“Midsommar” and Sublime Nature of the Belief Essay

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The horror film “Midsommar” was written and directed by Ari Aster in 2019. The work’s title hints at the central theme that follows the plot’s narrative – the power of belief in the higher force in the world. The word midsommar has a Swedish origin, which reflects the place and the origin of most authentic elements in the film. However, the concept of faith combines all aspects that refer to this phenomenon, including community, traditions, norms, and perception of the world.

The plot revolves around the protagonist, Deny, who suffered the loss of all family members and is going through complex relationships with her boyfriend. In the course of the story, she and her friends are flying on vacation to a remote destination, a small village in Sweden. The choice of the place reflects the abstract and universal idea that the story can take place anywhere; this village can be any village in any country. However, the specific stylistics of the background based on rituals and traditions of the local beliefs serves to create a realistic and believable environment. In the sequence of events, each member of the friend group suffers violent interactions with a pagan cult that is the villagers themselves.

The most significant scene reflecting the power of faith is the part where Dany, seeing her boyfriend being intimate with another woman, starts crying. The intense emotions of her previous grief for the family and anger with her social environment create a hysterical representation of feelings. The director builds the visual image of the personalization of despair. Moreover, when the commune women saw Deny, they started screaming and crying with her, reflecting her pain. The device of personification further reveals the visual representation of how faith and religion, emphasized in the form of the cult, support every community member by offering support through sharing. Many people find faith in despair and loneliness for the reason of a group of like-minded people who can help and understand dark emotions through empathy. Hence, the idea of group screaming and crying as a form of emotional support highlights the typical elements of support community of every religious belief.

Another crucial scene that impacted viewers the most and left a mixed impression of a happy or bad ending is the final scene, where Dany sacrifices her boyfriend instead of one of the commune men and, as a result, smiles during the ritual. The episode reflects more than the surface image of a mad woman who revenged her boyfriend and smiled upon her friend’s death. The visual elements are heavily influenced by oxymoron opposition in the frame—the end, the death of people, and the beginning symbolized by the bright summer flowers of Deny’s dress. The people’s screams and cries versus the main protagonist’s smile. She shares empathy for the commune member because she is now one of them, while her friends are strangers. That reflects how strong beliefs can unite different individuals anywhere in the world; that is why the place choice is also essential to the theme. The scene is her happy ending because she found new life in the faith and beliefs of the commune. The parallel stands for the new life people can find in church even after the darkest time of their life, and Deny, in the same way, lived through the tragic events to find a new purpose in the community.

To sum up, both mentioned scenes of “Midsommar” create a sublime feeling of a higher force that leads the people and their community. The reflection is exaggerated, but it serves the primary purpose of impressing and shocking viewers and making them feel small and vulnerable as people in the commune, where religious laws are more powerful than small humans. And being a part of this system means sharing every little aspect of pain and happiness with the community.

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IvyPanda. (2023) '“Midsommar” and Sublime Nature of the Belief'. 15 June.

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IvyPanda. 2023. "“Midsommar” and Sublime Nature of the Belief." June 15, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/midsommar-and-sublime-nature-of-the-belief/.

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