Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for Leave the World Behind
If staying insideduring the pandemictaught us anything, it’s that people really need something to do when they have nothing else to do. When it became mandatory for millions of people to sit in their homes and twiddle their thumbs in the hopes of protecting themselves and others from a pandemic, many reportedly had severe mental struggles dealing with that, suddenly unfamiliar with a feeling of prolonged isolation. In those times, people turned to what they knew best:pop culture. People tried to make the best of the worst situation and used all that time to re-devote themselves to the fictional worlds that made them happiest, across all formats, finding hope and comfort in the friends that would never leave them. If any recent film has understood that impulse towards the protection of fiction, it’sLeave the World Behind, and it shows the ways that fiction can be the balm needed to get people through a literal apocalypse.
Leave the World Behind
A family’s getaway to a luxurious rental home takes an ominous turn when a cyberattack knocks out their devices, and two strangers appear at their door.
What Is Sam Esmail’s ‘Leave the World Behind’About?
Leave the World Behindis about Amanda (Julia Roberts) and Clay (Ethan Hawke), a well-to-do white couple who wants to enjoy a simple vacation with their kids, Rose (Farrah Mackenzie) and Archie (Charlie Evans). They drive to a luxurious rental home away from the city, which seems like a practical paradise, until all the electricity gets wonky and there are reports ofsomethingout there that’s disrupting all of modern society. Soon after, they’re surprised by the owners of the house, G.H. (Mahershala Ali) and his daughter Ruth (Myha’la), who insist that it’s best for them to come back from their trip and hide out in their home while waiting to hear back from G.H.’s wife, who was on a plane when everything went down. This curious crossover leads to six strangers having to coexist while no one truly knows what’s going on, which inevitably leads to many situations involving superstition, fear, and jealousy.
None of the Characters Truly Trust Each Other in ‘Leave the World Behind’
Everybody’s different personality traits and behavior patterns leads to small pockets of understanding that quickly get unmoored by updates from the outside world or a character springing a new aspect of their personality that the other person wasn’t expecting. The plot frequently gets thrown off course by a character suddenly “disappearing” and leading the other characters scrambling to figure out where they’ve gone.The audience knows where everyone is at all times, but the characters are constantly at a disadvantage, searching for answers and clawing for a sense of clarity that they can’t find.
Even the answers the charactersdogive each other, like G.H. explaining how his life in theworld of stock marketsand meeting with powerful figures leads him to believe that no one is truly in control, or Clay’s assertions that everything will turn out fundamentally fine in the end, don’t bring them any peace or better way of understanding what to do. It doesn’t help any when those attempts at rationality get intruded by human complications, likeRuth being deeply suspicious of everyone, Amanda being a naturally stressed out person, and Clay being too self-impressed with his easygoing nature to truly influence anything going on. If these people can’t trust in each other, then they’ll trust in the one thing they can fall back on.
‘Leave the World Behind’ Emphasizes the Power of Pop Culture
A running theme throughout the film is how pop culture is used to either showcase how a person sees themselves or is used as fuel to bridge a connection between two people who really need it. Take the opening scene, where Amanda boldly proclaims that she “f***ing hates people” before the title drops withJoey Bada$$’s “THE REV3NGE” playing, ironically blasting the vibe of privilege and comfort that Amanda and Clay carry themselves with. Furthermore, on the car ride over to the house, Rose is in the backseat watchingFriends, upset that her tablet is on the fritz right as she was about to watch theFriendsseries finale.
Within the opening six minutes, with one song reference and one television show, we get insights into the general state of mind of these people, and we get a window into how one of the specific characters prioritizes what matters to her in her life. Not only that, but theFriendsreference serves as a setup for a payoff that won’t come until the end of the film. Even a scene where Clay is seen wearing a shirt for the feminist punk rock bandBikini Killis a snapshot of his background and feeds into his perception that he sees himself as one of the “good guys” with good music taste and positive humanist principles.
Speaking of music, it is the most obvious way in which directorSam Esmailuses pop culture to provide emotional commentary on where characters are at in the story, sometimes in a manner that borders on fourth-wall-breaking. For instance, when the family first arrives at the house,Kool & the Gang’s “Misled” is playing on the radio, forebodingly verbalizing the emotional confusion that will come from the eventual unforeseen kerfuffle they will find themselves in with G.H. and Ruth. Or later in the film, after G.H. and Amanda have multiple tense conversations that establish themselves as polar opposites in bothphilosophicaland parenting matters,G.H. attempts to smooth things over by showing her his vintage record collection.
While he wants smooth jazz, she insists on something that’s easier to dance to, and goes with “Too Close” byNext, a song (all about the tension between two people in proximity to each other, not for nothing) that creates an easy vibe of smooth chemistry and gets the two to dance together, to the point that they embrace each other in a way that shows they could come together were it not for the stress of the ongoing situation. It’s a moment of honest connection that could have led to something deeper had they not been interrupted by the deus ex machina shrill noise that interrupts the characters every 25 minutes, and it speaks to the way that finding just the right song was able to make two people, who were previously antagonizing each other not even an hour ago, now find theintimacy and relaxationthey couldn’t dream of.
Netflix’s ‘Leave the World Behind’ Proves Storytelling Is the Ultimate Survival Tool
While getting the short end of the stick (in terms of screen time), Rose is the character who most effectively brings this film’s use of pop culture to the forefront. The entire trip, she’s primarily fixated on her need for pop culture indulgence that she is currently deprived of. In one scene, she confides in Amanda that she’s watchedThe West Wing(but only theAaron Sorkinseasons) and recounts an episode where a character tells a long story involving God sending a lost soul numerous assistance that the soul turns away from, waiting for a literal sign from God. Rose sees the story as a sign that she is “done waiting,” but Amanda has no idea what she’s talking about. While all the other characters are either indulging themselves in mindless wandering or proselytizing over the best way to approach this situation while waiting and doing nothing, Rose becomes the character most committed to going after her solution, all because a TV show gave her the push needed. Which brings us back, as many things in life do, toFriends.
Throughout the film,Rose makes her fixation onFriendsvery apparent, as she’s freaked out that she will never see how the show will end. Since the TVs never work in the house, and the electricity is always screwy, she’s completely apoplectic and complains about it to everyone, with an intense anxiety in her voice. By the end of the film, when everyone else has been left adrift and resigned to facing uncertain futures, Rose has escaped to a nearby house that looks very expensive and high end, where she finds a safe room bunker. In this bunker, she finds a state-of-the-art TV with a DVD collection full of every movie and TV show she can think of, which she investigates to find…the last season ofFriends.She pops it in, puts on the finale, and smiles as it plays, being fitfully rewarded for following her escapism-provided motivation. Rather than wallow in confusion and misery like everyone else, she chose to do something for herself that led her to the necessary tools of survival, thanks in part to her passion for a piece of fiction. It stands as a rather optimistic view on what to do when life goes the way no one told you.
