I really enjoyed Midsommar when it came out. Aster used an instantly iconic visual language to explore a great metaphor for individual and collectivized trauma (exactly my shit). It’s also wonderfully apt in a moment when our society seems to be willingly throwing itself off a cliff. I meant to turn it into some form of essay, but neglected it, and now you, my tiny loyal audience, pay the price. Nearly a year later I can’t be bothered, so instead of writing real sentences I’m just embedding some tweets with a nonsense title and you’ll have to deal with it. xoxoxo
Midsommar is about ecofascism
— sally housecoat (@betty__cam) July 10, 2019
yes we are trying to throw off the stifling, exploitative chains of capitalism and reconnect with our communities and the natural world, but be wary of our traumatized brains rapidly normalizing population control / strong borders / eugenics in a misguided search for stability
— sally housecoat (@betty__cam) July 10, 2019
this guy is brilliantly cast as the exemplifier of imperialist mediocrity: a bland facial average of all our Great American Chrises (rather Pratt-forward), a character called CHRISTIAN for gods sake pic.twitter.com/MswggrDWLU
— sally housecoat (@betty__cam) July 10, 2019
This metaphor functions partly because our relationship to the 1% relies on gaslighting, manipulation, deprivation and reward like any abusive relationship. https://t.co/2NqsbRZie1
— sally housecoat (@betty__cam) July 17, 2019
see @NaomiAKlein's Shock Doctrine- gov'ts use moments of trauma (natural disaster, military conflict) to manipulate a populace and to inflict capitalism and privatization.
— sally housecoat (@betty__cam) July 17, 2019
The same tools were used on an individual basis- our CIA's methods of psychological torture of prisoners use the same principle. Shock and disorientation will lead people to accept horrible realities in the hope of finding stability.
— sally housecoat (@betty__cam) July 17, 2019
Though I think there are plenty of other touches from Aster that might lead us to this interpretation too! Of course, the sun itself is ever-oppressive (though almost never seen on-screen!). Our high priestess mentions it's the hottest, driest Midsommar on record.
— sally housecoat (@betty__cam) July 17, 2019
Of course, cults operate by these same rules of trauma and manipulation. People without any strong family or community structure are extremely susceptible to recruitment. The overwhelming welcome Dani gets would be called "love-bombing" in a domestic relationship.
— sally housecoat (@betty__cam) July 17, 2019
They're doing it all right out in the open, in broad daylight. We know from the beginning how it plays out.
— sally housecoat (@betty__cam) July 17, 2019
We've seen horror films before, and Midsommar tells us exactly how everyone will end up, and then does it.
We've seen empires collapse before. We see the violent abuses of our planet, we know who is responsible (we know we are complicit). We accept the perpetrators dressing up their sins in beautiful flowers, putting rainbows on their logos, performing their empathy.
— sally housecoat (@betty__cam) July 17, 2019
(bigtime spoilers of course of course)
— sally housecoat (@betty__cam) July 17, 2019
But by the film's end, the empathetic screams are also ecstatic. Taking yew to feel no fear, no pain? Not terribly effective against combustion. (Also note: one of the cult's revenue streams is homeopathics).
An expression of shared pain here feels, uhh, a little rich coming from the very people who just set the fire. Of course that's what's been happening the whole time. The comfort and pain come from the same place. The bliss of Hårga is wholly dependent on the abuse they commit.
— sally housecoat (@betty__cam) July 17, 2019
(See also: The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas, by Ursula Le Guin, a short story with extremely relevant themes which also happens to be set during a Festival of Summer) https://t.co/gCaKePW0Yr
— sally housecoat (@betty__cam) July 17, 2019
The empathetic screams coming from the perpetrators of violence of course also made me reflect on my own complicity in our destructive system, the empathy I try to express, and that I back up with too little action.
— sally housecoat (@betty__cam) July 17, 2019
The film manipulates us the same way Dani is being manipulated. We want to share in her catharsis! Her joy is infectous! The way the score soars! (as long as you ignore the sour turn it takes after the climax)https://t.co/Av29lsgeUJ
— sally housecoat (@betty__cam) July 17, 2019
If we follow the metaphor through to the end, it is clearly a condemnation of us, our willingness to go along. It's a challenge to recognize the horrors right in front of us, even if everyone else seems to have normalized and adapted to the current order.
— sally housecoat (@betty__cam) July 17, 2019
Bow to your May Queen of Modsommar!
— sally housecoat (@betty__cam) October 27, 2019
🌞🌸🌞🌼🌞#midsommar #spf50 pic.twitter.com/o1fJXCq4rt
