More than one of the millions of fans tuning into Netflix gem Bird Box noted that the movie was similar to The Happening, but the similarities are few and far between.
The Netflix film Bird Box has been taking streaming fans by storm, shattering viewing records and inspiring various social media challenges. But some viewers have noted that the movie parallels M. Night Shyamalan’s 2008 film The Happening.
Spoilers for Bird Box and The Happening
In reality, though, the two films only share one major trait: They both feature an unseen force that leads people to kill themselves. From there, they’re very different movies.
The nemesis in Bird Box is never seen, but there’s an implied “monster” that makes birds agitated when it comes close and a windstorm rises out of the blue when it’s on the move.
In The Happening, Mark Wahlberg’s character, Elliot, is a science teacher who realizes that Mother Nature has had enough of the abuse and is fighting back against humanity by triggering something that causes people to kill themselves. The trigger, as it happens, is any kind of disturbance to plants and vegetation. The plants release a toxin that lead people to kill themselves.
Bird Box never reveals the cause of the suicide epidemic and Sandra Bullock’s Mallory reaches a sanctuary where she and her children can live without fear of the creature. (Or creatures…we have to assume that a worldwide epidemic of this magnitude features more than one monster) They could be aliens for all we know. But that’s the key: We don’t know. We don’t know what the cause is, and the brilliance of the story is that it doesn’t really matter in the end.
By the end of The Happening there was a understand that in order to stay alive, humans need to respect Mother Nature. It was a chilling allegory but also a very powerful message.
Both movies feature trips to a post-apocalyptic world, but they’re different enough to be viewed with different lenses.
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