Throughout the film we see Malorie's growth as a leader, as a mother, and as a survivor, and now she's found a place where she doesn't have to be so harsh all the time as a means of staying alive. When they finally arrive at the school for the blind, one of Malorie's first acts of relief and comfort is to open the box and release the birds to "be with their friends," and shortly after that she finally softens with her children, giving them real names as a sign that they're now about to live a better life. In a metaphorical sense, though, the bird box can be seen as Malorie's own heart, tensed up and locked away while she simply tries to survive the horrors of her life. The bird box of the film's title refers in a literal sense to the cardboard box Malorie uses to store her birds for the journey down the river as an alarm system for when the creatures or those influenced by them happen to show up. If these people are so convinced that everyone should see the creatures, it stands to reason that they would choose to reproduce and show their children as well, keeping the babies who didn't find ways to harm eventually harm themselves alive and raising a race of people who find the creatures "beautiful." That sets up a strange society in which humanity is divided into two very different sides. Their primary goal seems to be converting others to looking at the creatures, by force if necessary, but they're also able to at least give the appearance of being reasonable, and even drive cars and carry on conversations, all with their eyes wide open. They're not insane in the sense that they are incapable of rational behavior. Depending on who you talk to, these people were either already insane when they saw the creatures or were driven insane by contact with them, but in the wake of this contact they remain alive and very dangerous. There's another, more frightening alternative future for certain pockets of humanity, and that future lies in the people who somehow survived after seeing the creatures.
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