#that theme is actually present and worth discussing in fresh 2022. midsommar just isn’t that movie

[devilsskettle]

terfs keep reblogging my midsommar post with this addition (see images below) on it even though it’s literally the exact kind of interpretation i think is reductive and not the point of or even supported by the movie at all and i think it’s really clear that 1) it’s impossible to have a nuanced conversation about gender on this website without people taking what you say out of context to support their own opinions without even realizing how much they contradict with what you said, 2) this is the kind of movie that reads you — how you interpret it says so much more about you than about the movie itself. i don’t think i’m immune to that or anything but people agreeing with this addition are trying really hard to make it fit their preconceived notions, like sure midsommar is about the patriarchy insofar as it’s critical of gendered behavior and expectations in personal relationships as a tactic of control and as it’s critical of power hierarchies in general and the shared tactics of groups in power to control others, but there’s no suggestion that oh, if dani had spent more energy and focus on this one random anonymous female friend instead of choosing to hang out with those guys over her, she would be fine!! 1) does it look like dani is choosing to hang out with them specifically or is she just trying to spend time with her boyfriend and generally participate in the world again after experiencing an unimaginable trauma, 2) she just experienced an unimaginable trauma and you’re criticizing her for not putting enough energy into other relationships lol, 3) the women actively participating in the white supremacist death cult are victims now? exactly the no nuance brain dead take that people now associate the movie with, 4) in the world of the film, it seems very much like victim blaming to be like well, you were spending time with the wrong people!! you should stop rejecting authentic female friendship (which we never see her do)!! when arguably all she’s looking for are genuine relationships or in fact any lifeline to connect her with other people. also part of the horror and tragedy is that she can’t know that these choices will lead to horror and tragedy (much like her families deaths at the beginning — how is she supposed to know what her sister is planning to do? she can’t do anything but try to make the best judgment with the information she has). and in real world applications, it seems equally like victim blaming but also, since this movie is a criticism of institutional abuse of power, it’s also a very individualist approach. you can make as many close female friends as you want, sexism still exists. you can’t solve it without dismantling the social structures that support it. and it erases the ways in which women support institutional structures of marginalization — the women in the cult have agency and choose to reinforce the harmful dynamics of their own society, 5) i talk about the way josh is treated on the axis of race by both christian and the cult so much because that’s a major element of the movie that people overlook, almost willfully, and here yet again, let’s ignore the racist structures in the film and make it exclusively about the patriarchy. as if again that’s not the very kind of reductive framework for this film! but clearly applying this same kind of logic to josh also doesn’t work so let’s not talk about it because it doesn’t support our argument. that’s the logic there, right? y’all didn’t do well in your high school english classes, huh. anyway i thought it was a shame how hard people came down on midsommar after the initial response to it because i think there are a lot of good things that warrant discussion but now that i’m seeing these kinds of interpretations thriving, i get it. it’s unsalvageable

like seriously “i really can’t help but think this movie is about women being isolated from authentic relationships with other women” on a post saying how this movie is about all types of power hierarchies and we should explore the intersectionality of that as it’s presented in the film without invalidating discussions of either gender or race in favor of the other. no reading comprehension

#if you DO want a film that actually focuses on female isolation from other women for male benefit: fresh 2022 #that theme is actually present and worth discussing in fresh 2022. midsommar just isn’t that movie #and it doesn’t have to be it’s already doing a lot of other things #anyway #i already wrote so so much on the addition itself but nobody is going to read all that lol #free blocklist though #all on a post where in the tags i say that this movie makes me want to do harder drugs. smh #midsommar