by Erin Banks

Plot

It’s advisable to watch the movie before reading my analysis, as it may be difficult to
understand otherwise.

In The Tall Grass is a 2019 movie based on the 2012 novella of the same name by Joe
Hill and Stephen King.
The premise of the movie appears simplistic in nature, a sister-brother duo – Becky and
Cal – are on their way from Topeka, Kansas to San Diego, California in order to give up
Becky’s unborn child for adoption. When they park their car on the premises of a church
building across from a field of tall grass, they hear the cries of a young boy named
Tobin, and ultimately enter the field in order to help him out of the green maze. This is
when the trouble begins, as we soon learn that the field appears to exist and operate
outside of time and space. It moves around objects and people at will, and seems to
prevent those who entered to exit again. Moreover, the field directs everyone to its
center, marked by an ominous black boulder with ancient markings.
Throughout their ordeal, Cal and Becky meet Tobin’s father Ross, mother Natalie, and
are later joined by Becky’s (ex-)partner Travis. He had come to look for Becky as she
had been missing for several months, although within the field not even a day had
passed.
It soon becomes evident that the story is centered around heavy religious symbolism
that is yet difficult to make sense of for the casual viewer. In short, no pee breaks
allowed, keep your eyes trained on the screen, folks!
Names

As someone who’s had a lifelong fascination with the origin and meaning of names, and
who knows that King usually chooses the names of his characters with great care, I first
looked into the names of the protagonists.

Becky, from Rebecca, is a Hebrew name meaning “noose,” or “to bind.” The ambivalent
name suits the character well, as she could be the tie that binds the family of her, Travis
and her unborn child together. But this tie was broken by both Becky and Travis’
unwillingness to compromise (noose aspect), as well as Travis’ hesitation about being a
father.

Cal could be short for Caleb (Hebrew, “bold, faithful”) or Calvin (“little bald one”), which
makes less sense. It may also reference to the theological practice of Calvinism, a strict
and emotionally spartanic form of Protestantism founded by John Calvin in the 16 th
century.

Tobin (Hebrew “God is good”) in this movie fulfills Jesus’ promise “Let the little children
come to me, and do not hinder them, for the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to such as
these.” [Matthew 19:14] because as I will explain in the below analysis, he redeemed
not only himself but Cal and Becky from the field and power of the black rock.

Ross is originally a Gaelic name meaning “moorland, headland,” which is interesting

because it already indicates that Tobin’s father belonged to the field long before he
touched the boulder, which only seems to have driven him mad but which only amplified
his strongest personality traits as a ruthless salesman.
His last name Humboldt is comprised of the old German syllables “hum,” meaning bear
or giant, and “bold” meaning commanding. This appears to describe Ross’ character
quite well.

The name Natalie (from Russian, meaning “birthday” or “Christmas”) already hints at
Tobin’s larger role in this story.

Travis is an English name with French origins meaning “traverser” or “to cross.” Not
only did he cross space and time, by going into the field, to find and save Becky, but he
also helped Tobin fulfill his role as the savior of Becky and Cal by facilitating his
crossing over from the field into the church across the field.

Analysis of Religious Themes

My analysis is to be understood within the context of this particular tale and the
mythologies it touches upon. It is neither an endorsement or rejection of Christianity,
any Christian church or any other religious beliefs.

The boulder at the center of the field is connected to the church in the same way Satan
in the Bible is connected to God’s church. He is God’s creation and as such will always
have a place in Christian mythology, as well as in the hearts of each person he tempts
in order to separate them from salvation.
The rock’s ancient markings appear to be more in tune with a tribal religion, which has
prompted some Pagans to speculate that “In The Tall Grass” is a condemnation of
Paganism as a whole and a secret endorsement of Christianity by the authors. This is
doubtful because King has in the past been rather vocal about losing faith in organized
religion, specifically the Methodist Church he grew up in, instead choosing to believe in
a Deity but remaining non-denominational.
The tribal markings make sense in the context of the Bible’s claim that God and the
Devil are older than Christianity, mankind and the world itself. Jesus was not a
Christian, he founded Christianity or in Christian terms, the correct way to approach
deity and salvation. Anything in terms of mankind’s spirituality and understanding of
Deity that came before that would hence naturally have borne more Paganistic
connotations.
Now, here is where it gets interesting. Jesus is the “rock” on which God’s church is built,
and the rock/foundation/stone is referenced aplenty in the Bible, for instance in 1 Cor.
10:4, “I am Messiah, the King of Zion, the Rock of Heaven.” [See also Moses 7:53;
Deut. 32:3-4; Eph. 2:20; 2 Sam. 22:2-3; Psalms 118:20 and more.]
But it is also stated that Satan the Adversary is a liar, a tempter, leading people on and
astray. And a way for him to do so is to emulate God and Jesus, the Savior, though he
can only ever do this in a slightly perverted or twisted way (ancient markings on the rock
indicating pre-Christian existence and non-Christian ideals). There are fewer people
who would gladly embrace “evil,” but far more who are desperate for a salvation that
always seems to elude them, or simply just too gullible in their approach of spirituality.
These would be people easily duped by Satan presenting himself as “the rock” and
fundament of all things “good.”

Enter Ross, whom Becky eventually stumbles across in the field, and who promises to
lead her out of the field, which he of course does not do and instead leads her astray –
towards the rock ominous black formation.
In a flashback we see how his family got lost in the maze while Ross was on a
frustrating business call. Within this brief scene, we glean insight into Ross’ strongest
trait, which is being a salesperson, a negotiator, perhaps even a seducer, someone who
doesn’t take no for an answer. These can be positive traits but are typically personality
features more easily corruptible, as they naturally go hand in hand with dishonesty, a
hunger for power and the disregard for others’ personal boundaries, which – in the
context of this story and Biblical lore – are more “Satanic” in nature. And so it does not
surprise that when Ross touched the boulder, he immediately turned into its most ardent
spokesman, attempting to convince Becky, Cal and Travis to touch the rock as well.

Cal touched the rock and this perverted his strongest trait, the love and devotion to his
sister, which was hinted at becoming more incestuous and jealous in nature afterwards.
He continued to convince Becky of giving up her and Travis’ child because he saw a
competitor not only in Travis but in the child.
This eventually led him to murdering Travis so he could have Becky for himself, yet
ended up dying hundreds of times in the field at the hands of Ross. There’s no honor
among sinners, it appears.
In one of the more gruesome scenes, he also murdered Becky’s newborn baby and fed
her its remains. An interesting twist on the Pagan Saturn myth.
All Pagan traditions are in some way related due to dealing with human pathos and
celebrating (human) nature as well as due to migration, replacement and fusion of
cultures and spiritual thought. And so Saturn’s equivalent in the Roman religion was
Cronus, in Germanic/Norse faiths he was Loki, and in Celtic belief some equate him
Lugh, the trickster. All these faiths incorporated their adversarial character into their
belief systems, instead of casting out or condemning him.
Christianity has largely “satanized” and demonized these ancient archetypes,
interpreting them as the Christian Devil. But the myths of the sacrifice of one’s son as
Abraham did with Isaac, Rebecca’s husband (!), or the Eucharist consumption of a
sacred body – that of Christ – aren’t a Christian idea or invention but are deeply Pagan
in nature.
Of course, in Becky’s case the force-feeding of her newborn is likely more of a
punishment, possibly for her sins of being pregnant out of wedlock, previously
considering to terminate the pregnancy and ultimately planning on giving away her child
(God’s gift) up for adoption.
One question that occupied many of those who’d watched the movie was why Tobin
had lead the others into the field, and ultimately – seemingly – astray.
Firstly, it’s important to remember that due to the strange time loop, (“history repeats
itself,” “hell is repetition,”) it was actually Travis who had called Travis into the field,
although in the real world he had entered it after Tobin, Becky and Cal.
Secondly, Tobin did not deliberately lead the others astray as Ross did, for example. A
way to interpret this is to acknowledge that salvation is usually sought out by the sinner,
or alternatively granted to those who went through trials and tribulations (see Job in the
Bible). Only when facing evil and our own evil lurking within is it possible to fully grasp
(our) humanity and distinguish good from evil, wrong from right and so on. This
indicates that the field itself could be viewed as purgatory. Classically viewed as a place
of punishment, it is also a place of purification of souls, which would fit the narrative of
the movie.
This is also why even when the characters die many times over in the film, they always
resurface again. Some early Christian mystics still believed in a form of repeated rebirth
before ultimately having learned one’s lesson enough one would gain entry to Heaven.
So we could say that even while in purgatory does God still give us a chance of
rectifying our mistakes, learning from them and finding salvation.
Some have suggested that Travis is the actual savior in the movie. That is a matter of
interpretation, but if we orient ourselves along the lines of Biblical lore, then Travis was
merely a tool for Tobin to step into his savior role, much like John, Peter or Paul were
tools or stepping stones on Jesus’ way to completely fulfill and demonstrate his savior
role.
Tobin and Travis both touched the rock and remained unsullied by its powers. In Tobin’s
case this is due to what we learned above about children’s natural innocence and
freedom from sin being a guide stone towards the Kingdom of Heaven. Which is exactly
what Travis did by first following his unborn child and then – while already in the field –
following and trusting Tobin. Thus he had already freed himself of sin.

Colors & Numbers

Both Natalie, Tobin’s mother, as well as Becky wear blue dresses in the movie. In
Christianity, Mother Mary is often depicted in a blue cloak or wearing other blue
garments. It is a color originally associated with Judaism because Hannukkah
decorations are mainly blue, and even the flag of Israel depicts a blue Merkabah.
Hannukkah is sometimes incorrectly described as “Jewish Christmas” because it takes
place in the month of December. So here we have the connotation between Natalie
(Christmas) and Tobin (savior) again.
In Christianity, blue stands for the promise of Heaven, and mothers, the Bible states,
are connected to Heaven via their motherhood. They are to be revered and honored, at
least if they are married. [Exodus 20:12; Lev. 19:3 for instance.]
In (Neo-)Pagan and esoteric color magic, blue is used in protection rituals or spells.
Traditionally, it stands for loyalty, faith, inspiration.

Now, atheists or otherwise more scientifically inclined individuals may disagree, but for
the purpose of this post, let us say that there are not six but seven individuals stuck in
the field: Ross, Natalie, Tobin and Becky, Cal, Travis, plus the unborn child.
Because Freddy, the dog, plays no pivotal role in the story, and many organized
religions do not believe animals have a soul, we will leave him out of the equation.
Seven is a number appearing often in Biblical symbolism.

 God created the world in six days but rested on the seventh, which completes the
week as we know it in our calendar. He then declared this day to be holy and to
observe the Sabbath celebration on this day.
 The Lord’s prayer consists of seven queries: 1. Hallowed be thy name, 2. thy
Kingdom come, 3. thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. 4. Give us this day
our daily bread and 5. forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who
trespass against us. 6. Lead us not into temptation and 7. deliver us from all Evil.
 Seven is the number of completion and perfection because it unites the four
corners of the earth with the holy trinity. This concept was borrowed from some
Pagan beliefs in which the four elements and the three faces of the Goddess
(maiden, mother crone) signified the wholeness of the universe.
 The seventh son of a seventh son myth in the Bible – the seventh son is the
“healer.”
  There are seven deadly sins but also seven virtues.
 In Deuteronomy, the Israelites are called to forgive all debt every seventh year.
 The Hebrew word “shaba” means oath and is related to the word “sheba” which
means seven.
 Lastly, Rebecca met Isaac in Beersheba, which is Hebrew for Seven Wells. This
is particularly relevant as the story is centered around our modern day Rebecca,
“Becky,” and her “savior son” Tobin.

Photos

Header image & movie cover courtesy of Copperhead Entertainment, Netflix.

Painting “Saturn Devouring His Son” by Francisco Goya, ca. 1819-1923.