Based on the incredibly successful novel by author Delia Owens, Where the Crawdads Sing was a successful adaptation of its source material. The film revolves around a young woman named Kya who is accused of murdering her abusive ex-boyfriend, utilizing that framing narrative to explore her life growing up alone on the marshes of North Carolina and the love she finds along the way. Though the story itself is fictional, Where the Crawdads Sing was at least partly inspired by some experiences in Delia Owens’ life.

Following in the footsteps of its best-selling source material, the Where the Crawdads Sing movie was also a success, earning over $144 million on a budget of only $24 million (via The Numbers). Produced by Reese Witherspoon, her mission to have more women-led movies and shows proved successful with Where the Crawdads Sing. Despite all the success of both the movie and the novel, the тιтle itself can be an enigma, raising the question of what exactly is a crawdad — most people think it’s a bird — and what the тιтle actually means.

The Crawdad Explained (It’s Not A Bird)

Crawdads Are Freshwater Crustaceans

It could be easy to think that a crawdad is some sort of bird, given the тιтle of the film as well as the recurring exchanges of various feathers between Kya and Tate as the story progresses. But that’s not the case at all, as a crawdad is actually a freshwater crustacean that is typically found in streams, rivers, brooks, and swamps. The official name is crayfish, but they are typically referred to as crawdads in the south. Crawdads are a source of food worldwide, and their production for food in the US is mostly within Louisiana.

Though they are known to be great to eat, it isn’t uncommon for many people to not even know what a crawdad is. In fact, Reese Witherspoon took it upon herself to figure out exactly what it was, and posted on Instagram her asking cast members of Where the Crawdad Sings at the movie’s premiere. Overall, the cast did a pretty solid job with the question.

\n”‘};

window.arrayOfEmbedScripts[“instagram”] = “null”;

What Where The Crawdads Sing Means

Crawdads Don’t Actually Sing

Given that the тιтle is dropped twice in Where the Crawdads Sing, it is an important piece to the overall themes of the film, but it isn’t necessarily taken as literal, given that crawdads don’t actually sing. Instead, it refers to the deepest parts of the marsh, and in an interview with CBS in 2019, author Delia Owens talked about the personal meaning behind the тιтle and how it ties into what her mother told her when she was growing up, as the peace of being deep in the wilderness could make even crawdads sound like they are singing, stating:

I learned from a book that crawdads don’t really sing. But I learned from my mother that if you go far enough into the wilderness, by yourself, and there’s nothing but you and nature, you will hear the crawdads sing.

In the movie, Kya’s brother Jodie tells her that if she is ever in trouble to “run and hide deep in the marsh, where the crawdads sing,” when he runs away from home and their abusive father. By the end of Where the Crawdads Sing, when an older Kya dies, she explains how she is part of every aspect of the marsh, ending with the тιтle. So, while crawdads don’t actually sing, “where the crawdads sing” is where Kya is protected and at peace, where she is from, and where she will always be.

What’s Next For Reese Witherspoon’s Production Company

More Hello Sunshine Projects Are On The Way

Since being co-founded by Reese Witherspoon in 2016, the Hello Sunshine production company has consistently championed women-led movies and television shows, with fantastic female talent both in front of the camera and behind. The Hello Sunshine website states that the production company “aims to broaden perspective and empower women by giving them authorship, inspiring agency, and creating a platform to help them shape culture and the world around them.” They have been successful in doing just that, and have a number of projects lined up.

Among the projects in development by Hello Sunshine is The Morning Show season 4, the great Apple TV + series that stars Jennifer Aniston and Witherspoon. Zendaya is set to star in the Hello Sunshine-produced A White Lie, an adaptation of the novel The Gilded Years. Some other projects include more book adaptations, such as Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine, and Run, Rose, Run. Hello Sunshine has proven that tapping into the novel market for a women-led audience is a great strategy, and Where the Crawdads Sing is just one example of it working out.