A Quiet Place Ending Explained by Deffinition
A Quiet Place is a haunting horror movie written, directed by and starring John Krasinski. Taking place predominantly over the space of twenty four hours, the film centres around a family living their life in silence due to the fear of being hunted by mysterious creatures that prey on sound.
[spacer height=”20px”]
Throughout this video I will be discussing the films ending and offering up what I believe the monsters to represent. If you haven’t seen the movie then I highly recommend that you check it out before watching this video. There will be heavy spoilers and the surprises that the film offers up are worth waiting for.
[spacer height=”20px”]
I’m Deffinition and here is my ending explanation of A Quiet Place.
[spacer height=”20px”]
Plot Synopsis
We follow the Abbott family as they attempt to survive the onslaught of mysterious monsters that have invaded the planet. Unable to see, these creatures are still incredibly formidable due to their heightened hearing, armoured skin, incredible speed and terrifying strength. Whilst we know that other survivors still exist due to the fire lighting that Lee witnesses going on at other farms, they are greatly outnumbered and unable to counter attack against the almost unstoppable monsters due to the inability to properly communicate. This has caused the world’s armies to be depleted and survivors to remain at a minimum.
[spacer height=”20px”]
The Abbotts, possessing a deaf daughter have an advantage over most as they are able to communicate with one another through sign language. This greatly helps their survival but as Evelyn goes into labour and the monsters close in, their chances don’t look too good.
[spacer height=”20px”]
In the first act of the film we see Lee attempting to develop a hearing aid so that his daughter is able to navigate the harsh landscape unguided and this plays into the family’s discovery of how they will defeat the seemingly invincible monsters.
The Hearing Aide
Reagan receives a new hearing aid from Lee at the film’s midpoint. However, due to his lack of understanding of the technology, he is unable to get it to properly reproduce sound into his daughter’s ears. Still, she wears it as she wants to rekindle the relationship with her father that they once had.
[spacer height=”20px”]
As the monsters stalk Reagan we see that when they come into close proximity with the girl, they are given excruciating pain when trying to listen out for different frequencies and sounds in order to locate her.
[spacer height=”20px”]
The Monsters are able to tune their ears to hear different sound waves and vibrations and this is how they hunt. We can see the effects of how different notes and frequencies can cause adverse effects in examples such as a certain note shattering glass.
[spacer height=”20px”]
A glass has a natural resonance. Resonance is the natural frequency at which the glass will readily vibrate. If the glass vibrates enough due to being at the correct frequency, it will eventually shatter. This explains why we see the monsters vibrating their ear, they are tuning in to separate frequencies in order to paint a full picture of their surroundings and explains why the hearing aid causes so much damage to their bodies.
[spacer height=”20px”]
A hearing aid has three basic parts: a microphone, amplifier, and speaker. The hearing aid receives sound through a microphone, which converts the noise to electrical signals and sends them to an amplifier. The amplifier increases the power of the signals and then sends them to the ear through a speaker.
[spacer height=”20px”]
As hearing aids possess a microphone and speaker they can be victim to feedback. Due to the monster’s amplified hearing, any noise like this would be extremely painful and lead to them, at the very least, having a horrendous headache.
Monster and Feedback
Feedback is caused by a “looped signal”, that is, a signal which travels in a continuous loop. This can be caused by placing a microphone over a speaker. The microphone feeds a signal into a sound system, which then amplifies and outputs the signal from a speaker, which is picked up again by the microphone. This has a continuous knock on effect so eventually, the sound gets louder and louder and harder to listen to.
[spacer height=”20px”]
With the monsters getting a continuous loop of the microphone and speaker drilled directly into their brain they are sent into uncontrollable pain and a weakness within them is finally found. Evelyn manages to kill one using a shotgun and as we see the other creatures in the area close in on the farm at the films close, she nods at her daughter to play a continual feedback loop so that she can finally take them down. The hunted has become the hunter.
[spacer height=”20px”]
What do the Monsters represent?
Whilst the internet is currently awash with theories on what the monsters could represent, personally, I believe that they work perfectly as a metaphor for censorship.
[spacer height=”20px”]
We often see opinions voiced on social media over controversial subjects and though many preach free speech, it is very rarely appreciated. There have been several social media lynch mobs in the last month that have specifically targetted those who are deemed to be none PC and the film to me is a warning of the dangers this could lead to.
[spacer height=”20px”]
The most recent example I can think of is August Ames who voiced an opinion about who she would appear in films with. Overnight she was hounded by millions of people and eventually was driven to suicide because of the harassment she received. Whether you agree with her opinions or not is one thing but we shouldn’t bully people for a difference in opinion as this is an enemy of free speech.
[spacer height=”20px”]
Similar to the way that the Abbott’s have drastically had to tone their life back in order to survive, we too are unable to fully express ourselves due to the repercussions and backlash that we could face. Ricky Gervais’ latest standup show ‘Humanity’ discusses in great detail how he is regularly attacked online for voicing controversial opinions and we as a people must not be silenced in fear of what ‘monsters’ could hound us. Otherwise we could end up in a world where they voiceless are victim to those in power.
[spacer height=”20px”]
They could also just be monsters.
The Verdict
What I love about A Quiet Place is that they are several ways to interpret the film and it breaks a majority of cliches that have come to plague horrors within the last decade. It’s brilliantly acted and contains a unique premise that makes it effortlessly stand out from the crowd. Throughout I was given flashes of Anne Frank, Persecution and Family Values that massively elevated the movie to be one of the best that I have seen this year.
[spacer height=”20px”]
I definitely recommend that you check it out if you haven’t already.
[spacer height=”20px”]
Whether you agree or disagree with this video, please leave your thoughts below on what the monsters represent. There is a wealth of ways to interpret them and I’m sure that you have your own interesting perspective to add to the conversation. Make sure you subscribe to this channel as I do ending explained videos regularly as well as in-depth analysis’ on comic books and games.
[spacer height=”20px”]
I recently did one on 1922 which will definitely paint out the film in a new and interesting light for you.
[spacer height=”20px”]
Thanks very much for checking out the video and I’ll see you next time. Take care, Peace.
Leave a Comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.