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The 'Living Dementia Complex Theory'-

I theorize that the Backrooms, or, at least, the movie version, is coded like, if not perfectly symbolic, of cognitive decline. And not just any kind of cognitive decline, I'm talking about DEMENTIA related cognitive decline.

Evidence 1- 'The more it remembers something, the more it doesn't.'

Even before the movie was released, when Clark remarked in the trailer about how 'the more the Backrooms remembers something, the more it doesn't', interested me. The quote, in itself, feels very dementia-like. The more the Backrooms recalls what occurs in the real world, the more its reflections deteriorate.

Evidence 2- The presence of Stage 1 music in Mary's flashback

In the scene where she recalls her mother being taken to a mental facility, the music playing at that time, felt familiar. The reason why it felt familiar, is because I listened to the original it came from.

B1- All that follows is true. A song from Everywhere at the End of Time, a series of 6 albums made by The Caretaker. What's interesting, though (And something that further sparked my Living Dementia Complex Theory), is that Everywhere at the End of Time is specifically centered, around dementia, with the six albums being auditory representations of each stage of dementia's cognitive decline.

As quoted, 'Here we experience the first signs of memory loss. This stage is most like a beautiful daydream. The glory of old age and recollection. The last of the great days.'

A beautiful daydream. The glory of old age and recollection. The last of the great days.

Yet it plays when Mary is recalling, not a fond memory, but the memory of her crazed, emotionally neglective, and perhaps even abusive mother being taken away. The Caretaker's version is a beautiful daydream. Mary's is the recollection of a sad nightmare that unfortunately was not simply a nightmare. While I highly doubt that Mary had dementia, I find it possible that whatever her mother had, was hereditary. And, even if mainly muted, it could still linger with her.

Stage 1 of Everywhere at the End of Time fits Mary's character. A traumatized woman who became a therapist to try and find some sense of inner peace. Yet, once Clark found the Backrooms, he lost himself. And, in following him, in trying to make sure her client was okay after being missing for so long, Mary too also fell into the Backrooms' mania.

Evidence 3- Blue tape on a yellow background

In order to remember where the exit is, Clark marks the doorway with blue tape. A shade of blue that perfectly contrasts the yellow background. Yet it also feels familiar.

It reminds me of Everywhere at the End of Time, again. Specifically, this time, the cover art of Stage 6.

Each of the albums has covers depicting distorted art. At first, it's simple. A peculiar cylinder that's perhaps paper towels. A distorted vase with only four flowers. But then the distortion gets worse. More vague. More abstract. And then, it ends with Stage 6's cover art. Blue tape against a yellowish piece of cardboard. It feels so weirdly coincidental, yet so weirdly familiar all at once. While I consider this one of the most questionable pieces of evidence, it's one of the first pieces I collected.

Evidence 4- Themes of brain activity in ASync

When Mary talks to Phil after being captured by ASync scientists, Phil explains that pre-Backrooms, ASync had developed MRI machines. MRI machines are used, to scan the brain for any cancers, injuries, or deterioration. It's also one of the ways dementia is diagnosed. Through brain scans. Meaning that ASync may very well have scanned at least one or two patients with dementia, or something similar. Which could tie in with how they're researching the Backrooms. They could very well being researching something reminiscient to the minds of people they scanned.

Evidence 5- The Still Lifes and Prosoprognosia

The Still Lifes are the Backrooms' twisted reflections of lifeforms found in real life. If their source is in the Backrooms as well, they physically cannot attack them, until the source tries to escape. The defining feature about the Still Lifes is that they have highly visible deformities, such as extra fingers, or, most notably, distorted faces. Even Mary and Clark's Still Lifes, two of the most human looking Still Lifes featured in the movie, have blatant distortions (ie, Mary's having a contorted face, while Clark's has a less contorted face, but more distorted proportions). This is reminiscient of how in later stages of dementia (most notably, Stage 6), patients suffer from prosaprognosia, where they are almost completely unable to properly register faces and names, thus relying more on auditory cues than visual cues.

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And now I get to more recent 'evidence' (Mainly parallels or themes).

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'Evidence 6'- Clark's Temporary Bliss State

When Mary confronts Clark, he's been in the Backrooms long enough to have suffered from severe mental decline, causing him to show signs of psychosis, as well as heightened agitation (Notably a symptom of cognitive decline, though like Mary, I'm doubting that Clark suffers from dementia.) He forces Mary to roleplay the argument he had with his ex, even going as far as to snatching the Still Life Barbara's hair OFF HER BALD ASS HEAD AND STICKING IT ON MARY LIKE A WIG. 💀

The agitation gets so severe, Clark points a knife at Mary, highlighting the fact that he wasn't as docile during the incident as he claimed to be. But once Mary calls him out, he starts to settle. He feels that he's finally found a place to belong in. He doesn't want to leave the Backrooms. He doesn't want to change. For the first time since his mania began, Clark feels regret for his actions. A moment of calm in the mental storm. Which brings to mind, one of the songs in Stage 4 of EATEOT.

I1- Stage 4 Temporary Bliss State.

'Post-Awareness Stage 4 is where serenity and the ability to recall singular memories gives way to confusions and horror. It's the beginning of an eventual process where all memories begin to become more fluid through entanglements, repetition and rupture.' (-As quoted by the album.)

A brief period where, despite it being a late stage, memories and clarity return, followed by worsened decline.

From what I can tell, when someone goes insane in the Backrooms, it's almost always permanent decline, unless you have almond water. Yet despite having visibly gone UTTERLY APESHIT, Clark suddenly regains his mind. With no almond water in sight, and the only thing in the fridge being Kat's SEVERED HEAD FROM EITHER CAPTAIN CLARK OR, HELL, CLARK HIMSELF, MAULING HER.

Yet he's calm. Regretful. He even starts to free Mary. But, like how in dementia, the brief bliss is abruptly ended by worsened decline, what is Clark's own bliss state interrupted by? HIS STILL LIFE DECIDING HE WANTS TO ROLEPLAY THAT ONE FATHER EATING SON PAINTING WITH HIM.

'Evidence' 7- The protagonists parallel numerous themes, including one another.

Both Mary and Clark have similar themes.

Mary's mother was neglective and practically abusive. While there's no direct references to his parents, Clark's implied to have had a not-so-great childhood, and, with how volatile he is when angered, there's a high possibility of him having been abused.

Both's lives center around their jobs.

Mary, despite not being mentally sound, became a therapist to likely find some peace. Because he doesn't exactly have a home, Clark lives in his own furniture store.

Both face their pasts in the Backrooms.

Mary uses the cement handprint she made when she was little, to TRY TO BASH CAPTAIN CLARK'S FACE IN. Clark encounters a Still Life version, OF HIS EX.

Both repress their pasts.

Mary never outright talks about her past. We only see her past in flashbacks. Clark actively tricks his mind into rewriting how the argument went, to the point where he tries to have a physical version of the argument to rewrite.

Both go from docile to hostile.

Mary does a great job at keeping calm at first, especially when Clark starts utterly hyperfixating about the Backrooms' layout. But by the end, she's gone pure SURVIVAL mode, outrunning Still Lifes with a sprained ankle and calling out Clark while held at knife point.

Clark is a bit more irritable at the beginning, but otherwise is equally calm. When he gets too aggravated in the first session, he apologizes sincerely to Mary, being genuinely regretful for yelling at her. But at the end, it doesn't take much to piss him off, and even threatens Mary with a knife.

Both repress their pasts, but once said pasts come to light, they respond differently.

Mary doesn't outright confront her past (then again, when you're going through the horrors, a gal's gotta do what a gal's gotta do to survive), but also chooses to continue living, despite everything.

Clark denies his past, meanwhile, claiming that he was a victim of circumstance and change, when he had equally caused others harm, and even when he accepts what happened, he dies when he tries to help Mary escape (perhaps one of the most genuine acts he commits in his screentime).

One represses, then continues. The other represses, then clings.

Someone who's a victim, yet accepts herself for who she is.

Someone who was a victim at one point, but allowed himself to be changed by that.

Two victims that ended up never finding peace, thanks to the Backrooms.

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