Spoilers Herein
I’ve seen some people make certain accusations about Aster’s thoughts on Dani in Midsommar. These critics seem to be under the impression that Aster is sees Dani’s (Florence Pugh) emotional state in the movie as annoying, that he’s ableist in his representation of her mental state, that she’s evil, among other things.
I’ve also seen people celebrate Dani at the end. She killed her jerk of a boyfriend. All is well. Yay.
I can’t make an all-encompassing dismissal of the criticisms of ableism or misogyny in the movie. I can’t do the latter because it’s not my place, and I can’t do the former because, given the opening scene, I’m not convinced an all-encompassing dismissal is possible. (I do think the death of Dani’s family has a certain dramatic significance that can’t be dismissed, but it’s still unquestionably….iffy territory).
That said, while I can’t dismiss those criticisms, I can make a defense for Dani, and I can defend her while saying that the ending is not a happy one. For my money, Dani is the closest thing to a decent person in the entirety of Midsommar’s main players. I don’t see this as a personal interpretation on my part, but something that Aster is acutely aware of, and has designed the movie as a tragedy because of it.
Midsommar is ultimately aligned with Dani’s initial worldview, and by the time her boyfriend Christian (Jack Reynor) comes around to it, it’s too late; she’s become aligned with his.
Bad Romance
Christian and Dani’s relationship isn’t the best. They’re clearly on their way out. Christian is an emotionally numb douchebag who can’t handle Dani’s emotional state (not a knock against Dani, as you’ll see). He seems to care about her, but for the most part it’s only so far as his selfish wants allow, so he’s either telling her to shut up or being nice so he doesn’t have to.
On the one hand, I don’t necessarily blame Christian for wanting to be out of the relationship, and I don’t blame him for staying. His reasons for not being happy are kind of douchey, but Dani is clearly aware that he wants to leave. But on the other side of the “telling her to shut up” coin is the after mentioned motives of his “being nice”, which gives Dani mixed signals about his desire to break up.
Given this confusion, Christian should ultimately be clear and do what he really wants. Not because “oh man, girls are too emotional, get out of there man”, but because his confusing selfishness is just making things worse. Dude should stop making things confusing and just break up with her. Even if it’s for douchey reasons, at least they’ll be better off.
At the same time, Dani’s in a traumatic state at the beginning of the movie (Dani’s sister kills their parents and then commits suicide), so there’s a semblance of decency in his commitment to the relationship. He’s serving as an obligatory shoulder to cry on, which calls back to his motives for “being nice.”
But Christian’s relatively casual douchebaggery evolves into something worse.
The Beginning of the Dividing Line
One of the most important scenes in Midsommar occurs after a ritualistic senicide performed by the Harga (the cult Dani, Christian and his pals are visiting). During the ritual we see that the decent people, Dani and another visiting couple named Simon and Connie, are horrified and want to leave.
There’s a moment when we think Christian is one of the decent people. Soon after the ritual, he confronts his friend Josh, starting the conversation by saying “I’ve been thinking about something I wanted to ask you, or tell you, actually.”
Given how close in proximity this conversation is to the deaths they just witnessed, and the intensity of the assertion when he says “tell you“, we’re clearly set up to think he wants to leave immediately and get his mourning girlfriend away this evil cult.
Instead, he tells Josh that he’s doing his thesis on the Harga.
You see, Josh was doing his thesis on the Harga.
But now Christian wants to take his thesis idea, which leads to an argument.
About a college paper.
After they just watched two people jump off a cliff. (The last of the two was finished off with a big, Looney Tunes-esque hammer. Despite the weapon being comparable to a cartoon, the violence was not).
Yes, Christian is a bigger douchebag for stealing his friend’s thesis.
But let’s please get one clear. Pardon my French, but the thesis doesn’t fucking matter.
They’re two men arguing about who gets to do a college paper about a murderous cult. Mind you, they’re not doing their research in the library, they are in the presence of the murderous cult they’re doing the paper about. They’re also not doing this to bring light to horrific events or inform the authorities. We learn later that, at the request of the cult, they’re a-okay with keeping their sources anonymous!
So while the decent people are horrified by the murder and want to leave, the douchebags (Christian, his friends, and the cult) are content with the murder and content with staying.
This similarity is crucial. They don’t care if people are being murdered, because their primary concern is their paper. Death is okay if it serves a selfish want.
Christian’s indifference and selfishness is compounded by his relationship with Dani. Even if he himself doesn’t care about the ritualistic murder going on, he should at least acknowledge that this just might bother his girlfriend who’s going through a traumatic experience. But he doesn’t. He’s got a paper to write, so Dani should just get over it.
This is what Dani is stuck between; murderers, and people selfishly indifferent to their murder.
Comfortable with Discomfort
As the movie progresses, things become more and more unsettling. Josh is murdered, and in the presence of a half naked man wearing Mark’s face, no less. Dani and Christian are not specifically aware of either slaying, but they are aware that their friends haven’t been seen.
As Dani tries to bring this up with Christian, he again writes all of this off. She’s worried about his crappy friends, he cares about his thesis. She’s worried about the couple that went missing, he cares about his thesis.
But amidst all of this, Dani is finding herself relatively at home with the Harga’s less gruesome customs. She’s making pies, taking part in a traditional dance, all that jazz. Her interest in these customs is genuine, and she takes delight in the non-murderous parts.
But as she’s taking delight in the non-murderous parts, Christian is being drugged so he can eventually be raped.
Dani doesn’t know this. They let her think he’s cheating, and when she starts to sob over this, they partake in her tears.
When this sobbing was played in the trailer, it was accompanied by a shot of someone looking through a keyhole. Given the hype of horror surrounding the film, I expected this sobbing to be the result of some sort of…I don’t know, people being horribly tortured or something.
But the actual scene, despite not having any blood, guts or people in physical agony, is more horrifying than anything I could have anticipated. Genuine emotion is being turned into a rhythmic, almost ritualistic exercise, to say nothing of the person going through the trauma being lied to precisely so she can be traumatized. They want Dani on their side, and what better way than to be the shoulder to cry on she’s always wanted?
The Change Up
After Christian’s assault, the cult drugs him even further, essentially turning him into a vegetable. With Dani being their new May Queen, she’s the one who is to make a key choice regarding one last ritual; in a final sacrifice, she needs to choose the last person to be sacrificed. Among these choices is her “cheating” boyfriend.
And it’s here that the two have now swapped places.
For a while, Dani could only really see the constant between Christian, his friends and the cult; that they were all selfishly okay with murder.
But even if the Harga are doing the murdering, at least the cult can express emotion about it.
And so Dani follows through on the message that both sides of her dilemma reinforced to her. Dani comes to the realization that if literally every other character can be content with murder for selfish purposes, then why not her?
Meanwhile, the tragedy of Christian is compounded. It’s not simply that he can’t explain himself, but the boyfriend who didn’t listen to his girlfriend’s trauma has now gone through something traumatic himself and can’t speak about it.
He needs a shoulder to cry on and no one can hear him.
So as Christian and others are burnt alive as a final offering for this abhorrent festival, Dani and the entirety of the cult all weep.
The film’s concluding shot of Dani smiling doesn’t contradict these tears. It’s not as though her tears are a deception and the smile is how she really feels; she’s smiling in no small part because she can cry.
This is the tragedy of Midsommar. Every other character in the movie was fine with murder as long as they served their own self interest, and Dani was the only one opposed to it. The only decent person in the entire movie was stuck between two forms of acceptance of murder, between two evils, and she eventually chose the lesser of them. Because at least that evil felt something.
But it was still evil.
The Ending
I read a piece titled “The Ending of Midsommar: Explained“. The piece ended with the following”:
“The Hargas deliver for her what no friend or family member could back in America. Their rituals are not violent or cruel. They are an extension of the seasons. They are life itself. They are love. Dani gave into them and was rewarded the happiness of human connection. We could all be so lucky.”
This is a deeply unsettling reading.
It’s not a question of whether or not having a community is a good thing. Having a a community and a shoulder to cry on is a great thing, it’s an essential thing. The tragedy of Midsommar is that the only place Dani could find these things was in a murderous cult that turned her into a murderer.
I’m not of the opinion that Christian was a good guy before he was raped, framed, and murdered. I’m also of the opinion that he didn’t deserve to be raped, framed, and murdered, and that Dani didn’t deserve to be manipulated.
They deserved to just break up.
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