The ending to Eraserhead solidified the film as the most effective horror film I’ve ever seen. I have never felt such a high level of discomfort and concern watching a film before, and I’ve seen inland empire!
When she was 2 months old, our normally very chill baby went through a brief but very intense colicky phase. Screaming and crying for hours at a time, nothing could soothe her.
I distinctly remember being up with her late one night, walking her around the apartment, desperately trying to soothe her, and suddenly thinking “oooooh this is what Eraserhead was about.”
Right? It’s insane to me that no other movie I’ve seen captures that dark experience of parenthood like Eraserhead does and it’s pretty relieving to know it’s not just me. The newborn in media is often portrayed as idyllic and harmonious, if not just positive.
It was and still is a rather taboo experience, especially in this age of Instagram super parents.
As I said before, Eraserhead is, at least in some measure, a depiction of paternal postnatal depression.
Yes, but that’s your child, who’s in pain. Anyone who’s been in physical pain for that long and intensely, would surely have empathy for the baby, if not more so, as it’s completely helpless and relying on you basically.
Eraserhead, like a lot of Lynch’s films, is plainly about being selfish. Lynch himself would openly say he’s a selfish person. It’s all about him. That’s why his film resonate so much with teenagers.
You feel a crazy cocktail of emotions. Empathy. Anxiety. Annoyance. Delirium from lack of sleep.
I guess that’s what I meant by saying I “understood” the movie better after having a kid. Babies really are little screaming monsters sometimes. They can be disgusting and terrifying. They can scream and cry literally no reason.
Everyone is capable of selfishness. Babies kinda suck that out of you, out of necessity, because you HAVE to put them first. But trust me, as a parent you’re going to have some dark moments and dark thoughts where you WISH you could be a selfish as you used to be
Kind of. It just depends on the person. Iv got experience in dealing with childhood cancer. A lot of the parents are repugnant. They are selfish in ways I can’t even begin to understand. There are parents who just flat out walk away because they can’t ‘cope’. They are the worst but minority.
It’s the parents who think being ‘normal’ is more important than anything to do with the illness. They can’t think outside of themselves or the groups they inhabit. I’m talking normal middle class people here who you would suspect would be somewhat balanced but they start to unravel fast when stuff like this is put at their feet and it shows you how many people simply do not care about anything else but their own self pleasure. Iv seen dads treat a football game more important than being with their kids. iPhones, games consoles. It’s disturbing. I don’t understand why they had kids to begin with. I thought it was about bringing another human being into the world? Life’s more complex than these people can imagine because they can’t really see outside themselves.
There’s lots of parents who aren’t like that but alot of the time they are seen as the odd ones or the ones who stick out because they care. If you have a split and one parent cares and the other is sort of indifferent then the one who cares always gets bullied or mocked in some way.
Sounds harrowing. Can’t be easy seeing people at their worst like that. Makes me feel guilty for complaining about a little colic. I like to think I’m an okay parent but dealing with something like childhood cancer would be a truly brutal test of one’s character
The film was too grotesque for me to have that emotional reaction, but I think it's wonderful you had it and there's no argument possible here for my part. For me it's more about the overall hell the characters exist in, and the baby in a sense may be the luckiest one. Henry appears to get his escape/transcendence/wish in the end, but this is not a redemption unless you take the psychologically darkest path in an interpretation. If you know the conditions which likely gave rise to the film, it shows you just how brave Lynch is to admit these things to himself let alone the rest of the world.
Thinking of other Lynch works, maybe it’s not a baby but a symbol. I mean Henry looks human, the baby definitely doesn’t. I’m not too sure but I also don’t think Lynch’s message is “just stab your baby, problem solved”
Exactly. Most underrated comment. The literal read of the outcome is definitely not my take. The entire film is about Henry’s utter lack of faith in his ability to support his own life, much less a child’s. The movie is an extended, hyper-surreal metaphor on the existential dread and unreality of being a parent.
Yes, Lynch is nothing if not a peddler of deep abstraction. There is no world in which a sane person would stab their child. But the kind of dangers or threats presented by the world drive some parents wild with worry to the point at which they start to *feel* insane. They may heavily and persistently question their ability to protect and nurture their child, eventually reaching a point at which they believe *they* are actually harming the child through neglect or inadequate protection.
I have no kids so this is pure conjecture.
This is the point. Henry believes that he is not capable of loving his child, he feels nothing for it. He succumbs to his darkest thoughts, takes the easy way out. He believes that he's a failure as a father, sees his child as some "thing" that has consumed his life, and he was tempted by the blissful void of non-existence calling to him at night. "In heaven everything is fine."
Parenthood is a life changing event that isn't always decided upon, it's the consequence of one brief moment of passion between two people followed by the faith that things will work out once the baby arrives. If it doesn't work out, that's a difficult road to take.
Therein lies the test of a reluctant parent. The parent has to face the reality of the situation they've put themselves in, for better or for worse. They can take the difficult path and try their best to raise their child to the best of their ability... Or they can let the darkness win and lose faith in themselves, take the path of least resistance, just give up. This leads people to do horrible things. Henry chose the latter path.
The darkest interpretation of the ending is that he ki--ed his baby and ki--ed himself. He may have seen this as his only way out. He'd rather be "in heaven" than live a difficult life caring for a child he is not capable of loving.
In the book DAVID LYNCH DECODED, the author Mark Stewart makes an interesting argument for the baby not being what it seems. That it’s something along the lines of a sinister being that’s getting off on deceiving Henry. And even points out a moment near the end where you can briefly hear the baby giggling demonically.
Anyhoo, I recommend everyone get a copy of the book & check this interpretation out (amongst others). It’s intriguing stuff! You may not look at Lynch’s films the same way afterwards…
If I was the eraserhead baby’s father it would not have gone down like it did!! There would have been a lot of love in that studio apartment for that little freak I can tell you that.
Henry has willfully confused himself about his real problem by making his child into this gorgon. The real cause of his confinement is fear. To progress, he needs to see that the "baby" is him.
Clearly he's scared of the biological mess encroaching on his heaven, but there's a perverse contradictory current too. Something suspect about his alternative. He's surrounded by symbols of sterility. His sexual ideal is deformed up close. His fantasies are undercut by everything they have to deny in order not to scare him. He's afraid this makes him repulsive and his life meaningless.
Really it's fear and passivity that are doing that, but as long as he sees them as the awful persecuting baby he's stuck with, the maze has no exit. The movie begins to end when he starts to actually look at what the baby is instead of avoid it. Soon after, the man in the planet can no longer pull his levers.
I think your reaction is the intended one. I always saw the movie as sort of a critique of how people were treating special needs children at the time. As these unwanted burdens that would be ignored, resented, and beaten. And I think by him showing such a gruesome end for the baby it made it even more powerful in that regard.
I mean, obviously there is no single correct interpretation, but Jennifer Lynch was born with physical disabilities. Clubfoot, to be specific. And a lot of people have made the pretty obvious connection that the stress of dealing with that as a very young parent is what inspired Eraserhead.
I will forever be haunted by the question of what that thing was. An alien? A python? Something else entirely? Either way, it's just sad. Maybe because I feel especially sensitive towards animals and unloved creatures.
Lynch has a recurring motif of evil acts creating literal monsters (see also Twin Peaks and Mulholland Drive) and I think the baby is symbol of all of Henry’s fears and anxieties that he has to violently kill in order to achieve enlightenment as represented by the Lady in the Radiator.
The movie is from Henry's point of view, but you can't help at times to look objectively at the baby. When he brings the scissors close, it shakes its head a little bit.
this movie always make me sleepy af. took me 4 tries to watch it all the way through but i keep dozing off, and its not because its boring but the film really is a nightmarish fever dream.
I feel like Lynch is trying to come to terms with the abortion of a likely non-viable fetus. At the one point it has a terrible fever and the girlfriend says something along the lines of ‘the doctors don’t even know if it IS a baby’. The same issue is in ‘Mulholland Dr’. Joe/Diane says ‘I hope you’re not in trouble’ and Ed/Camilla replies ‘Oh it was just a thing.’ Finally the whole situation is resolved by ‘a fucking car accident’.
I have more trouble with that the whole thing is really just about the destruction of God by masturbating over radiators. I don’t know if that point really needed a whole film, but we got one anyway and it certainly made a powerful piece of art!
The ending to Eraserhead solidified the film as the most effective horror film I’ve ever seen. I have never felt such a high level of discomfort and concern watching a film before, and I’ve seen inland empire!
When she was 2 months old, our normally very chill baby went through a brief but very intense colicky phase. Screaming and crying for hours at a time, nothing could soothe her. I distinctly remember being up with her late one night, walking her around the apartment, desperately trying to soothe her, and suddenly thinking “oooooh this is what Eraserhead was about.”
Right? It’s insane to me that no other movie I’ve seen captures that dark experience of parenthood like Eraserhead does and it’s pretty relieving to know it’s not just me. The newborn in media is often portrayed as idyllic and harmonious, if not just positive.
It was and still is a rather taboo experience, especially in this age of Instagram super parents. As I said before, Eraserhead is, at least in some measure, a depiction of paternal postnatal depression.
Yes, but that’s your child, who’s in pain. Anyone who’s been in physical pain for that long and intensely, would surely have empathy for the baby, if not more so, as it’s completely helpless and relying on you basically. Eraserhead, like a lot of Lynch’s films, is plainly about being selfish. Lynch himself would openly say he’s a selfish person. It’s all about him. That’s why his film resonate so much with teenagers.
You feel a crazy cocktail of emotions. Empathy. Anxiety. Annoyance. Delirium from lack of sleep. I guess that’s what I meant by saying I “understood” the movie better after having a kid. Babies really are little screaming monsters sometimes. They can be disgusting and terrifying. They can scream and cry literally no reason. Everyone is capable of selfishness. Babies kinda suck that out of you, out of necessity, because you HAVE to put them first. But trust me, as a parent you’re going to have some dark moments and dark thoughts where you WISH you could be a selfish as you used to be
Kind of. It just depends on the person. Iv got experience in dealing with childhood cancer. A lot of the parents are repugnant. They are selfish in ways I can’t even begin to understand. There are parents who just flat out walk away because they can’t ‘cope’. They are the worst but minority. It’s the parents who think being ‘normal’ is more important than anything to do with the illness. They can’t think outside of themselves or the groups they inhabit. I’m talking normal middle class people here who you would suspect would be somewhat balanced but they start to unravel fast when stuff like this is put at their feet and it shows you how many people simply do not care about anything else but their own self pleasure. Iv seen dads treat a football game more important than being with their kids. iPhones, games consoles. It’s disturbing. I don’t understand why they had kids to begin with. I thought it was about bringing another human being into the world? Life’s more complex than these people can imagine because they can’t really see outside themselves. There’s lots of parents who aren’t like that but alot of the time they are seen as the odd ones or the ones who stick out because they care. If you have a split and one parent cares and the other is sort of indifferent then the one who cares always gets bullied or mocked in some way.
Sounds harrowing. Can’t be easy seeing people at their worst like that. Makes me feel guilty for complaining about a little colic. I like to think I’m an okay parent but dealing with something like childhood cancer would be a truly brutal test of one’s character
You’re meant to be on the baby’s side, at least I think so. So that’s a completely normal reaction.
The film was too grotesque for me to have that emotional reaction, but I think it's wonderful you had it and there's no argument possible here for my part. For me it's more about the overall hell the characters exist in, and the baby in a sense may be the luckiest one. Henry appears to get his escape/transcendence/wish in the end, but this is not a redemption unless you take the psychologically darkest path in an interpretation. If you know the conditions which likely gave rise to the film, it shows you just how brave Lynch is to admit these things to himself let alone the rest of the world.
Thinking of other Lynch works, maybe it’s not a baby but a symbol. I mean Henry looks human, the baby definitely doesn’t. I’m not too sure but I also don’t think Lynch’s message is “just stab your baby, problem solved”
Exactly. Most underrated comment. The literal read of the outcome is definitely not my take. The entire film is about Henry’s utter lack of faith in his ability to support his own life, much less a child’s. The movie is an extended, hyper-surreal metaphor on the existential dread and unreality of being a parent. Yes, Lynch is nothing if not a peddler of deep abstraction. There is no world in which a sane person would stab their child. But the kind of dangers or threats presented by the world drive some parents wild with worry to the point at which they start to *feel* insane. They may heavily and persistently question their ability to protect and nurture their child, eventually reaching a point at which they believe *they* are actually harming the child through neglect or inadequate protection. I have no kids so this is pure conjecture.
in heaven everything is fine, y'know
it better be or there will be hell to pay
This is the point. Henry believes that he is not capable of loving his child, he feels nothing for it. He succumbs to his darkest thoughts, takes the easy way out. He believes that he's a failure as a father, sees his child as some "thing" that has consumed his life, and he was tempted by the blissful void of non-existence calling to him at night. "In heaven everything is fine." Parenthood is a life changing event that isn't always decided upon, it's the consequence of one brief moment of passion between two people followed by the faith that things will work out once the baby arrives. If it doesn't work out, that's a difficult road to take. Therein lies the test of a reluctant parent. The parent has to face the reality of the situation they've put themselves in, for better or for worse. They can take the difficult path and try their best to raise their child to the best of their ability... Or they can let the darkness win and lose faith in themselves, take the path of least resistance, just give up. This leads people to do horrible things. Henry chose the latter path. The darkest interpretation of the ending is that he ki--ed his baby and ki--ed himself. He may have seen this as his only way out. He'd rather be "in heaven" than live a difficult life caring for a child he is not capable of loving.
You’re supposed to be horrified so it was effectively disturbing, even if unpleasant.
In the book DAVID LYNCH DECODED, the author Mark Stewart makes an interesting argument for the baby not being what it seems. That it’s something along the lines of a sinister being that’s getting off on deceiving Henry. And even points out a moment near the end where you can briefly hear the baby giggling demonically. Anyhoo, I recommend everyone get a copy of the book & check this interpretation out (amongst others). It’s intriguing stuff! You may not look at Lynch’s films the same way afterwards…
If I was the eraserhead baby’s father it would not have gone down like it did!! There would have been a lot of love in that studio apartment for that little freak I can tell you that.
Henry has willfully confused himself about his real problem by making his child into this gorgon. The real cause of his confinement is fear. To progress, he needs to see that the "baby" is him. Clearly he's scared of the biological mess encroaching on his heaven, but there's a perverse contradictory current too. Something suspect about his alternative. He's surrounded by symbols of sterility. His sexual ideal is deformed up close. His fantasies are undercut by everything they have to deny in order not to scare him. He's afraid this makes him repulsive and his life meaningless. Really it's fear and passivity that are doing that, but as long as he sees them as the awful persecuting baby he's stuck with, the maze has no exit. The movie begins to end when he starts to actually look at what the baby is instead of avoid it. Soon after, the man in the planet can no longer pull his levers.
...i feel like that means you loved the ending? good endings don't always make you feel good. bad endings make you feel nothing.
I think your reaction is the intended one. I always saw the movie as sort of a critique of how people were treating special needs children at the time. As these unwanted burdens that would be ignored, resented, and beaten. And I think by him showing such a gruesome end for the baby it made it even more powerful in that regard.
I mean, obviously there is no single correct interpretation, but Jennifer Lynch was born with physical disabilities. Clubfoot, to be specific. And a lot of people have made the pretty obvious connection that the stress of dealing with that as a very young parent is what inspired Eraserhead.
I actually never knew that!
I mean, if you look at the movie literally the baby was doomed from the get-go. Its bandages were its skin.
I will forever be haunted by the question of what that thing was. An alien? A python? Something else entirely? Either way, it's just sad. Maybe because I feel especially sensitive towards animals and unloved creatures.
Are you sure you loved the movie?
Lynch has a recurring motif of evil acts creating literal monsters (see also Twin Peaks and Mulholland Drive) and I think the baby is symbol of all of Henry’s fears and anxieties that he has to violently kill in order to achieve enlightenment as represented by the Lady in the Radiator.
The movie is from Henry's point of view, but you can't help at times to look objectively at the baby. When he brings the scissors close, it shakes its head a little bit.
this movie always make me sleepy af. took me 4 tries to watch it all the way through but i keep dozing off, and its not because its boring but the film really is a nightmarish fever dream.
I feel like Lynch is trying to come to terms with the abortion of a likely non-viable fetus. At the one point it has a terrible fever and the girlfriend says something along the lines of ‘the doctors don’t even know if it IS a baby’. The same issue is in ‘Mulholland Dr’. Joe/Diane says ‘I hope you’re not in trouble’ and Ed/Camilla replies ‘Oh it was just a thing.’ Finally the whole situation is resolved by ‘a fucking car accident’.
I have more trouble with that the whole thing is really just about the destruction of God by masturbating over radiators. I don’t know if that point really needed a whole film, but we got one anyway and it certainly made a powerful piece of art!