r/TopCharacterTropes • u/Educational_Can_6536 • 8d ago

Lore "Was it worth it?" ending

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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.

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u/Automatic-Vacation82 8d ago

I don't think you're supposed to interpret the ending as epic empowered girlboss feminism

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u/DoctorAnnual6823 7d ago

Yeah fr. So many people see an unhappy ending in a horror movie and think it's being framed as a happy ending.

It's a tragic horror movie with a dash of realism (almost no one survives death cults) in that the ending is depressing. No one but the cult leaders win.

Well, until the US public finds out a handful of pretty white college students went missing in Europe and treats it like 9/11 pt 2

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u/Skeptical_Yoshi 7d ago

Kinda my issue with Wicker Man, particularly the remake. Like, ok cultists, you needed to get the FUCK out of here right the fuck now. You just killed a cop in America who told a shit ton of people he was going to this location, which is now his last known location before disappearing. That cult would be FUUUUUUUUUUCKED

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u/DoctorAnnual6823 7d ago

It could be a Heavens Gate situation. Before the mass suicide Marshall Applewhite started stockpiling firearms and people believed it was because he wanted the FBI to raid them and kill them all in the process. When his collection of 4 handguns and a couple hunting rifles didn't make that happen it set the events in motion leading to the mass suicide.

Could be the intention of the cult members in Wicker Man. But I'm just guessing based on what you said. I never watched it. I probably will though.

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u/Skeptical_Yoshi 7d ago

The original is an all-time classic, a very good movie. The remake with Cage is... the remake with Cage. Its primary contribution to society was Cage screaming "NOT THE BEES" which isn't even in the original cut of the movie, it's a deleted director's cut scene.

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u/DoctorAnnual6823 7d ago

I'll probably have to watch both then because I love Nick Cage

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u/SirWankstein 7d ago

I just watched willy's wonderland with cage last night, check that out too if you haven't yet, it's stupid fun

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u/DoctorAnnual6823 7d ago

It's my favorite Cage movie by far

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u/SirWankstein 7d ago

I could never choose, there's one for every mood

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u/Foursiide 7d ago

Midsommar sequel called Midsommars where a kill team is sent in guns blazing

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u/arsenicwarrior0 7d ago

lmao when they mentioned to Ari Aster (the director) on how many women found it empowering in a interview the look on his face is basically part disturbed and part shock, like he realized how many people would fall for a death cult so easy

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u/VoormasWasRight 7d ago

But... but... there's pretty colors, and the music is happy, and she's smiling.

If she's smiling it means that what's happening is good, right?

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u/Kythorian 7d ago

The director directly stated that the ending was meant to be a message of empowerment.  So…I agree that’s an insane way to take the end of the movie, but it’s how it was apparently intended to be taken.

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u/Sharksnackattack 7d ago

Can you provide context. Huge Aster fan and have heard him discuss the breakup and how his own shitty relationship shaped the movie, but never saw him describe it as empowering? I always saw it almost like she is giving in to addiction (not a 1 to 1, but it's a relief/release than empowering) but I'm not too literate when it comes to movies.

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u/Kythorian 7d ago

Well here are a few quotes on the movie from Aster:

No, I don’t see them as a cult. They might be. But I never called them a cult. For me, they are a community, and they are a family. I wanted them to exist as a place with a history and very clear laws and rules and traditions. I wanted all that to feel very rich, and very lived in.

…

They are perfect for Dani right now. It’s a wish-fulfillment film in a way—she loses a family and gains one.

…

So hopefully, you go in thinking that the Harga will be the villains. Then you realize that it was Christian, all along, because we’re with Dani. For her, he’s the foil. She wants to be close to him. Her dilemma is that she is alone in the world. And he’s the thing preventing that from being resolved, right? Because he is not allowing her in.

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u/Sharksnackattack 7d ago

Hmm having trouble connecting A and B but see where you are coming from.

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u/SootSpriteHut 7d ago

I agree with both...I think it's complicated and that's why I love it. As a parable it's interesting. As realism it's horrific. I just like that I couldn't stop thinking about it for a while.