Whenever something is created, there’s no telling how that creation will impact society nor how society will impact that creation.
Even though the first time we are introduced to the Babadook, he’s literally coming out of the closet. Neither the monster nor the movie was originally intended to become a staple in LGBTQ horror.
At its inception, writer and director Jennifer Kent meant the film to be a metaphor for grief or depression.
However, with help from social media, pop culture, fate, and resonating themes, The Babadook is forever cemented in gay iconography.
Tumblr, Netflix, and Twitter Team Up to Out the Babadook
It all started on Tumblr back in early 2017, when one user named Ianstagram posted:
“Whenever someone says the Babadook isn’t openly gay it’s like?? Did you even watch the movie???”
While some users were quick to point out the confirmed meaning behind the film, Ianstagram continued:
“A movie about a gay man who just wants to live his life in a small Australian suburb? It may be “just a movie” to you but to the LGBT community the Babadook is a symbol of our journey”.
Since Ianstagram goes on to say:
“How do you explain the scene where the Babadook looks right at the camera and says “I am my own person and I love men”?” The humorous nature of the posts is evident, but it didn’t matter. With over 100,000 notes, the icon was conceived.
This Tumblr post gained even more traction on Twitter as journalist Ryan Broderick shared a tweet exclaiming that Babadook being gay is his “new favorite Tumblr meme”.
Tumblr’s influence on this phenomenon struck once again as a few months later, user taco-bell-rey posted an imagepurporting The Babadook was listed under the “LGBTQ Movies” category on Netflix. With well over 179,000 notes on Tumblr, the involvement this post had in solidifying the figure as a gay icon is undeniable.
While in the beginning, Netflix may not have participated in this meme intentionally, by June 9th, 2017, the streaming mogul made its involvement official by putting out a pride month tweet saying: “Be the Babadook you want to see in the world”.
Although these platforms brought about the notion that Babadook is gay, it is pop culture that gave birth to the idea.
Pop Culture Turning Babadook into “Babashook”
With memes aplenty of the Babadook garbed in various rainbow-themed attire, pop culture quickly played its part in establishing the Babadook’s sexuality through news articles, YouTube videos, research papers, and more.
Additionally, the LGBTQ community almost immediately adopted the figure. Most notably, New Jersey drag performer and queen Pissi Myles released a music video in June 2017 titled “Babashook”, where she cleverly remixed the tone of the Baba-book into a tune as she donned a look characteristic of the top-hat wearing icon.
Then, during the red carpet event for the season 9 finale of RuPaul’s Drag Race, Miles Jai showed up dressed as the Babadook. Not long later, performer Chique Fil-Atio put on a Babadook-inspired drag performance in the show She Liked It Spooky: A Celebration for Ebony Strange at the Elysium (2018).
While the film would have never received its status as an LGBTQ symbol were it not for this social embrace, it seems as though this was the fate of the monster from the very beginning.
The Spirit of Tod Browning
The icon that stands for those who are historically forced to remain in the shadows, has roots in representation.
Although it was not the intention of creator and director Jennifer Kent, The Babadook’s icon status was seemingly fated all along since the Babadook’s appearance was inspired by a character in Tod Browning’s London After Midnight (1927).
If you do not recognize the name, Tod Browning is not only responsible for the compassionate, controversial horror film Freaks (1932), which gave representation to a group typically ostracized from society, but he is also responsible for Dracula (1933). That film has been widely viewed as homoerotic due to the relationship between characters Dracula and Renfield.
It seems that the spirit of the famed director’s work lives on, and even in death, Tod Browning is still giving voices to those that are typically underrepresented in the world of horror.
The Proof is in ‘The Babadook’
While Mister Babadook’s icon status was conceived by Tumblr, birthed by pop culture, adopted by the LGBTQ community, and fated by Tod Browning’s legacy, the notion could have never survived had it not been for the movie itself.
The themes of oppression, isolation, and acceptance exhibited in the film, resonate deeply within the LGBTQ+ community.
When watching with all of this in mind, the film is wrought with on-the-nose metaphors, such as: when the main character tried to fight the Babadook, he retreated back into the closet. Once you see it, you can’t help but wonder how The Babadook wasn’t intended to be an LGBT film all along.
Lest we forget, the most important lesson of the Babadook was that try as you may to fight him, he is here to stay. The only choice you have is to accept him.
“If it’s in a word, or it’s in a look, you can’t get rid of… the Babadook”
