Grief, Trauma, Addiction, and Greed: Antlers (2021) a Review
I had been waiting impatiently for Antlers prior to COVID; the pandemic-induced delay really heightened my anticipation of it.
Trigger Warning: This post may contain descriptions or depictions of any or all of the following: self-harm, domestic violence, alcohol use, drug use, sexual abuse, addiction, pornography, or racism.
When it was finally released, I lost my mind and couldn’t wait to get in the theater to check it out. In preparation, I listened to the short story that the film was based on.
I recommend listening to the short story before or after seeing the film.
Antlers: Background
Antlers is directed by Scott Cooper and produced by Guillermo del Toro.
The movie opens with Julia, a teacher, deciding to move back home to Oregon with her brother. She is met with great fear and challenge when one of her students reveals that he has a dark family secret. This secret would release evil in their town.
The last indigenous people living in the town know if this evil is not stopped, there will be more mayhem to come.
The setting of this movie is depressing. Antlers presents with a dark, earth tone color palate overlaying blatant visuals of addiction and a high unemployment rate.
The main themes that I saw in this film were:
- Grief
- Trauma
- Children taking care of parents
- The personification of addiction
- Greed
For more insights into therapeutic themes in movies and TV, check out my podcast, Watch This with Eli here on my website or wherever you find your favorite podcasts!
Grief and Trauma
Grief and Trauma are shown throughout the film.
Julia’s struggle is revealed in flashbacks to the trauma her now-deceased father inflicted on her during her childhood. These flashes of pain laid bare the need to escape to California. Unfortunately, that meant leaving her, at the time, kid brother behind.
After their father dies, she moves back in their childhood home. But the unresolved sexual abuse trauma also waits for her there.
We see multiple incidents of PTSD exhibited with Julia and she is very sensitive to touch, especially from males approaching from behind her.
Lucas, Julia’s student, his brother and father have been struggling with the death of his mother. Her passing leaves them with a void in their hearts that could not be filled. Beyond the emotional void, the lost income forces Lucas’s father to sell meth to support the family.
Greed
Greed is best represented by the lumber industry’s clear cutting practices then abandoning the town and its workers. In the economic vacuum left by this industry, the residents started to sell drugs. The addiction rate, accordingly, sky rocketed.
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Addiction is represented visually when we see Lucas’s father and another man making what seems to be meth. Additionally, we see Julia struggling with alcohol addiction. Represented by long, fixated stares at small alcohol bottles behind the counter in the grocery store.
Addiction and consumption seem to be what the inhabitants in this town are left with, at any costs in order to survive.
Antlers: Addiction and Greed as a Wendigo
The wendigo being the monster of the film, was an exceptional choice. I believe this is the first film I’ve seen a wendigo as the main slasher.
According to the folklore I remember, the wendigo, is a spirit that constantly consumes and is never satiated. Greed and addiction in the form of an evil spirit.
We see Lucas’s father slowly transform from human to wendigo. When the wendigo is finally released, it kills:
- A man in the woods
- The principal
- A classmate and bully of Lucas
- A police officer
- A wild bear
All within hours of each other.
Trauma Stories Forged with Folklore
The wendigo brings destruction everywhere it walks like a person in active addiction.
Prior to his father’s transformation, Lucas took care of his father and brother, Aiden. After the father turned into the wendigo, Lucas still called it his father but a different father.
This behavior is similar to children of parents in active addiction. A child will still want to validate and see their parent as a parent even when they are not behaving like one. Lucas made a statement in the film saying “All I have to do is feed him and he will love me”. This is a haunting analogy to the enabling behaviors exhibited by co-addict/codependent people.
They continue feeding the addict to be rewarded with “love” in return. They never see the pain that the addiction is causing.
Towards the end of the film, when Julia kills the wendigo we see the affect on Lucas’s brother Aiden. Aiden becomes the new wendigo. This is an explicit homage of how trauma, grief, abuse, and learned behaviors are passed down to children.
Review Summary
Despite the horror film trappings, Antlers is a great example of how addiction affects the family and wider community.
When people lose hope, loved ones, sense of self, and healthy coping skills, they’ll do anything to get back what was lost.
Using the wendigo as the antagonist was a brilliant choice as it personifies addiction, trauma, and grief.
Lastly, Antlers shows how, if we don’t confront our darkest issues, we will lose ourselves to the abyss; how that chasm will produce a person who is fundamentally someone or something else.
