Midsommar (Ari Aster, July 3, 2019) Movie • Page 39

Totally agree dude, I didn't see the catharsis that others saw at all. It's like a case study in different types of codependency and stockholm syndrome. Felt really bad for Dani the whole time

 

It can definitely go both ways for me. It's scary as hell that she's going to live with the cult now. I also wish we got to see how Dani was before the tragedy, personality wise and whatnot. Right off the bat we see her troubled by her sister's messages.

 

I agree that it can be cathartic in the moment and for the film without actually being a “happy” ending for Dani in reality.

The only part of that post that I totally disagree with is the suggestion that Christian’s statements about her family would in any way diminish the tragedy of what she went through. Without even talking about the fact that he was horrific to her and spent the whole first scene gaslighting her about a real concern, even if her relationship with her family had some toxic elements it was still a life-defining loss and incredibly tragic.

 

I'm planning to talk about this in-depth on my podcast, but I think that a big thing people forget is that personal empowerment is different than political empowerment and that it's not a feeling, it's a reality. If I'm empowered, it means I've been given opportunity to thrive in some way - whether that involves money, freedom, etc. The word "empowered" has been really watered down by pop feminism that defines empowerment as "feeling good." It's a smart and ultimately capitalist distraction.

A good example of this is when women say that they're "empowered" by wearing make-up- okay, fine. Wearing make-up makes you feel good and more confident. But you're not empowered in anyway by purchasing expensive cosmetics designed by men to make you uncomfortable with your natural appearance. When you separate out the concept of empowerment from personal feelings, it's more clear.

Dani is not empowered, nor is her ending happy, in my opinion. It's really easy to feel like it is- and to HER, it is. But to us as impartial observers, we see that she has lost her identity and connection to the outside world, she's given everything up to live in a theater performance because she can't handle being alone. Surface level analysis says good for her, but under a little scrutiny, it's clear to see she traded a single manipulator for a group of them as a band-aid solution.

(I love this move there's SO much to pull out of it!!!!!!!!!!!)

 

Great in-depth analysis

 

thank you!! i'm gonna go off later I have so many points. Really glad to have threads like these to talk about things!! The Hereditary thread and @EASheartsVinyl in particular helped me parse so many of my thoughts on Hereditary last year.

 

To be clear, I wasn't saying that anything diminished her tragedy. Rather, I was saying that, while her boyfriend was bad, & where her family situation ended was in tragedy... It is still, in light of the rest of the film, possibly an off screen additional example of her having unhealthy relationships w/ others. As in, her relationship pre-opening tragedy w/ her sister may have been mutually unhealthy.

 

These threads warm my heart so much. I wish Ari knew how much our little community feels about these two.

 

I still need to see Hereditary

 

Excuse me.

 

It's on Amazon Prime. Watch it in the dark with your best sound set-up because the directional sound is such a cool part of it. Don't look at your phone the whole time if you can- it's such an insanely immersive experience.

 

Good to know, I'll check it out ASAP!

 

I honestly dig that people can find their own interpretations in this

 

This movie just goes to show that you should always dump your boyfriend.

Whether he’s a shithead that looks like Chris Pratt or a cute manipulator in a murder cult. Dump him like a bear in a house fire.

 

I have such a hard time with this when watching movies at home. So glad I got to see this and Hereditary in theaters for that reason. I think on re-watches at home I'm just going to leave my phone in another room so I don't even have to worry about that factor, haha.

 

@personalmaps whats your podcast called?

 

It’s called Let The Right Films In!! We haven’t done an episode in many months bc work has been crazy but you can find everything here:

ltrfi.com

Here’s our Hereditary episode which seems most relevant to this thread:

Let The Right Films In

 

I mean, yeah, she did go from one bad situation to another, and the state of her sanity at that moment is indeed questionable, but I was still like, You go, girl. It was such a powerfully cathartic moment. In the sense that it's a dark comedy/break-up movie, that's about as happy an ending as we're gonna get from the guy who made Hereditary. I still felt uplifted in the end despite it all. Emotions are weird.

 

This podcast made me realize I love Jennifer's Body.

 

This is the Korean release poster. I kinda want a copy

 

Haven’t stopped thinking about this since last night. Alllll day at work.


And I’ll say what I said in the Hereditary thread - it’s so cool this is one of the biggest (most active?) non blockbuster movie threads on this site

 

This literally made my night omg. Thank you.

I’ll post the Midsommar ep here when it’s up!! :)

 

I love Jennifer’s Body so much lol that is my favorite topic of discussion

 

Oh word I got this other shameless link for you.