究竟那些「怪物」是甚麼？

What are the mysterious beings in Bird Box?— the Cthulhu hypothesis

坊間眾多假說之中，最可靠的看來就是克蘇魯神話的神祗/怪物/惡靈/(其他...)

The film Netflix film Bird Box (2018) has kept the deadly, mysterious beings, which lead to the apocalyptic condition of the world, invisible and cryptic. Are they aliens, ghosts or gods? One plausible hypothesis refers to the Cthulhu Mythos, the fictitious shared words of indescribable of cosmic deities and monstrous beings.

電影到最後也沒有清楚地呈現或解釋那些造成人類浩劫的神秘生物是甚麼，留給觀眾想像：外星人？鬼怪？神祗？

What are the features of the mysterious beings in BirdBox?

電影中的"怪物"設定是怎樣的呢？它們會產生影子、能搖動樹冠、能看見它們的人會死亡（自殺）或陷入瘋狂；倖存者聲稱看到"真理"並進入著魔的狀態……特別留意，有一場戲暗示了"怪物"的外觀：

1. Although they are invisible to the audience, they can cast shadows on windows and appear to be seen by the characters, and move the trees when they pass by.
2. These beings create the hallucination of “someone is calling my name” which tempts the people to open their eyes or commit suicide.
3. Most who saw these beings would kill themselves. Some people seem to be immune to the suicidal force, and they would force other people to see those beings, claiming they cannot be the only ones to “see the truth”.
4. No one describes how they look like. But in one scene their appearances are hinted in some gothic drawings:

可能是"怪物"的模樣

What isCthulhu?

由小說家 H. P. Lovecraft創作的「克蘇魯神話」體系 (由後人整理Lovecraft的眾多作品後而設定)中的"神祗"或"超存在"角色眾多 (「克蘇魯」本來只是其中一個)，特色各異，但也有些常見的特徵：多觸手、很多觸手；不規則的外形、詭異的眼睛；人類目睹它們的話會死亡、或瘋狂、或成為崇拜者。

Cthulhu is originally one of those mysterious characters created by H. P. Lovecraft in his novels. Later August Derleth, novelist and disciple of Lovecraft, coined the term “Cthulhu Mythos’ and created a more systematic worldview.

There are numerous deities and monsters created by Lovecraft and Derleth. The most common feature of those horrible beings is an assemblage of tentacles, many tentacles. Some also remind me of the brain nerve cells with many dendrites.

當中有些角色會令人想起腦神經細胞的形狀，有密集恐懼症的人最好避免觀看有關克蘇魯神話的圖片了；反過來說，若你喜歡吃墨汁八爪魚意大利麵，你或許會很喜歡克蘇魯神話。

Some characters have limbs and trunks, some with wings, many are in irregular shapes, with dreadful eyes. I suggest people who suffer from trypophobia should also avoid the images of Cthulhu characters. But if you love cuttlefish ink spaghetti with octopus, Cthulhu is your cup of tea.

Some of the deities in Cthulhu Mythos: 

以下列舉一些克蘇魯神話中的角色特徵：

Cthugha: a great fireball 一個巨大的火球

Nyogtha: amorphous dark matter with tentacles 不定型的黑暗物質，帶著多條觸手

Azathoth/Xada-Hgla: enormous amoeba with many polypous appendages and eyes 巨大的變形虫，帶有多隻眼睛及附肢

Nyarlathotep: a tall, dark faceless man sometimes with a tentacle on his face 
看來像又黑又高的男人，臉上沒有五官，只有一條巨大的觸手

(請再比較一下電影擷圖中的"怪物"畫像)

Lovercraft 的克魯蘇設計草圖

What is in common between Bird Box and CthulhuMythos?

電影中的神秘生物及克蘇魯中的神祗/怪物角色有何類同點？

電影和Lovecraft的小說都不會完全清晰地呈現"它們"是怎樣的，因為它們都超越了人類認知的能力；正是如此，它們既有摧毁性又有吸引力；兩者的外觀特徵也相當吻合 (請參看擷圖中的畫像)

1. Both keep the mysterious beings beyond the reach of human understanding. The "truth" of the cosmos is horror itself. Most people who see these beings are driven to death or madness, thus cannot report what these beings actually are.
2. These beings are the source of destructive temptation to human. People in Cthulhu Mythos often worship those beings and form cults. The closer to the “truth” about these beings, the closer to death or madness of those people.
3. The appearances of those beings in Bird Box resemble those in Cthulhu Mythos, such as tentacles/dendrites, dreadful eyes, and irregular shapes:

This is just a hypothesis. The filmmaker of Bird Box intentionally leave it open, keeps the secret of the mysterious beings obscure, and invite the viewers to interpret.

What is your hypothesis?

當然也有不同於克蘇魯神話的地方——到底這只是其中一個假說。

你的看法又如何？