Warning: Contains SPOILERS for Leave the World Behind.
Leave the World Behind‘s ending has received mixed reactions from viewers and critics — while some have called its ending anti-climactic, others have appreciated it for its element of surprise. It is understandable where both sentiments come from. However, the complaints about the movie’s ending being anti-climactic and too ambiguous seem to miss the film’s point.
In its opening arc, Leave the World Behind unfolds like a typical 10 Cloverfield Lane-esque psychological thriller, where it is hard not to wonder whether the outside world is actually crumbling or the characters are only being paranoid. However, as the movie progresses, it dares to rise above the tried and tested tropes of the apocalypse subgenre and presents an ending that stays with the viewer long after the credits start rolling. Unfortunately, not all viewers found the conclusion satisfying — but could they be missing some crucial details in Leave the World Behind‘s storyline?
The Real Meaning Of Leave The World Behind’s Friends Obsession (It’s A Netflix Self-Own)
The significance of Leave the World Behind’s obsession with Friends extends beyond its storyline, offering commentary on Netflix as a streaming site.
1 Leave The World Behind Quote Proves Its Ending Is Perfect
In a scene from Leave the World Behind‘s opening arc, Clay tells his wife that one of his students is writing a book on how “media serves as both an escape and a reflection.” As trivial as this scene may seem, it perfectly foreshadows how the movie and its ending are less about an overarching apocalyptic event and more about the influence of media on humanity. While using its central apocalypse as a narrative device, Leave the World Behind presents several examples where media serves as both an escape and reflection for the main characters. For instance, no one seems to understand the text on the red pamphlet that Clay finds when he goes outside.
However, Archie somehow decodes it as “Death to America,” claiming that he learned it from a video game. In this scene, too, the movie establishes how the video game Archie played was not only a source of escapism but also reflected a potential reality. Leave the World Behind‘s ending scene reinstates the same theme by portraying that Rose’s obsession with completing Friends reflects how, after growing up behind screens all her life, she cannot help but seek escapism when the world around her is falling apart.
As the adults join forces and try to unravel the complex problems around them by deducing conspiracy theories, Rose gives up on the outside world and seeks answers from Friends‘ simpler fictional narrative, which almost guarantees a happy ending. This highlights how, like the characters, audiences were never supposed to know the reason behind the central apocalypse in Leave the World Behind‘s ending. The conspiracy theories and pop-culture references were never supposed to provide answers but, instead, draw a picture of how they reflect humanity’s need for escapism when nothing makes sense, and no one is in control.
Leave The World Behind’s Ending Makes It More Realistic & Optimistic
Leave the World Behind‘s ending is also realistic in the sense that it accurately portrays how most humans would be left clueless about what is happening if the primary sources of media were taken down. Owing to humanity’s dependence on technology, many would even feel as helpless as Ethan Hawke’s Clay, while others would find comfort in escaping through physical forms of media. However, despite giving a harrowing view of humanity’s suffering in an apocalyptic event and hinting at how it could lead to a civil war, Leave the World Behind‘s ending is also optimistic because it highlights that, after doubting one another, the surviving humans join forces to help each other.
