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Midsommar (Aster 2019)
A film with incredibly well written dialogue, superb acting, gorgeous cinematography. With these impressive external pieces and a pretense of depth, altogether the film remains superficial spectacle. For Marshall this was a glass half empty; disappointment because there was so much under-utilized potential. For Laura this was a glass half full; appreciation of the bones that were enough for her to flesh out a larger message from the film.
SPOILERS IN THIS EPISODE
TOPIC INDEX – Midsommar (Aster 2019) (times are approximate)
0:00 – Introductions
1:56 – Midsommar
3:14 – A brief pre-discussion rant from Marshall about the trailers for Ready or Not (Betinelli-Olpin and Gillett 2019) and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (Tarantino 2019)
5:31 – Review of character names
6:28 – Discussion begins, spoilers after this point
7:26 – Into the weeds we go with cultural relativism
13:58 – Character dynamics and interaction
16:56 – Cultural relativism
18:17 – Marshall rips into the film
25:15 – Laura rebutts
28:23 – Sociology moment: Digging in on cultural relativism
29:28 – Is the cultural relativism in the text?
34:40 – Cannibal Holocaust (Deodatto 1980)
41:10 – The Human Centipede (Six 2009) question: How can you critique an exploitative experience if you are subjecting people to a representation of that experience?
42:43 – Back to Midsommar as compared to The Witch (Eggers 2015) SPOILERS
47:00 – Annnd Marshall slips into full rant mode on how to improve the film
51:48 – Othering and xenophobia
57:20 – Dani and Christian
1:07:40 – Why didn’t we hate this film or find it to be pretentious?
Recommendations for other films
Shrooms (Breathnach 2007)
The Witch (Eggers 2015)
Related Episodes
Cannibal Holocaust (Deodatto 1980)
The Human Centipede (Six 2009)
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“Horror films are our collective nightmares.”
Episode 46