white noise it’s not such an easy movie. In addition to having a very chaotic language and a very peculiar type of humor, the new Netflix film has a message that may go unnoticed by many people. After all, with so much going on at the same time, it’s natural for us to get lost in such a mess.
The greatest example of this is the very reason it is called white noise. You may have already heard the expression used to represent that constant noise that, after a while, becomes part of the landscape and ceases to be noticed — like the sound of a fan or even ambient music, for example.
But why is Noah Baumbach’s new film called that if there’s no such noise in the entire story? In fact, this noise is very present throughout history and in multiple forms, but not in the way we expect – and that’s what makes everything so interesting.
Before our eyes
The official poster for the film gives a good hint as to why it’s called that: “If it’s everywhere, you can’t hear it.” This means that we are still talking about the same concept, but in a slightly less literal way. Instead of a sound, the plot will deal with speeches and behaviors.
And this is something that the film takes from the original work. Don Delillo’s book, released in 1985, is also heavily charged with this symbolism when making his social critique. The story of university professor Jack Gladney and his modern family in the midst of an environmental disaster is a satirical portrait of several issues that are always present in our daily lives and that go unnoticed in our eyes.
Among these themes is the fear of death and the very meaning of our relationships, including a critique of consumerism and a search for normality in the face of the absurd.
And one of the great achievements of white noise as a film was to have managed to bring all this discursive cacophony to the narrative. Thus, what we have is a feature that seems chaotic and messy, but hides its real meaning in plain sight.
What is the white noise of the film?
And the great charm of all this is precisely that there is no right answer to what is being said. In fact, there’s so much going on at the same time and themes being tackled at the same time that the meaning that comes up is the one you can capture.
Again, it’s the very concept of white noise. Imagine all these messages and themes that the script addresses as different sounds playing at the same time. It’s that indistinguishable sound that you simply fail to notice as you progress through the story. However, as you take one end and follow it, isolating everything else — that is, keeping these speeches as imperceptible white noise — you manage to unravel this skein and extract a whole meaning.
This could be precisely the fear of death. The theme appears in several moments and permeates almost all the characters, but it becomes much more audible after Jack (Adam Driver) goes through the experience of the toxic accident and believes that his days are numbered – even if that takes years to happen.
Or it could be the very meaning of relationships. Although he was always proud of his family, Jack seemed to be so conformed and satisfied with this status that he failed to notice certain issues and annoyances that hovered over everyone, starting with Babette’s own condition (Greta Gerwig). And it’s when he goes through this radical experience that he realizes how everyone is screaming around him.
Another possible reading is that white noise is actually a satire on our own tendency to seek these normalizations. You know when everything is so chaotic and confusing that you cling to whatever gives you security? The opening speech of the film, in which Professor Murray (Don Cheadle) talks about the beauty of a car accident in the cinema, illustrates very well this nudge that the script gives.
There are several possibilities and there is no way to say that this or that one is wrong or right. in fact, everything will depend on how you will hear this sound. And it may be that, despite all these signs, you still don’t understand what is being said – which is also no problem.
white noise it is available on Netflix.
