Pop Culture dictionary
Babadook
[ bah-buh-诲辞辞办听]
黑料网 does听Babadook mean?
The听Baba诲辞辞办听is a 2014 horror film directed by Jennifer Kent. The monster in the film, called the听Babadook, has become a queer meme and icon.
Where does Babadook come from?
Helmed by Jennifer Kent and based on her short film听Monster,听The Babadook small-budget horror film was a surprise hit听in 2014. It follows a distraught widow and her imaginative child as they confront visions of a character in a pop-up book, Mister Babadook. In it,听the听Babadook is a nightmarish monster with a huge mouth, long talons, an amorphous black body, and creepy top hat.
The听Baba诲辞辞办听wasn’t terrifying to everyone, though. In 2016, people on the social media site Tumblr began joking that听The Babadook听film and monster were gay, an idea that began in jest but that quickly went viral. One such post shows the film categorized in a section of LGBT movies on Netflix (although ), and social media users ate it up, engaging in mock discourse on the LGBTQ subtext of the film.
Screenshot / taco-bell-rey / Tumblr
The Babadook character went on to make appearances in Pride parades, notably in Los Angeles in June 2017. The LGBTQ community leaned in,听identifying legitimate LGBTQ themes and issues in the film. Many likened the suppression of the Babadook’s existence in the film to the struggles historically faced by the LGBTQ community for acceptance and recognition.
@ryanlesliefisher / Instagram / SBS
Examples of Babadook
听we made him a gay icon and then IGNORED HIM
Who uses Babadook?
After its release, critics and the public discussed the film as a powerful portrait of grief. Others lauded it as a horror film directed by a woman. A testament to its success, the film earned a 98% rating on the review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes and took in two times its budget back in revenue.
Hi darlings! it's the end of Spooky month! for this year i decided to be one of my favorites contemporary monsters and gay icon The Babadook! 馃彸锔忊�嶐煂� Show me your costumes for this year! 馃憖馃枻
— 鈽傦笍 Eri (@TinySpidy)
In 2017, the queer embrace of the Baba诲辞辞办听got the attention of major publications like听The Guardian, Teen Vogue, and the听LA Times. They explored how this horror movie character became an unlikely icon in the queer community, which was Baba-shook by the Babadook.
Note
This is not meant to be a formal definition of Babadook like most terms we define on Dictionary.com, but is rather an informal word summary that hopefully touches upon the key aspects of the meaning and usage of Babadook that will help our users expand their word mastery.