My own theory on what the Backrooms film suggests

This is a theory I’ve been forming after watching the Backrooms movie yesterday. I know the general idea this theory is conveying has likely been thought of before, but this is more of me piecing it together by myself and sharing my own research.

The Complex is the physical manifestation of the human subconscious. Considering how its revealed that Async initially manufactured MRI machines, it all makes sense. Like how MRIs can scan and map out the human brain using intense electromagnetic fields, those same fields, to an even more extreme power could, to the best of my knowledge, take the already abstract concept and blueprint of the entire human subconscious and physically map it out as a shared hive mind of corridors that represent some form of the mind like Inside Out. (as a simple reference). Async didn’t create the Complex, of course, as we all might know, but I’m suggesting that, rather, they had unintentionally manifested the concept of thought into a more discoverable and accessible plane of existence. The idea has been thrown around before, and I think it has been implied heavily a few times before, so I think I’m about on the right path.

If the Backrooms itself represents a physical form of the subconscious, then I believe the Still Lifes, as we’ve seen in the film, represent the discarded human identities. They are powerless without an active mind, and like everything else in the Complex, naturally begin to deteriorate within each rendition. I think the reason why Pirate Clark, as horrifying as it was, resembled something human more closely compared to other still lifes. Clark’s inflated ego ensured that the Backrooms perceived him in the way he wanted to be. However, Clark’s selfish pride and denial ends up corrupting the Complex’s reflection of him, forming it into the ultimate personification of his arrogant rumination; Pirate Clark.

By the time Clark finally comes to his senses and shows brief humility after Mary snaps, it is already too late, and he dies by the hands of his own arrogance. I think this feeds into the whole theme of the movie: the cost of arrogance is your downfall.

One thing to note, is how Mary manage to overcome Pirate Clark. She weaponizes a piece of the concrete handprint from her childhood home, an object from the real world that is a physical reminder of her past trauma, to defend herself from the monster, before said object shatters signifying her letting go of her own trauma. After Mary is rescued and interrogated, we glimpse on various settings from the film in the Backrooms, with the final shot of Mary’s still life in a replica of the Async interrogation room. I’m not sure when that last shot takes place, but regardless, I believe the shot is symbolic of Mary’s past trauma, captured in the Backrooms, never fully leaving, but just like most stuff in there, is now destined to fade away as Mary chooses to move on from it.

This theory of mine a little vague on the details but I think it's a decent idea for a first watch. Any thoughts you really don't need to hesitate in sharing, hope I made myself clear!