Therefore, this essay aims to understand how epistemic questions surrounding gender, race and knowledge are reproduced in Bird Box. So far, however, far too little attention has been paid to the role of epistemology within Bird Box. For example, noting how the analytical data and marketing costs of the new release have been kept secret (Hoggatt, 2018 Nicholson, 2018 Lee, 2019). Several film critics have drawn on traditional understandings of secrecy as a deliberate withholding of information (Horn, 2011).

The limited analysis of secrecy within the film has mostly focused on the ontological form of secrecy, of the known unknown, which drives people to suicide (Topel, 2018). The narrative follows an interracial couple Malorie (Sandra Bullock) and Tom (Trevante Rhodes) and two children who attempt to reach safety after surviving an apocalyptic suicide for five years (Bier, 2018). In addition to its demand within mainstream popular culture, the apocalyptic genre of the film can also offer a critique of power in our own societies (Crawford, 2003).

To date, it has become the most watched film on the site, with 45 million accounts streaming the film within its first seven days of publication (Netflix, 2018).

The survival horror film ‘Bird Box,’ was released on Netflix in November 2018. Graduate, BSc Politics and International Relations, University of Bristol

Tom on bird box