Corruption of the Family

How the physical deterioration of Sam and Amelia symbolize their families fracturing.

As the movie continues both Sam and Amelia begin to deteriorate under The Babadook’s influence. For Amelia this is shown by a physical possession as The Babadook destroys her appearance, but for Sam this is shown as his mother decides to drug him with sedatives in the latter half of the movie, underscoring Amelia’s inability to care for her child through her own grief.

Amelia takes Sam to the doctor’s after several disturbing incidents occur. Sam breaks his cousin’s nose, continually screams at an invisible monster, and eventually has a seizure. This incident is the breaking point, and Amelia begs a doctor to prescribe sedatives for Sam in order to help him sleep. This results in Sam becoming tired and nauseous in the latter half of the movie, frequently being drugged by Amelia so she can sleep. The movie condemns this action, showing a skeptical doctor subtly berating Amelia for this decision and eventually having Sam reject the pills through a sleight of hand.

Kent depicts here the power struggle between the mother and son, and how Amelia would rather ignore her and Sam’s problems rather than facing them. This is a frequent issue throughout the movie, as Amelia refuses to talk about Sam’s father, and is even called out by The Babadook in the phrase “I’ll wager you a bet. The more you deny me the stronger I get.” Amelia has to learn by the end of the movie that locking her problems away is not the answer for her or Sam, and that she must address them head on. This culminates in the scene where Amelia decides to choose her son over her own problems, ending the movie by vowing to kill The Babadook before it kills her son. Kent makes a commentary here about the battle of mental illness, and concludes that it is the parent’s duty to put their child first before their own mental health problems.