The 2019 film Midsommar (Links to an external site.), directed by Ari Aster and starring Florence Pugh and Jack Reynor is a folk horror flick with themes of toxic love, emotional dysregulation, and troubled relationships. The film follows a couple who travels to Sweden to observe the Mid-Summer festival of a secluded community in the country. There, the couple experiences a series of events leading to the realization that the community has ties to the occult. This film is “wild” as it shows the life of a community living without influence from the outside world, and even more than that demonstrates what happens when those who are out of control don’t have to answer to anyone for their behavior. This “wild” community has is so far disconnected from the rest of the world that they are able to commit wild acts and never take accountability for them as their history tells it.
There is a scene (Links to an external site.) in the movie in which the community gets the carcass of a large bear and then places the boyfriend inside its body after it was decided that he would be sacrificed alongside others in this Mid-Summer ritual. The bear itself serves as a symbol of how in touch with nature this community is, while the act that follows demonstrates their out of control behavior that has shown to become a long held tradition that they’ve been able to keep up.
Wild is certainly depicted in this film in numerous ways from the wilderness aspect to the bizarre nature and actions of the characters. In what seems to be a community with their own rules and traditions, everything seems quite wild and unhinged. Perhaps the lack of outside influence is the reason they are able to keep their traditions.
I liked your summary and analysis for Midsommar, you did a good job! This entire movie was like a rollercoaster. It is, by far, one of the craziest movies I have ever seen. I would consider it wild because of the course of actions within the film and the unapologetic cruelty of the people living in the commune. I say this because the actions of the commune are unconventional, which coincide with the definition of “wild.”
However, one could argue that the actions of the cult are not wild because they are civilized, albeit unconventional. In the movie, the community is shown practicing their cultural traditions. Although they may seem horrible to those outside of the community, the members see these traditions to be reasonable. I would like to make the point that certain aspects of a culture may appear to be wild to others. As a viewer, the acts of the community seem “wild,” but to them it’s normal. As Dani and the others interact with the members of the commune, they provide an outsider’s perspective. So to the community, their actions are not wild, but to others they are.
I think this film raises many interesting questions and perspectives about the “wild.” The “wild” is something that differs from the norm. Within this film, the community of people portrays something unordinary to others, but not themselves. This shows that what we think is “wild” may not be considered “wild” to someone else.
This movie definitely lives up to the definition of wild. Before watching it, I had heard people talking about this movie and how wild they considered it to be. Since I like these kinds of movies, I thought others were exaggerating and it wasn’t going to be as wild as they portrayed it to be but the first seen quickly changed my mind as it starts off with an unsettling death. It was fascinating to me how once in this place, all the people living there didn’t find anything wrong with the way they were living. All the uncanny traditions that they lived by and the way everyone was excited for the crazy outcomes that would come from them showed how they didn’t have a sense of what is considered normal when it comes to ones form of living. The scene that struck out to me and showed how out of touch with morality and the outside world this community was, was when people willingly jump off a cliff when they reach a certain age. The fact they considered this to be something so holy and spiritual and like the one thing everyone looks up to highlights the wild way they lived.
I liked how you summarized Midsommar. It is definitely a wild movie with very interesting customs that the community participates in. I like how you talk about the out of control behavior the boyfriend participates in and how it leads to his eventual sacrifice.
I haven’t seen this movie yet, but I’ve heard many things about it from my friends. I have seen the trailer and it indeed seems “wild” the daylight horror. It’s wild how they have their own set of traditions that you don’t really see on the norm.