Monogamy Good, Casual Sex Bad

Last week, Netflix announced It Follows is available for streaming. I own the movie on blu-ray. I've viewed it multiple times. Since it has resurfaced it feels like an appropriate time to share my interpretation which is simply this: It Follows teaches us to value commitment and reject the nature of dishonest hook-up culture.

**SPOILERS AHEAD.**

Absentee Parents Equals Oversexed Teens.

According to data compiled at familyfacts.org, “Children whose parents monitor them more closely are less likely to be sexually active when they are in their teens.”

Jay and her sister Kelly have zero adult supervision. The first glimpse we get of mom is her back, facing away from us, sitting separately from the rest of the characters. In later scenes, we only see half of her face or we see her from a distance. These angles express the detachment between parents and children. We don’t see Jay’s dad until he manifests as the “It” that wants to kill her and later in an old family photo.

The Metaphor of Old Maid.

Yara, Paul, and Kelly play a game of Old Maid on the porch. In a standard playing deck, every card has a match except the Old Maid. The only way to win the game is to secretly coax other players to draw the Old Maid from your hand. Whoever is left with the Old Maid loses.

The message is that commitment, those who remain a pair, are safe from the doom of STDs and unrequited love. The Old Maid herself is a metaphor for the person seeking casual pleasures of the flesh and the loneliness that comes with that lifestyle. She is alone and has no match and therefore she is forced onto others through trickery and deceit.

Dostoyevsky’s ‘The Idiot’.

Jay asks Yara what she’s reading on her seashell Kindle thing. Yara replies, “The Idiot. It’s about Paul.”

The Idiot attempts to illustrate the ideal man through its main protagonist, Prince Myshkin. The Prince is loving, kind, and honest. He has great compassion for others at a detriment to himself.

Paul walks a fine line between hero and creepy guy-friend. Like Prince Myshkin, in contrast to other characters, Paul’s intentions are pure. Hugh, whose name is actually Jeff, only pretends to be interested in Jay to pass the curse to her. Neighbor Greg seems to care for Jay and admits that he should have been nicer to her, but almost immediately after they have sex, he goes on a date with someone else.

Paul is the first person to believe Jay when she admits she’s being followed. He’s the first to offer help even though she turns him down numerous times. Paul offers himself to Jay in an attempt to rid her of the curse even though the act would put him in danger. Ultimately, it’s Paul’s commitment to Jay that saves them both from being pursued at the film’s end.

The only way to break the chain is to commit to the person you’ve slept with.

“The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” by T.S. Eliot

Prufrock, the poem’s speaker, expresses his desire to pursue a relationship with a possible mate but he’s too much of a coward to do so. Other people see Prufrock as inadequate and they have no problem telling him to his face. Paul is like Prufrock in the way that he desires Jay but feels powerless to do anything about it until the last minute.

The Color Red.

Red is used as a symbol for danger numerous times throughout the film. Annie, the girl in the opening scenes, wears red heels as she runs for her life. Hugh wears a red shirt on both dates with Jay. When Jay first spots the old woman at school, a girl in a red jacket walks by. The peeping neighbor boy wears a red sweatshirt as he spies on Jay through the bathroom window; his red ball flies against the window and startles Jay.

The only time the color is not seen as a threat is the last scene when Jay and Paul are walking hand in hand. Though a figure walks behind them, it has been established that a person walking isn’t necessarily “It.” A man in the foreground can be seen wearing a red shirt and raking his lawn. The act of cleaning or tidying up signifies a change in the characters. This scene can also be interpreted as a warning that the curse will still come if Jay’s commitment to Paul proves to be untrue.

Happy Ending?

The ending is ambiguous and left up to the viewers interpretation. If we assume that Jay can reciprocate Paul’s feelings, the couple will be okay and thus break the curse. However, because of the uncertainty in Jay’s face and the loose grip she has on Paul’s hand, one can only assume it won’t last.

The moral of the story is clear: Causal relationships built on lies will ultimately kill you.

*Originally published at Medium.com