We are now entering Pride season in the northern hemisphere, and one of the more interesting stories I have seen is the idea that the Babadook is a LGBTI icon.
After seeing it all over Twitter and Facebook, I had to turn to Google to actually understand where the memes were coming from, as I wanted to know more!
So I found one of the best explanations (other than it’s an internet meme), from the National Post:
This year’s unexpected symbol of Pride Month is none other than the Babadook, the monster at the centre of a 2014 Australian horror movie that has become an image of LGBT rights everywhere after a Tumblr post jokingly questioned the sexuality of the character.
It may seem a little unusual, but that’s kind of the internet’s job. The top-hatted ghoul has been spun into a gleeful meme of joy and love, decorating signs and floats throughout Pride Parades this past weekend.
In the movie, “Mister Babadook” torments a family after they become aware of and acknowledge his existence. He enters their lives through a gothic children’s book, but is not overtly gay within the narrative of the film.Newsweek’s Claire Shaffer put it best, explaining that the character serves as “an allegory for how normative heterosexual culture reacts to a confrontation with anormal queer culture, particularly one that is unabashedly campy and theatrical.”
Makes sense, and after hearing about Netflix marking the movie in the LGBTI category, just adds to the overall flair of the meme. I might have to watch the movie now! ?
