Erax takeaway: The familiar old "guilt" monster

Erax is Netflix's most recent short film, directed by Hebru Brantley and starring Genesis White and Jasmine Cephas Jones in the lead roles. The film follows the familiar fantasy storyline of creatures emerging out of a mysterious book that Opal (Jasmine Cephas Jones) hurriedly picked from a roadside stand as a birthday present for her niece Nina (Genesis White).

Despite the familiar trajectory involving monsters coming to life from a book, the short film has a lot to say by way of deep metaphors.

Read on for our takeaways from the short film.

Warning: Erax spoilers ahead.

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Erax Takeaway: The manifestation of guilt

Selfish and self-centered, Opal is far from the perfect aunty to Nina, who loves and respects her a lot. She nearly misses her niece's birthday and picks up a book from a roadside stand because she did not care enough to get a proper present.

As Opal explains to Nina that in life, one must always fend for themselves, the monsters start coming to life, and they get trapped in the room. These monsters are most likely just manifestations of Opal's guilt for being selfish and letting others down.

This makes more sense at the end of the film, because Opal is only able to shut the last monster off inside the book after she admits to Nina that she had been a bad aunt and a selfish person. She also faces her own demons. It is often difficult to own up to yourself when you're wrong, even more so than owning up to others.

With Opal facing her guilt, she is able to get rid of the monsters, making it evident that it is the guilt that she had to get over, not the monsters themselves. The takeaway here is that no matter how you hide, guilt always catches up to you. And the only way to get rid of it is to face it head-on.

Guilt can only be countered through acceptance. This is another takeaway from the short film, which is highly impactful despite the familiar storyline.

Erax is now streaming on Netflix.