El terror maternal contemporáneo desde la psicopatía del personaje infantil en Babadook (2014)

Abstract

[eng] The home associated with the idea of security and family may become a locus corruptus, that is, a place that instead of safeguarding us from the dangers, threats and fears from the outside ends up being the generator of them. Maternal horror relationships may also become uncanny/unheimlich. This paper aims to identify and analyse the latent individual and collective subconscious of the maternal relationship between the characters of Silvia and Samuel in the film directed by Jennifer Kent, The Babadook (2014). The nightmares, fears and the trauma are incarnated though the monstruosity that takes place in the family with a depressive mother and a disruptive son. These are developed in a home where the collective fears from childhood and the supernatural are combined with elements of psychopathology. The film may be related to the Suburban Gothic because of the haunted house being viewed as a character which the supernatural and the ghosts habitated, as well as the dwelling place of monsters such as Míster Babadook. Furthermore, the house is also conceived as an element of the horror genre and an example of contemporary maternal horror since there exists a demonization of the madness of Amelia as a woman and mother.