Midsommar - Let the festivities begin - The Something Awful Forums

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > Cinema Discusso > Midsommar - Let the festivities begin

frenton: Aug 15, 2005; devil soup

charles. posted:

this movie is probably a good litmus test to find out who's an MRA

So, if you happen to think the person who joined a cult and sacrificed their significant other with fire is more reprehensible than a grating, douchey boyfriend, you're a men's rights activist? Gotcha!

# ¿ Oct 15, 2019 08:33

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# ¿ May 18, 2024 00:29

frenton: Aug 15, 2005; devil soup

charles. posted:

As with most horror movies, the subtext is more the point of the movie than the literal occurrences, so yes.

Whoa, man. That's really deep.

# ¿ Oct 16, 2019 05:34

frenton: Aug 15, 2005; devil soup

Halloween Jack posted:

It's a horror movie. The psychological need to suss out which one of them is the good guy and which one of them is the bad guy is a problem in the first place.

Did the retarded boy deserve to be drowned, or did the teenagers deserve to be murdered for having premarital sex in a cabin? It has to be one or the other!

(USER WAS PUT ON PROBATION FOR THIS POST)

It's the murder cult and the lady who joins the cult. They're the bad guys.

# ¿ Oct 16, 2019 05:47

frenton: Aug 15, 2005; devil soup

charles. posted:

It's not supposed to be deep. It's fairly obvious. But you still somehow insist on taking the movie only at surface value.

Yeah, in real life, it's bad and wrong to burn a guy to death. But it's a movie, and it's a metaphor, and Danny is the sympathetic character and Christian is the rear end in a top hat who deserves to die (by horror logic rules). I think it's a mistake to just view these things as a surface level series of events. It's not really the agreed upon conventions of the genre? I don't know how to better explain this. Like everything is to be given a realistic moral judgment except the murder. The murder is a vehicle for the judgment and is not literal. This is starting to become an incoherent ramble but I feel like the general gist is clear.

Extreme judgment for fairly mundane and innocuous offenses is like a staple of horror movies. You can deserve to die just for being horny.

I'm not arguing about whether or not he deserved it. Clearly, no one in the movie, including Dani, deserved their fate. I'm arguing that not sympathizing with Dani isn't because of OMG MISOGYNY or whatever. I don't sympathize with her she's just as culpable in their lovely relationship and she ends up burning a guy to death as queen of a murder cult.

# ¿ Oct 16, 2019 06:29

frenton: Aug 15, 2005; devil soup

Samovar posted:

Victims are as culpable as those who harm them?

Victim? It's a two way street, as made abundantly clear in the scene where both of their friends independently try and get them to break off their relationship and neither one is emotionally equipped to do so.

# ¿ Oct 16, 2019 09:16

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# ¿ May 18, 2024 00:29

frenton: Aug 15, 2005; devil soup

charles. posted:

Right okay so now it's not because she killed him you don't sympathize, it's because she's "just as culpable in their lovely relationship" (forget the murder dude you're still focusing on the wrong things in a horror). Very cool take!
Yeah that's not what's made 'abundantly clear'. Christians selfishness, manipulation and cowardice is though! Christian has been stringing Dani along for a while, and the movie constantly is giving you glimpses of his inner machinations, making everything about himself, always steering the conversation into why everything is Dani's fault, and how much he clearly does not care about her (forgetting her birthday, not wanting to spend time with her). Dani on the other hand is never shown to be as equally lovely as Christian. She DOES genuinely care about him, about doing the right thing, is selfless to a fault. She is the victim of this dude's emotional abuse.

If you're really that invested into your take, you should watch the director's cut. It's a lot less subtle about Christian being the bad guy (not that I think it was even subtle to begin with).

Way to ignore the part where I said "and she ends up burning a guy to death as queen of a murder cult." And yeah, I'm sure Aster included the scene where Dani's friends tell her to break up with him and she refuses as a slice of life and it's not plot relevant at all. Very cool take!

# ¿ Oct 16, 2019 12:52

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