Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for White NoiseNoah Baumbachhas teamed up with frequent collaboratorsAdam DriverandGreta Gerwigfor Netflix withWhite Noise.White Noiseis as comedic as it is sardonic and manages to provide a commentary on some of today’s hottest topics from public health to blended families. There is so much to unpack inWhite Noisefrom its satirical attitude toward education, consumerism, and dystopian realities, but one of the most pervasive themes is the universal fear of death and how we treat it.White Noiseis based onDon DeLillo’s book of the same name, released in 1985. Consequently, the movie itself is a vibrantly-colored period piece, taking place in 1984.
What Is Dylar?
A drug called “Dylar” serves as the center ofWhite Noise,whose purpose is largely unknown for most of the movie. The film’s protagonist, Jack Gladney (Driver), is a professor of Hitler studies (which only exists in the world ofWhite Noise) who is told by his step-daughter (Raffey Cassidy), Denise, that his wife, Babette (Gerwig), has been taking Dylar. Denise seems to closely watch her mother’s health and habits, so when she can’t find Dylar in her own research, she questions Jack about it. Jack knows nothing about the drug, and since he and his wife tell each other “everything,” this seems odd. Over the course of the movie, the town the Gladney family lives in becomes exposed to a deadly chemical. Jack gets first-hand exposure to the chemical which will kill him in the future, but he doesn’t know when. As a result, he develops an obsession with death that is accompanied by hallucinations and nightmares. As things settle, Jack finds himself investigating Dylar and finds no record of it from his wife’s doctor, or anywhere else.
Using his resources at the university, he is able to deduce that Dylar is an experimental drug. He decides to confront Babette and finds that Dylar was a test medication that hoped to rid people of the fear of death. Babette volunteered to test Dylar, seeking relief from her anxiety about dying. The drug was deemed unsafe but since Babette’s intense fear of death supersedes her love for her husband, she decides to trade Dylar for sex with a character called Mr. Gray (Lars Eidinger). While it sounds like a helluva drug, after some light research, it can be easily concluded that Dylar isn’t real, but its presence in the film is representative of things that are. Similarly,White Noiseis not based on true events but, is representative of real-life experiences.
Experimental Drug Trials
The ethics of experimental drug trials in and of themselves are disputed even when properly administered. As reported by theNational Institute on Aging, Clinical drug trials are split into four phases: The first phase focuses on safety, the second focuses on effectiveness, and the third focuses on effectiveness and safety in different populations, dosages, and in combination with other medicines. Then, if the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) deems the drug to yield good results, it moves into the fourth phase of trial which monitors effectiveness and safety in larger, assorted populations where both standards are tested over a length of time and diversity of individuals.
What’s troubling aboutWhite Noise’sDylaris that it’s specifically deemed unsafe due to its side effects, meaning that if the administrators of this test are reputable (and it doesn’t sound like it), then its use didn’t make it past the first phase, so its effectiveness hasn’t been tested yet. Therefore, Babette may be using a drug that is no longer experimental, and may not be effective, if it existed.
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Why Are Babette and Jack So Afraid of Death?
Since we already know Dylar is not real, we can begin to consider the things it may illustrate in the real world.The Cleveland Clinicwould define an intense fear of death or dying as “Thanatophobia.” Given the lengths that Babette is willing to go to alleviate this fear and the hallucinations experienced by Jack, it can be easily assumed that they are either experiencing or have experienced thanatophobia. At first thought, Dylar sounds like something that may take the edge off of extreme anxiety, like a benzo, except, it doesn’t take the edge off of anything. If anything, it may do the opposite by making certain words indistinguishable from reality, like Babette explaining she may duck for cover after hearing the phrase “speeding bullet.” Intense fear of death is a relatable fear for most of us from time to time, but it often only becomes all-consuming when the prospect of the unknown end is close. As a result of the chemical’s release and the disorganized and nearly-apocalyptic frenzy that the Gladney’s town undergoes, it’s fair to say that they may have felt “the end” coming quite close.
InWhite Noise,we see a family who seem to genuinely love each other, and it’s sweet. They love each other enough to closely watch each other’s habits, express concerns, and frantically fear the loss of one another through death. Babette in particular fears death so much that she is willing to betray her marriage to diminish the phobia she so desperately seeks relief from. She refers to it as a “condition,” before anything else. Despite their unorthodox ways of addressing it, it has to be admitted that the Gladneys are doing something oddly intelligent, albeit somewhat self-indulgent by categorizing the fear of death as a “condition,” because it’s possible it is one fear we are all afflicted by, but at varying degrees at varying times of our lives. By bringing this fear to life, Baumbach forces the audience to face the fear we all actively suppress. Baumbach speaks to the fear of death present in all of us that is both understandable and foolish all at once. Because what is the point in fearing the inevitable, the one thing in this world we are guaranteed as living creatures? What a way to begin a universal existential crisis!
Following a global pandemic, a movie that seems to satirize the drama that plagued the early days of COVID-19 sits on the bones warmly like the near-distant memory of global lockdown. At a time when we are now safely away from a widespread fear of the unknown, it’s a welcome reminder that death is the only way we know we’re alive.
