Eraserhead, a film directed by David Lynch in 1977, uses symbolism to convey a dark side to practically all aspects of marriage: love, sex, and parenthood. “Eraserhead makes love and marriage, intercourse and reproduction…all utterly horrible.” (Mast, p551) Henry and Mary do not love each other, and try to break free from the bonds of a forced marriage and accidental parenthood.

First, Lynch makes love and marriage seem like a jail. “One of the most visceral images of this incarceration is that of Mary through the bars of the bed’s footboard, ambiguously struggling with these metal bars.” (Netlibrary, The Passion of David Lynch, p 153) Mary is actually just struggling with a suitcase under the bed because she is leaving Henry, unable to cope with the sleepless nights with their “baby.” Henry also symbolically transcends these bars of marriage when he fantasizes about the girl inside his radiator. Lynch focuses first on the radiator, and as he zooms in, the radiator bars eventually disappear and all we see is Henry’s imagined world inside and the girl he wants.

Secondly, sex is made to look like something hollow, “…unpredictable, and uncontrollable.” (Mast, p550) We see the conception of Mary and Henry’s baby in the very beginning of the film, though it is done completely through symbols. A sperm like entity is extracted from Henry’s mouth, and Henry appears, if anything, frightened. Once we learn of the baby later in the film, Henry is so upset by the news that his nose bleeds. Mary’s mother, Mother X, flies at Henry, “kissing him on his neck with a vampiric persistence…” (Netlibrary, The Passion of David Lynch, p156) This is symbolic of how the X family will be sucking away his freedom and his life, all because of the awkward sex encounter between Henry and Mary. Neither of them expected anything like this to happen. And once married, all sexual desire between the two of them seems to disappear, although it was awkward to begin with.

Last of all, parenthood and the act of creation is made to look like something scary, perhaps even something to be avoided. The product of the sexual encounter between Mary and Henry, the “baby,” is a skinless mass, with a head, eyes, and a mouth, and its insides are held together only by a covering of cloth. It is also a representation of the unpredictable nature of sex, as Mary and Henry did not expect a malformed “baby.” “…it [the baby] frightens away a beautiful woman Henry has sex with, then cackles...” (Mast, p551) This makes the “baby” appear as a malevolent presence. The “baby” ends up symbolizing the unpredictability of sex, ruins Henry’s marriage and his sexual encounter with his neighbor. When Henry kills it at the climax of the film, it is symbolic of Henry’s liberation, freeing himself from what bound him to Mary.

As you can see, there is an extensive use of symbolism throughout Eraserhead. There are just some of the symbols, probably the most prominent ones. The bars of the bed, the radiator lady, the conception of the baby, Mother X, and the “baby” are all symbols which cast a negative light on this marriage.