Noah Baumbach’s apocalyptic dramedyWhite Noisehas been met with a mixed response since it dropped on Netflix. With morally iffy characters, a disparate jumble of tones and themes, and a decidedly ambiguous ending,White Noiseis open to interpretation. But, if anything, it’s a little too open to interpretation, because the most common reaction amongst audiences seems to be confusion. From an attempted murder that arrives out of the blue to a hospital run by German atheist nuns to the impromptu dance sequence at the supermarket that plays the movie out, there’s a lot to unpack at the end ofWhite Noise.
What Is White Noise About?
Adam Driverstars inWhite Noiseas Jack Gladney, a college professor in the niche academic field of Hitler studies, alongside Greta Gerwig as his pill-popping wife Babette. When a train crash unleashes a cloud of deadly chemicals over their town, Jack and Babette have to evacuate with their kids from various previous marriages. Known as the “Airborne Toxic Event,” this lethal cloud causes widespread panic and baffling misinformation. While refueling the car, Jack unwittingly exposes himself to the chemicals in the air and begins to fear that he may have doomed himself. After the cloud clears and the town returns to normalcy, Jack’s anxiety lingers, and it only worsens when he learns that Babette’s pill addiction is linked to a shady clinical drug trial and an affair with a man named “Mr. Gray.” Fixated on the affair, Jack becomes determined to kill Mr. Gray, arms himself with a pistol his colleague gave him, and tracks down Mr. Gray to a motel.
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While it has a lot of high-concept plot to get through,White Noiseis more interested in its themes than its narrative. The early scenes introducing Jack, Babette, and their kids explore family dysfunctions and the idea that each individual American family is a microcosm of America at large. After Babette’s affair is revealed, the movie switches its focus to marital jealousy and the capacity that a jealous spouse has to commit acts of violence. But the main theme inWhite Noiseisthe fear of death. Even before the Airborne Toxic Event, Jack and Babette are obsessed with their own mortality and wonder which one of them will be the first to die. Naturally, those fears are exacerbated when Jack is exposed to the toxic chemicals in the sky and he’s told that death could be right around the corner.
What Is White Noise Based On?
White Noisewas adapted from Don DeLillo’s 1985 novel of the same name. The book was DeLillo’s breakout work that brought a wider readership to his writing. It won the U.S. National Book Award for Fiction and was included onTimemagazine’s list of the 100 greatest English-language novels published between 1923 and 2005.White Noiseis a cornerstone of postmodern literature; it’s renowned for its surreal style, its skewed depiction of American society, and itsmeditations on consumerism, thanatophobia, and the cycle of violence. Although DeLillo wrote the story in the ‘80s,White Noisecould’ve been written yesterday. Modern readers can view it as a prescient satire of the social attitudes and widespread misinformation surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic.
What Happens At The End Of White Noise?
When Jack goes down to the motel to confront Mr. Gray in the surprisingly action-packed finale ofWhite Noise, he shoots him in the bathroom, then leaves the gun in his hand to stage his death as a suicide, allowing a dying Mr. Gray to shoot both Jack and Babette, who shows up at the worst possible moment. They convince a delirious Mr. Gray that he’s responsible for all three gunshot wounds before taking him to a hospital run by German atheist nuns, where they all recover. While they lie in hospital with Babette’s pill-peddling lover, the couple reconciles. The following day, Jack and Babette take their kids to the local supermarket – depicted in the film as a kind of cathedral of capitalism – where the familybreaks into a dance numberwith the staff and the other shoppers (set to LCD Soundsystem’s groovy original song “New Body Rhumba”).
This lighthearted final scene suggests that after nearly killing Mr. Gray and reconciling with Babette, Jack has overcome his fear of death. The movie points out the absurdity of fearing the one thing that will inevitably happen to every single living being. When people are too focused on the fact that they’re going to die, they neglect to appreciate the small things that make life so enjoyable in the present – like dancing around the aisles of a supermarket. According to theRadio Times, Baumbach described the closing musical number as “a dance of death and a dance of life; it’s a celebration ofall that’s ending, which is a celebration of all that is.”
