Midsommar: Fear Analysis
In a typical horror film, the most frightening moments are intensified by use of the dark. In the darkness, our visual senses vanish, leaving us unable to detect who or what is around us, thus we are prepared to fear. Ari Aster, however, contradicts this horror film convention with his 2019 release of Midsommar, which for the most part, is shot in the broad daylight of what is supposed to be midland Sweden. Shot in Budapest but set in Hälsingland, Midsommar can be interpreted in one of two ways; a breakup story with a debatable happy ending, where our heroine achieves her long wanted sense of belonging and emancipation of her negative past, or a gruesome story of manipulation and indoctrination by the occult. The audience may be drawn to the more positive former, however the latter is the more brutally honest and realistic outcome, in my opinion. Aster uses themes of the unknowing through use of estrange culture, visually impairing cinematography (by Pawel Pogorzelski), and enigmatic structure, all while foreshadowing the whole story with its opening shot. Aster himself describes this film a fairy-tale, though I believe it to be much more of a nightmare.
Aster uses repetitive imagery of Runes to create a paranormal and unacquainted atmosphere, which unsettles the audience. The most prominent rune is ‘Fehu’, which represents wealth and power. Another notable rune is Raidho which mean journey and control. Pelle wears the Fehu rune on his tunic, which foreshadows how he offers his friends up as sacrifice and by doing this, he is expecting prosperity and power and a new beginning with Dani. Inverted Runes are known to have a dark meaning. For example, Dani’s maypole outfit shows an inverted symbol, meaning nothing good will come of her participation. She also wears the Dagaz rune on her right, which literally means dawn, also interpreted as rebirth. However, the rune is inverted, so this could mean Dani hopes for purity and rebirth, but she is being consumed by the darkness. Another use of symbiotics in Midsommar is the prominent use of flowers, most notably when Dani becomes the May Queen and wears a large floral dress. Flowers are repetitively used at points of great emotional gravity, such as the wallpaper of Dani’s parents’ house when they die. This is the most triggering part of the film which initiates Dani’s harrowing emotional journey. Flowers can be considered symbolic of rebirth and fertility. None the less it is flowers that lead Christian to his ‘sexual ritual’, which is essentially rape, and eventually his death, proving there is perversion at play. There is a disturbing juxtaposition at the end of the film, where Dani is covered in beautiful flowers whilst observing her former friends being burnt alive. In a wicked way, Dani has been Reborn. The community has given her a sense of belonging and she no longer associates herself with people who don’t care about her trauma and instead is surrounded by people who share her emotions. However, in the more accurate light, she has been manipulated and given up her control to a cult that simply wants her for their benefit.
The opening shot reveals a painting by Mu Pan, which humorously contains the entire plot. Despite not knowing this during the first viewing, the painting immediately disconcerts the audience through its troubling nature and subconsciously unnerves the viewer. The first panel is the darkest, presenting a skull in the mist of winter. This represents the death of Dani’s family as it shows them wrapped up in an umbilical cord, connected to Dani, whilst a Skellington severs it. This Skellington is separating her from her family through death. The second panel portrays Pelle as the puppet master; he is above the rest of them and drawing their fates in his sketch book. The group are surrounded by the rich green forests of the Harger. Mark is dressed like a jester, representing a fool. Early in the film the children are playing a game called ‘skin the fool’. This is particularly unsettling as later in the film Mark is physically skinned. Pelle is leading them with a flute like the Pied piper. This represents how Pelle manipulated them to come to Sweden to use them for his own gratification. The next panel shows the old couple who kill themselves, however in this they appear young. This signifies the Hargers belief of being reborn and how your life is passed on into another. Finaly the last section shows a bright sun with a face which is meant to be the Nordic sun god who is also the god of fertility. The mid-summer may pole is in the centre with the symbol of fertility built into the top. Dani is dancing around the bottom, and this is a clear visual of her rebirth. Despite this image only being on screen for the first 30 seconds, it sets a dark tone for the rest of the film. The image splits in the middle and is brought apart like a curtain as the story unfolds, supporting Asters implied sense of a fairy-tale.
Midsommar is set in the fictional village of Hårga, however the rural region of Hälsingland is very much real and soaked in history; with museums revealing violent paintings of ancient rituals from centuries ago. Aster uses stereotypes of Swedish and Nordic culture in twisted ways, but takes them to brutal, fictional extremes to create an overwhelming and terrifying atmosphere. The word Hårga itself can be traced back to a fairy-tale about villagers dancing themselves to death when the devil visits. Aster references this through the May pole dance. Some of the more extreme sacrificial rituals seen in Midsommar are an amalgamation of folk tales, myths and documented Pagan customs. Aster uses these bizarre conventions to shock the viewer with the unknown. And the more abnormal the events are, the more uncomfortable we become. Aster also enlightens the audience to the sick reality of indoctrination into the occult. The Hårga’s successful attempt to brainwash Dani into joining their cult can be directly associated with Micheal Bluejay’s eight steps of indoctrination. This begins with an introduction to a non-threatening event, such as a family festival where you can experience a new culture. Some other steps include love bombing, which we see constantly towards Dani, from the women acting like they share her pain to the constant praise she receives for being May Queen. Then they dangle the prize; Pelle uses his dead parents to show how the Hårga’s can provide Dani with a new family, whilst demeaning her relationship with Christian. Next, good behaviour is rewarded, but bad behaviour is punished. We see this specifically with the boys, as they are all murdered for rejecting the rules and beliefs, whereas Dani is rejoiced. Step by step the more Dani says yes, the more she submits until control is obtained and she officially belongs to the cult. A key moment to symbolize this is when she chooses Christian to be burnt alive, severing the last link she has to her old life. There is an illusion of control, whereas in reality, everything that happen was planned by the cult. Indoctrination is used all the time in modern life, from political campaigns to conspiracy theory groups on Facebook. Aster uses this to enable the audience to reflect on their own realities and relate themselves to Dani.
Aster uses cinematography to create a sense of the unknown. This frightens the viewer as we associate the unknown with negative events, especially towards the end of the film when we are accustomed to the unmoral events unravelling. Aster uses Artiste lenses to add glows to whiter colours creating a fairy-tale like appearance. However, this also makes it ghostlike. Technicolour and over exposer helps to emphasise this, as certain shots become unclear, and the unknown is exaggerated. Despite playing with the unfamiliar, Aster gives a lot away with the backgrounds of his scenes, despite the audience not actually focusing on them. Wide angle and long shots reveal multiple stories unfolding with the characters in the background. These stories are often peculiar and unexplainable, creating an unconscious sense of unease. As viewers, we are trained to ignore the background and focus on the foreground. Aster uses this to his advantage. Subtle features such as the psychedelic editing that occurred around the characters, become almost unnoticeable as the film goes on and we become use to this being the norm. Aster also uses sound to create discomfort, such as use of hard sudden sounds to shock and unease the audience, for example his frequent use of harsh breaths and loud claps. These appear as a symbol of Harger culture and often represent that something bad is about to happen, increasing anxiety within the viewer. In the very first scene a melodic, Scandinavian-like song is abruptly cut off by a deafening phone ring. For the next nine minutes there is no music, and this intensifies the suspense that something bad is about the happen. This is a common symbiotic that we associate with horror films due to its frequent use. The scene is sharply conquered by Dani’s harrowing groans and a disconcerting, string music score gets exponentially louder. In this scene we also see the use of blue and red flashing lights, which is also used later in the film during emotionally brutal moments.
In conclusion Ari Aster successfully creates fear within the audience in an abstract way. Through his deep social context of cults, he exposes how easy it is to become indoctrinated when you are in a state of insecurity and encourages the audience to relate this to their own experiences through Dani’s point of view. He uses technicolour cinematography to distort the audiences view and play with the unknown, whilst simultaneously revealing the entire story plot through foreshadowing. Overall, the scariest part for me is the malevolent smile Dani bears in the last scene, where she feels freed by the death of her friends.