Episode16: Ari Aster, Who Hurt You? Part 2: Midsommar

TRANSCRIPT HERE

Finishing up our Ari Aster-palooza! Let’s unpack Ari’s next traumatic experience of a film, 2019’s Midsommar. It’s a break-up movie, but not like most break up movies. We continue our discussion of grief and trauma in Ari’s cinematic world, and Midsommar’s themes of society’s view of life, death and family. It’s not all fun and games though, as we highlight the negative messages about disability and mental illness. Also, spoiler alert, Christian is a toxic, narcissistic prick. We talk about that too.

CONTENT WARNING: Murder, suicide, family death, ableism, decapitation, PTSD, panic attack, anxiety, disability used as horror, eugentics, rape, discussion of visual gore, mutilation, coercive control/emotional abuse/gaslighting, drug use, violence, dead animals, cults, pagan rituals, a bit of swearing. On top of that Steph talks about Dr Death at the beginning (discussion of botched surgeries). It’s a lot.

NOTE: This podcast is not designed to be therapeutic, prescriptive or constitute a formal diagnosis for any listener, nor the characters discussed. The host is not representative of all psychologists and opinions stated are her own personal opinion, based on her own learnings and training (and minimal lived experience). Host and co-hosts do not have the final say and can only comment based on their own perspectives, so please let us know if you dispute any of these opinions – we are keen for feedback!

Host: Stephanie Fornasier

Cohost: Michael Watson

Editor: Nicholas Fornasier

Music and artwork: Michael Watson

References!

The mash up of both endings side by side (if you want): Hereditary and Midsommar Ending (side-by-side) - YouTube

HORROR AND DIAGNOSIS: ON ARI ASTER

Exploring Depictions of Disability in 2018 Horror Movies

Hideous Progeny: Disability, Eugenics, and Classic Horror Cinema on JSTOR

The Atlantic: What Kind of Movie Ari Aster Wanted Midsommar to Be

The Guardian: Midsommar director Ari Aster: 'I often cling to dead things'

Vox: Ari Aster on his new film Midsommar: “I keep telling people I want it to be confusing”

Forbes: A Film Under the Influence: Gender, Homage And 'Midsommar'

Independent: Disabled children are not scary so please stop using able-bodied actors to portray them in horror films

Plymouth State University blog: Disability, Ari Aster, and the horror genre

Vulture: Midsommar interview with Ari Aster  

The Guardian: Midsommar's ableism resurrects the dark history of eugenics-inspired horror