1 Hope Vera Bianca Moreno Media Critique Research Paper 05 September 2020 Midsommar: Media Critique For my media critique research Paper, I have decided to do it on the famous thriller/horror film of 2019, Midsommar. Of all the films of 2019, I would have expected this movie to get much more praise than it did, but it was snubbed of many awards despite its brilliance is aesthetic, directing and acting. The movie also contains many references to Swedish, German and Norse traditions and symbols to convey into the midsommar festival in the movie according to Esquire.com article “How Midsommar Warped Sweden's Real Midsummer Festival Into Horror.” In this essay, I will discuss the intercultural incidents, verbal/nonverbal communication between characters that affect the outcome in the movie and my personal view of the movie. A quick summary of the movie depicts a couple named Dani Ardors and Christian Hughes who have a very tense relationship which lacks communication between them. Dani, who has recently lost both her sister and parents in death, decides to tag along with her boyfriend and his friends on a trip to a remote sweden village . The couple along with Christians’ friends Josh, Mark and Pelle decide to visit Pelle’s hometown in Sweden for the midsommar festival. However, this trip takes a turn for the worst with a mix of psychedelic drugs, manipulation and 2 violent rituals because of a pagan cult’s traditions. What seems like a nice vacation from life’s reality turns into a vacation of death. Because the movie contains a mixture of ancient Sweden, Norse, and German tradition/folklore, there are alot of cultural interactions. In the movie, Pelle the swedish foreign exchange student convinces the group to attend his villages’s sacred midsommar festival however some in the group have ulterior motives that upset Pelle. Christian wants to go to get away from his girlfriend, Dani and her “emotional baggage,” Mark just wants to attend to have sex with swedish girls, while josh wants to attend to research Pelle’s village for is anthropology thesis. This intercultural interaction tells Pelle what their motives are and how they aren’t really grateful to witness his village’s sacred feastival. Another intercultural incident that happens in the movie is how the group and Igmar’s (Pelle’s brother) group (Connie and Simon) from London react to the village’s Ättestupa ritual. The village’s Ättestupa ritual is where two of the village’s oldest elders jump off the highest cliff to end their lives in front of the village because they believe that their life cycle has ended at their age (they were both 72 years of age, I believe). The outsiders have different reactions to the ritual, Josh, Christian and Dani are panicking, however it is Simon and Connie’s reaction that leads them to be alleviated from the villagers. Their reactions include yelling and trying to prevent the ritual which may be seen as disrespectful to the village considering the villagers are watching their own elders end their life cycle according to their tradition. A character said that “the village performs this ritual while we (Americans) send our elders to nursing homes.” This line contrasts the differences between the Haruga village and American culture actions to our elders. 3 Even though this movie is fiction and its themes are based of pagan folklore, it is still possible for a person to be in their situation and they have to be careful with their intercultural reactions otherwise they may offend their culture. The next element of the movie that I will discuss is the verbal/nonverbal communication that happens in the movie. Throughout the movie, most verbal/nonverbal communication that happens is with Dani and Christian, Pelle and the village. Through nonverbal behavior, I see that Dani is a person that does not know how to express her emotions well and she tries to keep them buried to avoid them being discredited by her boyfriend. When conflict arises with her boyfriend, Dani usually uses the accommodating strategy or the avoiding strategy, where either way she loses. On the other hand, Christian uses the competing strategy where he always wins because Dani gives in all of the time and never expresses her emotions fully or avoids them. Because of this emotional rift between the two of them and her own group, Pelle (and the village) is able to alienate and manipulate Dani from the group, to leave her susceptible to their traditions so that she can forego her own culture. Many instances in the movie, Dani is left with others from the village or Pelle, which alienates her even further while her group is busy with their own activities. The village shows Dani through nonverbal communication (because of the language barrier) love and acceptance that she hasn’t been shown to which cause her to grow closer to the village while the rest of her group is left on the outside. In the scene, where the village has dinner in celebration of Dani becoming May Queen, the focus is on her always while Christian is alienated by himself and he was even slapped by a villager when he tried to speak up which showed the villagers contempt for him through their nonverbal behavior. Lastly, I will discuss my personal viewpoint of the movie, Midsommar. The movie itself had wonderful views and different perspectives from each character that asks yourself, “what 4 would you do if you were Dani or another character in that situation.” My black culture that is overly cautious, wouldn’t allow me to go to another country with a foreign friend just for a “sacred” festival in the middle of nowhere. Even if I did agree to go which is highly unlikely, I would first ask what happens at their festival, research the area we would be in, and tell the group that I expect to be back at this time or the authorities will be called. From watching the movies, I can say that the group was bound to die at the end because of not only their actions but also how the village had so many pagan traditions which include sacrifices. Also, Dani was bound to be brainwashed into believing their traditions/Rituals because she was alienated from her group and the village showed her love that she was lacking in her life. It shows that people can do or join anything if they are mentally weak and their emotions aren’t handled correctly like Dani. My mother always showed me love because she didn’t want me to become desperate to look for love somewhere else where people can abuse or manipulate me just because they showed me love. Dani wasn’t shown love and because of that, her emotions overpowered her intelligence which would have told her that what the villagers were doing was wrong. In conclusion, Midsommar is an excellent example of how a person’s verbal/nonverbal behavior can offend another person of culture. It is a movie that showcases how communication between cultures should be researched first to prevent anyone getting offending or killed. 5 Works Cited Miller, Matt. “How 'Midsommar' Warped Sweden's Real Midsummer Festival Into Horror.” Esquire, Esquire, 3 July 2019, www.esquire.com/entertainment/movies/a28259552/midsommer-movie-fact-check-realswedish-midsummer-traditions/.
