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Here's Why People Can't Stop Tweeting About Bird Box

People can't stop chirping about this post-apocalyptic thriller

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Amanda Bell

You might not think watching a gloomy post-apocalyptic thriller would be the way people would want to spend their precious time off during the winter holidays, but it's still 2018, which means all the 2018 rules apply (read: there aren't any). How else could you imagine closing out a year like this one, besides?

So, ever since Netflix's Bird Box dropped, the internet has had a time discussing the Sandra Bullock-led dread-inducing drama. It's not that the film's plot is terribly confusing or overwrought; there are only a couple of loose threads that might get an audience scratching at scalps, like the fact that we never actually see what all the infected people see that devours them so. Otherwise, this is a pretty straight forward movie about an invisible alien invasion that causes people to self-destruct when they see ... something. If you can avoid looking at the thing, and stay away from the mole people who are trying to force you to look at the thing, it's fine.

It's like A Quiet Place meets The Happening meets Invasion of the Body Snatchers, and it's fine. And yet ... no one can stop talking about it.

So, why, for such an un-revolutionary TV movie, is Bird Box commanding so much internet attention?

We have a theory. See, shortly after its release, Bird Box was just kind of there, and the people who watched it reacted with open curiosity.

If that wasn't tempting enough, that's when a few key celebs started weighing in to make it even more of a must-watch.

People also started to chime in about how Bird Box adds to a recent cinematic trend about sense deprivation scares.

Pretty soon, like those delightful little birdies in the movie itself, everyone was tweeting about this pic, and the movie slowly began to dominate the internet conversation.

And, of course, not everybody has been terribly considerate about abiding the spoilers code, so if you wanted to avoid spoilers, you had to watch it before any more popped up on the feed. (Speaking of which, probably best to stop scrolling now if you haven't already seen the movie, so consider this a SPOILER WARNING.)

Then the memes got going, and Bird Box watchers were enjoying an inside joke or two or twelve.

After that, people started started watching the movie just to even understand what everyone was fussing about because the FOMO was starting to get to be too much.

Then, once this new wave of watchers tuned in, the whole cycle started up again. Just like those alien-demon-whatever voices that beckon our heroes to take off the blindfolds, Bird Box fans on Twitter have been summoning everyone else to peel off those blinders to see for themselves ... with far less grave consequences than the characters on-screen, of course, but still.

The parallel makes this new addition to the digital collective a fascinating one, even if the movie severely underplayed the Sarah Paulson card and everyone needed to listen to John Malkovich more.

Bird Box is available on Netflix.