The Connection Between Netflix’s The Haunting of Hill House and Grief Theory

I. INTRODUCTION

The Haunting of Hill House (Netflix 2018) is an original anthology series loosely based off the novel of the same name by Shirley Jackson. The show tells the life story of the five Crain siblings and the trauma they endured in their childhood at the “Hill House”. Director Mike Flanagan gave a nod to a Buzzfeed article that points out a theory that each of the Crain siblings represent the five stages of grief. Looking through the lens of the narrative, this is how The Haunting of Hill House presents the five siblings as the five stages of grief.

II. TOUR OF HILL HOUSE

More than anything, this show takes place in the psyche of its characters, as each of the siblings face their own fear brought on by childhood horrors. Oldest child Steven grows up to be an un-empathetic author, capitalizing on his siblings stories without actually believing them. Second oldest Shirley is a frustrated funeral home owner and mortician, and middle child Theo is an overlooked and misunderstood child psychologist. Youngest twins Luke and Nell grow up to have a slew of problems, the former being in and out of rehab, and the latter being haunted by sleep paralysis and depression. The show relies on non-linear storytelling in order to withhold information from the viewer until the perfect moment to ensure maximum emphasis on character building. The first five episodes employ restricted narration to tell the story of a couple days from the point of view of the five different siblings. In those two days, Flanagan uses the story and flashbacks to characterize each sibling.

III. STEVEN IS DENIAL

Denial is the refusal to accept the reality of the situation at hand. Kübler-Ross says, “Denial is not only an attempt to pretend that the loss does not exist. We are also trying to absorb and understand what is happening.” There could not be a better portrayal of this stage other than the oldest sibling and the main focus of episode one, Steven Crain. The eldest sibling grows up to be a famous writer, profiting off other peoples ghost stories as if they were his own. In the first episode, after listening to an older woman tell her ghost encounter, Steve picks up one of his books off her shelf. After realizing she’s a fan of his, the camera gets a close up of Steve with his back to her. He rolls his eyes as she talks about Hill House, and we already get a major glimpse of his character in the first 10 minutes. He doesn’t believe her, and doesn’t take her story seriously. We find out through a flashback that Steve got famous profiting off his siblings ghost stories from Hill House. In an emotional flashback from episode 5, Nell surprises= and interrupts Steve at his book reading. Nell goes on a monologue, “I’m saying, why did you charge these people $30 a head to sit here and listen to you talk about things that you don’t believe. … Now, you stand there and you talk about ghosts and spirits. And you sell tickets for the privilege, and yet you don’t believe in any of it. … And you tell me I’m crazy, and that Mom was crazy, and Luke’s crazy, and we’re all just nuts, and then you tell our stories. My stories, the same stories that you told me were just dreams or delusions.” The camera is our narrator, and it flips back from shots of a teary eyed Nell to a fuming Steve. In this monologue, Nell establishes Steven as a character that refuses to acknowledge his sibling’s problems as real. He denies the truth of his sibling’s experiences. Steve is characterized through these flashbacks, and through the narrative created, the show portrays Steven as the first stage of grief theory, denial.

IV. SHIRLEY IS ANGER

The second oldest sibling is Shirley, and her connection to anger is extremely present throughout the series. According to grief theory, anger comes with the hurt and realization of the events that have happened, and when trying to adjust to a new reality. Her character is motivated by frustration. Through a flashback the audience learns on the last night at Hill House, young Shirley points out her mother is still inside the house as the family drives away. Her father dismisses her, and this begins Shirley’s life of bitterness. She is frustrated at her father for leaving her mother at the house. As an adult, she stands up to Steve and what he wrote about their family in his first book out of discontentment. She is furious with her older brother for profiting off of their stories of Hill House, and even though it would help her business out immensely, she angrily claims she and the other siblings aren’t going to take his “blood money” when he offers them a cut of the profits. Behind her back, it is revealed through small scenes that the other siblings and even her husband end up taking the money. When Shirley finds out in episode 6, She is infuriated. She kicks her husband out of the house and her family out of her home. The show is not linear, and as its shown that Shirley fully paid for Luke’s expensive rehab 6 years previous, the viewers understand why her bitterness has grown. Two episodes prior, the story informs the viewers that Luke has been in and out of rehab for 6 years. Her anger with Luke has come to a full boil when, in a flashback, we see her turn him away from Nell’s wedding because he shows up high. She pays him $100 to take a cab and leave before Nell sees him, and tells Luke this is the last time she is going to pay for him. Because of Shirley’s strained relationships to each of her siblings, her character represents anger, the second stage of grief.

V. THEO IS BARGAINING

The middle child is Theo, and she represents bargaining. As the middle sibling, she is often overlooked by her family, and is seen as the outsider. On bargaining, grief.com says, “We may even bargain with the pain. We will do anything not to feel the pain of this loss.” There may be the hopes of avoiding the pain through other means. Throughout the show, she is seen distancing herself from others, including her family and her love interest. In a flashback from episode three, we learn that Theo is ‘sensitive’, meaning she has the ability to touch people and things and experience psychic knowledge about them. This character quality causes her to be more closed off from others, as a way of not feeling their pain. As an adult, Theo takes Steve’s offer and uses her share of the money to get a PhD. She works as a child psychologist, and uses her ability to solve cases. Throughout her life, Theo wears gloves to control who she lets into her life, and to avoid feeling until she wants to. About bargaining, Kübler-Ross says, “In a way, this stage is false hope. You might falsely make yourself believe that you can avoid the grief through a type of negotiation.” In the same way as those grieving in the bargaining stage, Theo believes she can avoid the hurt that comes with feeling. She wears her gloves as a way of bargaining, believing that she can avoid the pain and trauma she endured as a child.

VI. LUKE IS DEPRESSION

The fourth child and oldest of the twins is Luke. In grief theory the fourth stage is depression, a stage marked by helplessness, hostility, flight, and feelings of being overwhelmed. In this stage, those grieving may feel numb, withdraw from life, and look to unhealthy coping habits. Luke grows up to be a heroin addict, and has been in and out of rehab for the past 6 years. Through flashbacks, the views see that out of all the Crain siblings, Luke had the most traumatic experiences in Hill House. From getting stuck down in the basement in a dumbwaiter and a creature attacking him, to having a floating old man come into his room at night to terrify him, Luke appears to have had the most paranormal encounters. To make matters worse, none of his family members believed any of his stories except for Nell, his twin sister. It is inferred that he uses drugs as a coping mechanism, as he faced the worst of Hill House. Because of the non-linear story, we learn later in episode 9 that Olivia tried to poison both Luke, Nell, and his friend Abigail. Luke watches his best friend Abigail die in front of him, but before he and his sister drink the rat poison tea, Hugh comes in and saves them. This leads to confusion and sadness in Luke’s character. His emotional bond to his sister is a big part of the narrative, as Luke’s episode (episode 4) is titled “It’s a Twin Thing”. They are also physically bonded, as at multiple points in the show, both Luke and Nell talk about their experience of feeling each others emotions and pains. At the time of Nell’s death, Luke is as clean as he’s ever been, and had just earned his 90 day chip. Her death sends him in a spiral, as he experiences all of the physical pains that come with death, like being extremely cold and stiff. Out of all the siblings, he struggles the most to deal with her death. Luke represents depression due to being ridiculed for the ghosts he saw as a child, losing his mother, and physically experiencing Nell’s death.

VII. NELL IS ACCEPTANCE

After analyzing Steven, Shirley, Theo, and Luke, we are brought to the youngest sibling, Nell. The fifth and final stage of grief noted by Kübler-Ross is acceptance. This is an understanding of the new reality, and finally an ability to grow and move on. Nell has chronic sleep paralysis, and often sees the “Bent Neck Lady” during her episodes. The “Bent Neck Lady” has haunted Nell since her childhood, and the restricted narration leaves out crucial information of who she really is. Nell eventually marries a sleep technician named Arthur, who dies suddenly of an aneurism during one of her episodes. In this horrifying scene, she encounters the “Bent Neck Lady” for the first time since meeting Arthur. With a terrifying pan that frames the “Bent Neck Lady” as a silhouette in the window, the score ramps up to add to the horror. After this she tries to cope in many different ways, as Steven says to Nell in episode 5, “I’ve seen all the phases with you. The Christian phase, the New Age phase, the crystal phase, the antidepressant phase. You don’t get to just start smashing up our lives because you’re transitioning into a new treatment, Nell.” She has an unmet need to be seen and heard, but none of her siblings are helping her. Throughout the non linear structure of the first five episodes, we slowly piece together that Steve and Shirley ignore her calls during those two days, and Theo and Nell haven’t spoken since a big argument. After her husband’s death, Nell is seeing a therapist who recommends she confronts her childhood. At the end of Nell’s episode, she heads into the woods to face the haunted Hill House. This last scene is where the narrative portrays Nell as acceptance. When she walks into the house, she sees apparitions of her siblings and parents. Close up shots of Nell accepting this reality are shown. She isn’t confused, she isn’t angry, and she isn’t in denial of this. She’s just happy to be home, as she cries tears of joy when she sees her mom. The house, as apparitions of her family, apologizes for the way they treated her grief. In Nell’s mind, this mends their strained relationships. After dancing with her husband, Nell feels fully happy, for the first time in a long time. Ultimately, her mother tricks Nell into putting on a noose and jumping off the balcony, breaking her neck and sending her through the past. The last five episodes have culminated to this: It is revealed that Nell has been the “Bent Neck Lady” all along, and she is forced to accept this new reality. Throughout her last moments at the Hill House, her unmet needs are met in the affirmations of her siblings, and Nell’s death finally leads to her acceptance. This is furthered in episode ten, “Silence Lay Steadily.”

VIII. SILENCE LAY STEADILY

To develop the idea of the Crain siblings representing the stages of grief, the viewer can look at the last episode, “Silence Lay Steadily”. When the Crain siblings come back to face the house in the finale, they see Nell once again. They each wake up locked inside the red room after having nightmares about their character flaws. When a revived Luke tells Nell he doesn’t want to live without her, she responds, “There’s no without. I’m not gone. I’m scattered into so many pieces, sprinkled on your life like new snow.” When Steve apologizes, she tells him, “It wouldn’t have changed anything. I need you to know that. Forgiveness is warm, like a tear on a cheek. Think of that and of me when you stand in the rain.” Nell then says to each of her siblings, “I loved you completely. And you loved me the same.” In these lines, Nell has accepted her reality and that she was always bound to Hill House. And, in doing so, she allows her other siblings to move on as well. After Steve’s nightmare, he no longer denies his family’s encounters. Shirley forgives her sister and her family. Theo realizes she needs to let others in, and Luke lets go of the ghosts he’s been holding onto. At the end of episode 10, we see the four older Crain siblings 2 years in the future, celebrating Luke’s sobriety. We can see that the other three siblings have reconnected with their partners. The audience can infer that the surviving members of the Crain family have faced their trauma head on, and have come to accept the new reality of their family.

IX. CONCLUSION

In conclusion, The Haunting of Hill House is a show that deals with trauma and how to navigate through grief. Just like grief theory, the show is non-linear, and bounces around from past to present in order to frame each character as their own stage of grief. Because the narrative limits the viewers perspective, it is able to portray the five main characters as the five stages of grief.

X. WORKS CITED

Dominick, Nora. “This ‘Haunting Of Hill House’ Detail Explains What The Crain Siblings Signify.” BuzzFeed, BuzzFeed, 1 Dec. 2018, https://www.buzzfeed.com/noradominick/this-haunting-of-hill-house-theory-just-made-me-cry-of-the.

Flanagan, Mike, director. The Haunting of Hill House, Season 1, Netflix.

Gocsik, Karen M., et al. Writing about Movies. W.W. Norton & Company, 2019.

Gregory, Christina. “Five Stages Of Grief - Understanding the Kubler-Ross Model.” Psycom.net - Mental Health Treatment Resource Since 1986, https://www.psycom.net/depression.central.grief.html.

“The Five Stages of Grief.” Grief.com, https://grief.com/the-five-stages-of-grief/.