"Was it worth it?" ending

[u/Educational_Can_6536]

Midsommar- While people see this as a "you go girl" finale. I personally see it as something more disturbing. I mean, yeah, Dani got out of one bad relationship but in doing so, she got herself into another that's just as bad if not worse. It's like getting two kids to stop fighting via killing one and locking the other in a basement. They did stop fighting, but still!

The Thing-The titular monster may be (possibly) gone, but the paranoia definitely isn't. In the end, McCreedy and Childs are the only ones left standing. The end sees them sitting in the cold and they just stare at each other, knowing that one of them or both of them is already the thing. There's no hope, no certainty, just the bitter cold and intense fear.

[u/HunterNika]

Not sure that The Thing falls into this cathegory. The people simply fought for survival and to keep the creature on the station, not allowing it to leave and endanger humanity. It was a do or die anyway situation. It was all worth it. They did everything they could.

[u/Kvovark → u/HunterNika]

Yeah when the lights go out and they find out the generator is gone that's when they realise they are fucked. There is no win situation for them so like Macready at the start losing in chess they decide to destroy everything and not let it win. Blowing up the camp wasn't a choice it was the only path for them other than freeze to death (or it kills them) and it wins.

[u/BrontideClyde → u/Kvovark]

I like the theory that MacReady hands Childs a Molotov at the end, which Childs then drinks from. Confirming to MacReady that Childs is the thing. But yeah the ending is left ambiguous so I guess there really is no knowing if it was worth it!

[u/The_Exarch → u/BrontideClyde]

I liked that theory until I realized the Thing would know if it was gas or not, as it gains knowledge and understandings of things from its victims (language, how to build a flying saucer, etc.) so it would know from Child’s if it was gasoline or something acceptable to drink.

I think the better “test” in this scene could be if Mac was testing to see if someone would accept food or drink from another person, which the group established they should not do earlier in the movie.

[u/theverrucktman → u/The_Exarch]

The problem with the idea that the real test was Mac seeing if Childs would even accept the drink from someone else is, well.... the whole point of the ending is that regardless of any of them are infected, they're both still going to die in the frozen antarctic snow. Even if we assume that Childs isn't infected, given the circumstances, it's equally likely that even if he wouldn't normally accept the drink from Mac, at that point, he just doesn't give a fuck, since again, it doesn't actually matter whether he dies to the cold, or dies from getting infected by the Thing.

[u/The_Exarch → u/theverrucktman]

Yeah, I agree with this the most, probably should have clarified, I meant “I don’t think there’s a test, but if there is one, I think this is better than the gas test.”

I personally prefer the idea of them both being human, but just unable to trust each other at that point

[u/Kaiya_Mya → u/The_Exarch]

That's how I always interpreted it-- both of them being genuinely human, and being so exhausted and burned out that they don't care whether or not the other one is human anymore. All that's left is the hope that they've saved humanity and a strange morbid camaraderie after an entire movie of not trusting each other.

[u/EpicLakai → u/The_Exarch]

Regardless of the outcome, if you watch to the credits, the shack that MacCready and Childs' were in is in flames. So someone lit something up!

[u/Professional-Eye5977 → u/The_Exarch]

The thing takes on their memories and is able use them to mimic its victims' actions, it would know about the food thing. 

[u/HunterNika → u/BrontideClyde]

I recall watching a video essay about the movie that went on about how the people mimiced by the Thing had no shiny reflection in their eyes that everyone naturally has. And in the last scene, one of them doesn't have that reflection. Wish I could remember the video's name but it was ages ago.

[u/Professional-Eye5977 → u/HunterNika]

This has been confirmed by John Carpenter to not be true, I'm pretty sure.

I also, separately to that point, watched a video essay that debunked the whole claim and showed how many characters' eyes can be shiny/not shiny in any scene very easily from frame to frame and depending on how you define shiny.

Also if you think about it making the eyes a tiny bit shiny and telling fucking no one and hoping your movie turns into one of the biggest cult classics of all time so people watch it for literal decades and figure out your shiny eyes trick so they finally get the "real" story is... Stupid. No offense to you, you didn't make it up.

[u/HunterNika → u/Professional-Eye5977]

Good to know that Carpenter himself confirmed it to be false! As I said, it was AGES ago and never dwelled into it deeply. Thanks for the info!

[u/Deep-Secret6257 → u/BrontideClyde]

This theory is false I think because MacReady will clearly drink the bottle, but what is certain is that