay positions it.
⚠️ Costume design is evidence, not decoration. In a film analysis essay, the colour, style, and modesty of clothing are as analytically relevant as dialogue or plot.
Q: How does The Babadook differ from films like Jennifer's Body in its treatment of the female protagonist's sexuality?
A: Jennifer's Body weaponises its protagonist's sexuality and uses her body to attract the male gaze. The Babadook rejects sexualisation entirely by dressing Amelia in dull, modest clothing, redirecting audience attention to the film's thematic content: grief, motherhood, and emotional struggle.
Q: What societal expectation about motherhood does the sleeping pill scene challenge?
A: It challenges the expectation that mothers must always prioritise their children's wellbeing above their own. Amelia sedates her son so she can rest, a decision driven by extreme grief and exhaustion. The film treats this as a reasonable response to impossible circumstances rather than a moral failing.
Q: Why is Amelia's wardrobe significant in a feminist analysis of the film?
A: Her dull, colourless clothing is a deliberate choice to reject the horror genre's convention of presenting women as visually appealing objects. It keeps the audience focused on the film's messages about grief and motherhood, and it subverts the expectation that a female protagonist's appearance should be a point of interest.
Q: How does the essay argue grief affects Amelia's parenting?
A: Grief causes Amelia to snap at her son, use harsh words, and resort to sleeping pills to manage his behaviour. The essay frames these actions as evidence that grief embeds itself into family relationships, distorting everyday interactions and making motherhood feel like a burden rather than a source of warmth.
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