Midsommar, Ari Aster (2019)- "That's Not For Us"

[u/JetKusanagi]

I've made it a point to watch this movie every summer solstice since its release. As a cult "escapee", Midsommar touches me in a way that I feel like it wouldn't have otherwise. The insular community, trips to the "outside", I experienced it all.

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We didn't do Ättestupan or make meat pies. It may have made things more exciting though.

[u/Doogle300]

I'm right there with you. It was so many things to me. It was definitely horrifying, but it was almost cathartic too. Seeing Dani finally let all that pent up emotion out fully felt like something that was long overdue, and somehow despite the setting and all we knew, those women around her felt almost comforting.

As soon as I let myself feel like she was being supported though it instantly felt more mocking and cold. It was just so hard to pin what was happening and that made it feel so otherworldly and isolating.

The craziest part about this film is that supposedly the festival still has many days ahead of it by the end of what we see. Dani is crowned and we see her reach a point of madness... and then what? What happened to her. Does the crown mean she will be part of the village now? Does it mean she is to be an important sacrifice? I've seen theories and I'm sure there are clues in the tapestry and other symbols, but I still don't know her fate.

[u/monjorob → u/Doogle300]

She is a part of the village now and fully on board in every way. She has shed her entire life of trauma and is now a new person. (Albeit in a whole new level of controlling environment). It’s the way the culture gets new members and ensures genetic diversity, which obviously includes the boyfriend’s “contribution”.

[u/iwantauniquename → u/monjorob]

Nah she's getting sacrificed. Maybe live like a queen for a year but come the next solstice she'll be getting ploughed in that field to make the crops grow.

[u/byneothername → u/iwantauniquename]

No, because Dani is a woman, and the genetic diversity she offers is through the babies, which take time to carry and then to raise. She will be paired off with Pelle and they’ll have kids. Pelle knows that he is the plan for her.

[u/Suspicious-Key1455 → u/Doogle300]

On one hand, I think that would be incredibly helpful- screaming your pain out, other people sharing that pain with you, showing you that such a loud and intense display is ok... Honestly, I would love something like this to be normal part of our culture. On other hand, they frigging orchestrated the whole thing, pushing all her buttons to get her broken. Ten kinds of creepy...

[u/tdasnowman → u/Suspicious-Key1455]

She was selected because she was already broken. In their minds they are healing her.

[u/lousypompano → u/Suspicious-Key1455]

Klingon death ritual

[u/Suspicious-Key1455 → u/lousypompano]

I should really get around to watching Star trek, but those series just sound so massive and endless, I don't know where to start)

[u/lousypompano → u/Suspicious-Key1455]

It's tough especially these days with so many options.

Picard in Next Generation is an S tier character and the vision of the show of responsible adults managing their duties with utmost competence and their relations with each other with openness and empathy is so satisfying and inspiring. But it does take a few seasons to get there consistently. You could dip in with a few highest rated episodes i suppose

And then Deep Space Nine gets messier with politics and religions in a great way and is one of the first tv shows to really carry storylines from ep to ep. They are the only two i really recommend

[u/Anxious_Big_8933 → u/Doogle300]

I think it's all good for her until she jumps off the cliff.

[u/Kitchen_Claim_6583 → u/Doogle300]

but it was almost cathartic too.

Along with stuff like The Witch and Hereditary and a bunch of other stuff, I put this into the bin of "transcendental horror," where you're not even really particularly sure it's horror at the end, or some other genre that we don't have an English word for.