Em resumo, sim.
Embora não exatamente. O verdadeiro simbolismo por trás da Babadook é a tristeza da mãe pela morte do marido e seu ressentimento em relação ao filho. O filme é uma metáfora para sua luta interna para reconciliar esse ressentimento e pesar para que ela possa dar a seu filho o amor que ele precisa. Isso tem sido apoiado por vários críticos de cinema e há até uma seção da página da Wikipédia para o filme que apoia esta ideia.
Writing for the Daily Beast, Tim Teeman contends that grief is the "real monster" in The Babadook, and that the film is "about the aftermath of death; how its remnants destroy long after the dead body has been buried or burned". Teeman writes that he was "gripped" by the "metaphorical imperative" of Kent's film, with the Babadook monster representing "the shape of grief: all-enveloping, shape-shifting, black". Teeman states that the film's ending "underscored the thrum of grief and loss at the movie's heart", and concludes that it informs the audience that grief has its place and the best that humans can do is "marshal it".
Egyptian national film critic Wael Khairy wrote in his "Film Analysis" on 22 November 2014 that The Babadook "taps into something real, a real human fear". Khairy argues that what the Babadook "stands for is up for debate", but writes:
"The malevolent Babadook is basically a physicalized form of the mother's trauma ... I believe, the Babadook embodies the destructive power of grief. Throughout the film, we see the mother insist nobody bring up her husband's name. She basically lives in denial. Amelia has repressed grief for years, refusing to surrender to it."
Khairy concluded that the film is "based on something very real" and "feels unusually beautiful and even therapeutic."