The monster that took over the father was a metaphor for the father's bad parenting?
What infects the boys, if the monster is symbolic? Otherwise, is this just a creature infection horror? Or is it saying the children have no fate of escaping the darkness of their father, they will inherit and repeat his ways.
Something was missing in this for me.
is it saying the children have no fate of escaping the darkness of their father, they will inherit and repeat his ways.
That's how I read the film personally. On the literal level there is this physical corruption into a monster. We see this with the father, and subsequently with the younger brother. And on the figurative level, the monster is a symbolic representation of trauma, and how it stems from violence, abuse, and begets more violence and abuse, from parent to child.
Slight difference in my perspective though is that I think the movie demonstrates that the older son is able to break the cycle (at least, as far as we know), which is why he doesn't have any symptoms. He may have escaped the darkness that enveloped his father, the darkness his father hoped he would not inherit, unlike the younger son.
However, the Jesse Plemons character does show symptoms. I do think one of the film's shortcomings is the lack of clarity how the transformation and infection work on a literal level. But I think that dramatic twist ending helps to cement the running parallel between the two families. Keri Russell and Jesse Plemons shared an abusive household. It seems that the former may have gotten out unscathed, but her brother did not.
I have little concern for Kerri R's character bc she was shown to be a natural at slaying Wendigo's. Her brother will die either by his own hand or his sister's.They'll know he's turning before he gets fully developed. She and Lucas are wise to the Wendigo's game.
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