There are several moments throughout the film when I was incredibly confused as to what was going on. For example, at one point a frog showed up out of nowhere in the basement of the house, and I was left thinking “what was that?”. Upon further investigation, I learned that a lot of these random symbols were representative of the Ten Plagues of Egypt. (Millican, 2017)
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The Plagues of Egypt, also known as the Ten Biblical Plagues, “were ten calamities that, according to the biblical Book of Exodus, God inflicted upon Egypt to persuade the Pharaoh to release the ill-treated Israelites from slavery. The Pharaoh capitulated after the tenth plague, until which God had prevented him from being swayed, triggering the Exodus of the Hebrew people." (Plagues of Egypt, n.d.) Some of the representations of the plagues are easier to spot in the film than others, but after some research, the Plagues present themselves in the following ways:
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Plague 1 - Water into Blood: This could be represented by the reoccurring image throughout the movie of the blood stain that won’t go away on the floor. It could also be connected to the moment when a light bulb in the basement looks to be filling with blood and explodes.
Plague 2 - Frogs: mother finds a frog behind a wall in the basement.
Plague 3 - Insects: There are moments throughout the film where insects are seen flying around, including a moment where a fly can be seen on the kitchen window.
Plague 4 - Wild Beasts Trample the Land / Swarms of Flies (Different translators of the original Biblical text interpret the fourth plague differently): The hoards of people that arrive at the house, both for the Youngest Brother’s wake and in the film’s finale when His followers arrive, can be seen as trampling the land (Eden). Swarms of Flies could be seen in the same way as Plague 3.
Plague 5 - Death of Livestock: A bee is killed on the kitchen counter. If humans could also be represented through livestock, many human characters are killed throughout the course of the film (Youngest Brother, mother, mother’s child, etc.)
Plague 6 - Boils: The closest thing could be the markings on the Man’s back when he leaning over the toilet.
Plague 7 - Thunderstorm of Hail and Fire: Can be represented by the water that sprays from the pipes after the guests at the wake don’t listen to mother. The fire aspect could be represented through the film’s final moments when mother blows the house up.
Plague 8 - Locusts: These are represented by His fans who destroy their home and ruin their lives.
Plague 9 - Darkness: Represented when mother and Him are blinded with pepper spray and also when bombs go off inside the house and the smoke and debris temporarily covers the house in darkness.
Plague 10 - Death of the Firstborn: His and mother’s firstborn child is taken, ripped apart and eaten by the giant masses of people in their home.